Happy Anniversary!

Flashback General NCS Basketball Tradition39

Really, nothing more needs to be said (but feel free to take a deeper look into some very interesting thoughts by clicking here). Just sit back and enjoy the most famous 44 seconds in NC State athletics history — and all the pandemonium that ensued afterward. Also, please pay close attention to Coach Valvano’s comments afterward about the importance of being in the position to win and playing to win the game.

Flashback General NCS Basketball Tradition

39 Responses to Happy Anniversary!

  1. Trout 04/04/2007 at 9:59 AM #

    Simply the greatest finish in Final 4 history.

    Next year is the 25th anniversary. Hard to believe.

  2. beowolf 04/04/2007 at 10:03 AM #

    I don’t know about you, Trout, but I know what I want for the 25th anniversary present…

  3. CarnifeX 04/04/2007 at 10:20 AM #

    ha, the shorts and mr. wuf are AWESOME!

    Isn’t 25th Silver?

  4. jamieinkorea 04/04/2007 at 10:25 AM #

    I’m not sure if you can hear it or not, but at the end of the interview with Coach Valvano…

    “I’ve gotta go cut some nets down.”

    I love North Carolina State.

  5. packpigskinfan23 04/04/2007 at 10:27 AM #

    Skip Bayless on Cold Pizza has continually knocked NC States win over Houston for the past two weeks. I have mentioned it about two times before but never got any comment out of it… He includes Houston and the UCLA teams of the Bill Walton era, and the ’82 UNC team as his top 3 teams…. he calls this win a “fluke”. although it might have been a BIT of fluke, it is also one of the best moments in college basketball history. I really wish I could rub the ’74 championship in his face in person. I would really love to have a few words with that “basketball expert”

  6. packpigskinfan23 04/04/2007 at 10:43 AM #

    I think the video says it all.

  7. beowolf 04/04/2007 at 10:48 AM #

    Who cares was Skip said? We’ve got the trophy, we’ve got the memories.

    Plus, for a team that had just won four games straight against teams ranked number one sometime in the year1 to then beat the current number one — well, that isn’t much of a fluke.

    ===

    1. UNC, Virginia, UNLV, and Virginia.

  8. gumbydammit 04/04/2007 at 10:54 AM #

    Skip Bayless is a wiper of other people’s behinds. I pick my nose at him. I fart in his general direction.

  9. Buddygreen 04/04/2007 at 11:03 AM #

    What a great moment. I was a soph at NCSU when it happened. Another thing that should be pointed out to was back then the tournament didn’t have as many neutral sites like they have today. We really had to play at some tough venues.

    V said and I agree if we don’t play Kansas in the final Eight in their back yard when we had Stackhouse and Washburne we would have made final four that year to. We had a good lead in second half and they all stood up and started that Rock chalk jayhawk chant and next thing you know we were going home.

    V’s success after the championship proved 83 was no fluke, you don’t get offers from NBA teams and UCLA, plus win another ACC championship, and make sweet sixteen plus elite eight after 83 by being a fluke. V was also headed to being a great college game announcer and analaysis. The “Madden” of college hoops. He knew his x’s and O’s.

  10. Gene 04/04/2007 at 11:14 AM #

    Read somewhere about what the last shot against Houston, wasn’t just a “fluke”. Valvano wanted to hold for the last shot, so the game would go to OT if we missed. Lowe was supposed to get the ball with about 10 sec. left and make a move to the basket and either find an open shooter or take the last shot. Lowe found Bailey for a 15-20 footer, which Bailey was proficient at making, but Bailey for some reason threw the ball back out to Whittenburg, who had no choice but to force the shot.

    People talk about the great play Dean Smith drew for Jordan to take the game winning shot against, Georgetown, in 1982, instead of Worthy or Jordan, but after reading up on the 1983 game, I wish Valvano would get some credit for actually having a play in place to win the game.

  11. Gene 04/04/2007 at 11:15 AM #

    EDIT: Worth or *Perkins

  12. RedTerror29 04/04/2007 at 11:36 AM #

    ^^Having a play in pace to win the game at the end? I’ve never seen such a thing! But then, I’m young…

  13. Texpack 04/04/2007 at 11:50 AM #

    I have downloaded most of the YouTube videos from the ’83 Championship recently and Valvano’s declaration that you play to win the game sounds almost like Herm Edwards. I watched the game in the Owen Underground with my Mura Hi-Stepper on so I could listen to Wally and Gary. I remember not celebrating until the clock had hit 00:00. I remember desks being hauled out of Harelleson Hall to be thrown on the Bonfire on the Brickyard with Hungry Like The Wolf blaring. I remember walking back into the second floor of Owen around 6am the next morning to see all of the ceiling tiles in the floor and sitting down amongst the debris to read the game stories in the N&O.

