48 ■ THE WOLFPACKER
BY TIM PEELER
A
mong the great questions ever asked by
sports fans is how a dominant team from
one year might fare against a dominant team
from another.
How would the 1927 New York Yankees do
against the 1975 Cincinnati Reds?
How would any of the best Super Bowl cham-
pion Kansas City Chiefs teams do against the
1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins?
For NC State, that question becomes difficult
if you compare the two best teams in school
history, Norm Sloan's undefeated 1972-73 team
(27-0) and his 1973-74 (30-1) team that won the
school's first NCAA championship in any sport.
Both teams, of course, won ACC champion-
ships a half century ago — while compiling a
57-1 record, the best two-year mark of any pro-
gram in ACC history — but they had different
outcomes and motivations.
NC State's victory in the 1973 ACC Tournament capped an undefeated season, but the Wolfpack wasn't able to advance any further, having been
barred from the NCAA tourney that year.
PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS
PACK PAST
Unbeaten But Unfulfilled, NC State's 1972-73 Team
Was One Of The Best In School History
