Is it déjà vu all over again for NC State
As the Wolfpack plays in the 2024 NCAA Sweet 16, let's remember the title games opponents in 1974 and 1983
Over on another channel—Not CBS, TBS, TNT, or TruTV, but on another Substack website—my book about the 1973-74 NC State men’s basketball team and the Wolfpack’s first season of national success, winning the NCAA title, is being published in its entirety. (Please keep reading. Today’s post is not entirely about the book.)
When mentioned to nearly anyone who was born after 1974, stories about how David Thompson and Tommy Burleson out played Bill Walton and stopped a UCLA’s seven season NCAA championship winning streak, really pissing off Bruins coach John Wooden, burst forth. Some accurate, others not.
What many young rememberers (new word) don’t recall is that the Wolfpack beat UCLA in the national semi-finals and then out played and out scored Marquette with coach Al McGuire in the finals, played in the Greensboro Coliseum March 25, 1974 (remember that date), to win it's first NCAA men’s basketball title.
The Wolfpack’s second national basketball title came on April 4, 1983 (remember that date) in the University of New Mexico Lobos on campus arena, the Pit. There are visions (and videos) of Wolfpack coach Jim Valvano rushing the court to find someone to hug in the post-game celebration. Sometimes, what’s lost is the opponent that day.
Personal note: I was at courtside for both national championship games, in 1974 as Sports Editor of the Technician, NC State’s student newspaper, and in 1983 as Publications Editor for the NCSU Athletics Department and the Wolfpack Club.
What youngsters today—and that could be anyone born after 1983—are reminded about State’s second NCAA men’s basketball title is the victim that day was the University of Houston Cougars. Let’s please give Dereck Whittenburg an assist to Lorenzo Charles for the winning basket.
The reason for reminiscing a little about those two games is the Wolfpack’s path to this year’s NCAA Tournament championship through the Wolfpack’s entry into the Sweet 16 of the South bracket, the final 16 teams on collision courses in attempting to take the title home from Glendale, a sizeable town with a big football stadium outside Phoenix AZ.
Of interesting note:
NC State opens it’s 2024 NCAA Sweet 16 quest this Friday at 7:30 p.m. on CBS-TV against Marquette, the 1974 title opponent.
And, when the Wolfpack defeats the Warriors, next up could be Houston, after the Cougars beat Duke, Friday after the NC State-Marquette game.
But wait, there’s more:
Against Marquette, NC State has a 3-2 all-time record. The first time the two schools met was March 25, 1974 in Greensboro. Sound familiar? If you want more info about the series, click: NC State-Marquette all-time.
Against Houston, the Wolfpack is 4-0 all-time. The first time the two schools met was April 4, 1983 in Albequerque, another “sounds familiar” date. For more info about the series, click: NC State-Houston all-time.
And there’s more:
Let’s not get so far ahead, but, after the Wolfpack wins games against Marquette and Houston, a couple of teams stick out as the Wolfpack’s next opponent in the semifinals of the Final Four:
Purdue: The Wolfpack is 4-2 versus the Boilermakers including a win in the 1973-74 season that seemed unlikely early in the second half. Down 15 points with 17 minutes to play, NC State won, 86-81, in West Lafayette, Indiana. More on the State-Purdue series? Click: NC State-Purdue all-time.
Tennessee: NC State holds a 6-5 record edge over the Vols, but lost to Tennessee, 79-70, this season in a mid-December game. For more on the Pack-Vols basketball series, click: NC State-Tennessee all-time.
NC STATE-TENNESSEE FOOTBALL GAME PLUG!
The Pack and the Vols football teams meet this fall, September 7, on the Bank of America gridiron in Charlotte, September 7. For the 2024 Wolfpack football schedule, and how to buy tickets to the Duke’s Mayo Classic (Pack vs Vols), click: 2024 Wolfpack football schedule. Shameful promotion. The series record is 2-2.
And more basketball:
Before the Midwest Sweet 16 games of Friday, the other possibilities on the Wolfpack’s side of the Final Four would be Gonzaga (0-1) and Creighton (1-2), the most recent loss to the Bluejays coming in a 2022-23 NCAA first round game. For more on those series, click the team name.
After the Wolfpack wins—the more I write, the more optimism spews from my fingers—the NCAA South Regional and the first game of the Final Four, that sets up a likely championship game with, I predict, wait for it, North Carolina. I’ve picked the Tar Heels to win it all. The rematch of the ACC Championship game this season offers more to exam when the appropriate time permits.
To read more about the 1973-74 NCAA Championship, click 1973-74: Reliving the NC State Wolfpack's Title Run where you can also get a link to buy the book. In its entirety, the book is being published on the website in several installments. Having the book on your shelf is a good resource for generations to come.
It’s fun to look at brackets and see the possible match-ups devised by the NCAA selection committee, but it’s doubtful another in that stuffy room thought this through, that NC State could play the two teams the Wolfpack beat to win its two national titles in men’s basketball.
It's déjà vu all over again as the NC State Wolfpack plays in the Sweet 16. Thanks, Yogi Berra, for that, the déjà vu all over again part. Click the link.
The NCAA men’s selection committee seems to have gotten a lot right with this year’s 68 teams. While the “upsets” by lower seeded teams has been abundant and exciting, the committee’s:
No. 1 seeds—UConn, North Carolina, Houston, and Purdue—all made the Sweet 16;
No. 2 seeds—Iowa State, Arizona, Marquette, and Tennessee—all made the Sweet 16;
No. 3 seeds—Illinois and Creighton—each made the Sweet 16; and
No. 4 seeds—Alabama and Duke—each made the Sweet 16.
That’s 12 of the 16, the others being Gonzaga (5th seed) Clemson (6th seed), NC State (11th seed), and San Diego State (12th seed).
Enjoy the games on CBS and TBS.