    This truly was one of those things you had to be there for. The videos are great because they bring back the memories. The videos alone can’t adequately tell the story of the greatest four consecutive weekends of college basketball that I have ever experienced. This night was the culmination of a month of incredible anxiety, intensity, and joy. The atmosphere on campus from the ACC Tournament on was one of total belief that we would win the next game. Living in Houston since ’84 has also given me an appreciation for just how devastating the loss was for UH. It still evokes strong and painful memories for their fans. Many of them will tell you that that one game has kept Guy Lewis out of the Hall of Fame.

    I’m looking forward to seeing if Sidney can put together some runs through the big dance like V did. I saw every indication this year that he can.

  14. ncsu96 04/04/2007 at 11:53 AM #

    Jimmy V was hands down one of the best floor coaches EVER!
    John ‘the Wizard’ Wooden told Jimmy V that the 83 run (and Don Haskins run with Texas Southwestern aka UTEP) run were the best coaching he ever saw in the tournament.

    Skip Bayless would be fired by any network that actually cared about sports.
    —————————–

    If I may defer to the authors of the this site, the ’83 team was a great team and should be recognized as such…

    http://www.statefansnation.com/index.php/archives/2005/04/04/happy-anniversary/

    btw, that is hands down best blog post.

  15. ncsu96 04/04/2007 at 11:53 AM #

    edit: I didn’t mean to bold that but hey it works;)

  16. beowolf 04/04/2007 at 12:33 PM #

    Gene, elsewhere Valvano praised Lorenzo Charles for doing what he had been coached to do: stay near the basket in case of a rebound.

    Charles made that rebound/shot-heard-’round-the-world because he had not drifted from the basket the way Olajuwon did when Drexler nearly made that steal.

    Charles, too, was in the position to win.

  17. VaWolf82 04/04/2007 at 1:39 PM #

    He includes Houston and the UCLA teams of the Bill Walton era, and the ‘82 UNC team as his top 3 teams…. he calls this win a “fluke”.

    I guess he didn’t watch the 82 UNC team win because of a bonehead play from GT (Freddie Brown?).

  18. Sw0rdf1sh 04/04/2007 at 1:40 PM #

    It’s great to see a true celebration. That was one giant hug, it seems a lot different from the kind of celebration we witnessed by Florida the other night.

    Fluke my ass. Houston put themselves in a position to lose. We put ourselves in a position to win. Only one of those teams excuted their goal….NC State.

    Bayliss you pompous ass.

  19. thebigwood 04/04/2007 at 2:16 PM #

    you’ve got to love that cheesy feel good music at the end

  20. choppack1 04/04/2007 at 2:53 PM #

    texpack – Thanks for that summary. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be on campus during that time…I missed it by 5-6 years. I was at State for a Sweet 16 appearance and a round of 32 exit…

    I really enjoy the comments from those on campus. It’s a little bittersweet for me because by that time I went to school so many things had already changed. I hold out hope those times will come again.

    I’ve often wondered what I’d do if we were playing in the big game again…Go to it or go to Raleigh…

  21. packpigskinfan23 04/04/2007 at 3:19 PM #

    ^well I will be in Raleigh for at least the next three years… is it too much to hope we might see it in that time period?!?!

  22. TNCSU 04/04/2007 at 3:30 PM #

    No, HELL No. Just put yourself in a position to win every game! We’re going DEEP in the tourney next year!!

  23. branjawn 04/04/2007 at 4:15 PM #

    I haven’t seen any mention of this on SFN. I know one cannot put too much value in these things, but as a fan it feels great!

    Rivals.com 07-08 Preseason Top 25

    #19 NC State:
    The Wolfpack had a terrific run in their first season under Sidney Lowe, making the ACC tournament final then winning a couple of games in the NIT. Redshirt freshman Brandon Costner was a revelation, earning Rivals.com Third Team Freshman All-America honors with 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. N.C. State also welcomes back three more double-digit scorers and a recruiting class that Rivals.com ranks 19th nationally.

  24. BigRed 04/04/2007 at 5:07 PM #

    The Rivals prognostication also contains another little cherry: Duke at #23, four positions below the Pack.

    Yeah, it’s all just bench racing. But it’s nice regardless.

  25. OwenDorm83 04/04/2007 at 8:11 PM #

    I lived down the hall from Texpack.

    He’s right about those games, but actually starting when Whit went down with the injury. Improving when we beat UNC-ch in Reynolds, then losing 2 in a row when Whit came back. My “senior day” game was the Wake game in Reynolds. I remember it being unseasonably warm that day. Not as big a turn out because spring break started the day before. State was absolutely on fire – especially in the second half and DESTROYED the Deacs.

    Then, the run through the tourneys. Down 6 to Pepperdine with them shooting free throws & less than 20 seconds. Incredible.

    Sidney Green (Vegas) talks smack about Big T & watches the rest of the tourney on TV.

    Sent Ralph packing.

    I was lucky enough to go to Albuquerque. Memories that stand out:

    1. the Mexican food – awesome
    2. the UH folks chanting “we want State! We want State…” Me thinking “y’all don’t want anything to do with us…”
    3. The look on Alvin Franklin’s face when he shot the FT.
    4. Patting V on the back as he walked up the steps to his room at Ramada Inn…

    It was an incredible weekend.

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