The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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24 ■ THE WOLFPACKER So dominant was Burns that Wake For- est head coach Steve Forbes was forced to deploy the one defensive tactic that he had told himself he wasn't going to use: a double team. Forbes was worried that Burns would exploit the look by passing to his teammates. That fear proved entirely justified. When the Deacons tried to double-team Burns, the result was a pair of wide-open NC State three-pointers. "I know we've got 14,000 people in here who think they can coach telling me to double-team the post," Forbes said fol- lowing NC State's 79-77 win. "Did you see what happened when we did that? We watched film after film after film on this guy, and he's a great passer." Forbes then tried a last resort: hack Burns and put him on the line. Burns responded with a pair of free throws to break a 73-73 tie with 1:22 remaining. "He's a dinosaur when it comes to to- day's centers," Keatts noted. "And what I mean by that is, very rarely do you have guys today who don't mind playing with their back to the basket. Even in our league outside of a couple of teams, most The legend of NC State post player DJ Burns Jr. is growing with every flip of the sunglasses, every crowd-pleasing hook shot and every sideline shimmy. The graduate center from Rock Hill, S.C., has quickly become a fan favorite — an undefined, but coveted title that is organically decreed and not intentionally given. NC State has had more than most through the years, players whose names always bring a smile. Below are five of the biggest fan favorites in Wolfpack basketball history. Monte Towe | G | 1971-75 A 5-foot-7 point guard on the most successful teams in NC State basketball history, Towe was unlike any player in the ACC at that time. He was practically as popular as All-America teammates David Thomp - son and Tom Burleson. Although he did not have the same skill set, height or natural talent as the other two, Towe was a play- maker with a salad-bowl haircut who reminded tele- vision viewers of teen idols like Davy Jones and David Cassidy. All eyes were on him as he started coach Norm Sloan's offense, and few people ever saw him coming on defense. And then there were his free throws. He took them so quickly, you had to hold your eyes open or risk missing the ball swish through the net. "I didn't want to think about them," said the career 76 percent free-throw shooter. Imagine what might have happened in the final seconds of overtime in the 1974 ACC Tournament final against Maryland if Towe had been preoccupied with his mechanics. Not long after teammate Phil Spence had given the Pack the lead, Towe was fouled with a few seconds remaining in overtime, going to the line with a one- and-one opportunity. Had he missed the first of those two, Maryland could have easily gotten the ball down the court for a game-winning shot. Instead, in the flash of an eye, Towe sank both shots to give the game its 103-100 final score, ce - menting his Wolfpack legend. Spud Webb | G | 1983-85 Following the 1983 NCAA championship, NC State coach Jim Valvano desperately needed someone to replace fire-hydrant-shaped point guard Sidney Lowe. Valvano sent assistant Tom Abatemarco to Texas to check out a junior college phenom who didn't have a lot of size but was creating a stir with his leaping and driving ability. The young guard recorded more than 100 dunks in two years at Midland Junior College and enough assists to pique the interest of an ACC coach. However, the 5-foot-7, 135-pound kid Abatemarco brought back to Raleigh looked like he played for a junior high school, not a junior college. "If that's Spud Webb," Valvano said to Abatemarco when the player walked off the plane, "you're fired." In the end, Anthony Jerome "Spud" Webb became a fan favorite whether he was at home in Reynolds Coliseum or other places around the ACC. He once got a standing ovation from Duke's Cameron Crazies for stealing the ball, racing down the court and doing an uncontested 180-degree dunk against the Blue Devils. Webb had a decent outside shot in the first year of the NCAA-approved three-point shot, but he pre- ferred to drive inside the lane with all those bigger players. Why? "That's where the basket is," Webb said. What more could NC State fans ask for? Pano Fasoulas | C | 1985-86 Arriving practically unannounced from Thessalon- iki, Greece, Fasoulas was a 7-foot center with a glo- riously floppy mop of shoulder-length hair and arms so long he was given the nickname "The Spider." What made him a Reynolds Coliseum favorite was that he played every home game with his name mis- spelled on the back of his jersey. (When told about it, Valvano said, "Hell, he'll never see it.") As NC State's first one-year international player, Fasoulas was an important cog on a team that went These Five Fan Favorites Enlivened Wolfpack Basketball At only 5-foot-7, Spud Webb thrilled Wolfpack fans with his high-flying dunks. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS Burns started his career at Tennessee but didn't see action in his lone season with the Vols. He later spent three seasons at Winthrop before deciding that NC State was where he wanted to finish his college career. PHOTO BY SPENCER THOMAS