The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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50 ■ THE WOLFPACKER With Its Latest ACC Crown, NC State Kicks Karma To The Curb Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. PACK PERSPECTIVE BY TIM PEELER O ne of the first things over- heard after NC State won the 2024 ACC men's basketball championship was a comment summing up feelings that had been steadily brewing within the Wolfpack fan base for 37 years. "We forgot how to celebrate," said a longtime supporter with close ties to NC State athletics. Seems like a good analysis of what has happened, at least on the men's side, since Jim Val- vano and his 1987 team won their tournament championship. It wasn't, of course, for lack of trying. State fans wanted so badly to celebrate a new title that some even bought into the delu- sion perpetuated by outside ob- servers that there was some kind of looming curse or bad karma surround- ing anything and everything to do with NC State athletics. For many, the best part of what Kevin Keatts and his mature and experienced team did during March and April was to dispel that myth. And they did it like so many previous NC State teams: by coming from nowhere and shocking the world. That wasn't the case in 1955, '56, '59, '73 or '74, when the Wolfpack was the best team in the league and among the best in the nation. However, the Pack's other six ACC titles came mostly by surprise. And that's a good part of the reason those teams were feted in such a celebratory manner. Everett Case's team that won the in- augural ACC Tournament in 1954 was seeded fourth in an eight-team league. Its roster was full of sophomores, and those players — Ronnie Shavlik, Vic Molodet, Whitey Bell, Phil DiNardo and Lou Dickman — were unproven until the postseason came along. Even then, NC State beat North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest by a combined total of seven points to claim the inaugural title. Subsequent championships were of- ten surprises. The poignant 1965 title, with a dying Case on the sideline and Press Maravich in charge of the team, was the benefactor of Larry Worsley's surprise performance off the bench and an overconfident Duke on the other sideline. Norm Sloan slowed down unbeaten, third-ranked South Carolina to the point that his wife sent one of their kids to the sideline during a lull in the ac- tion to say, "Daddy, Mom wants to know what are you doing?" That the Pack beat the Gamecocks was college basketball's biggest surprise in 1970. The same happened in 1983. Sloan had finally walked away from trying to build his version of a dynasty and left his lineup in the hands of Jim Valvano, whose two ACC championships came out of the blue — quite literally, since the Pack had to beat North Carolina in overtime in the semifinals in 1983 and with free throws in the 1987 final. The surprise nature of those titles is what made the teams worth celebrating. In the four championship game ap- pearances that followed — 1997, 2002, 2003 and 2007 — it seemed like the enormity of matching those earlier surprise successes was too much, not necessarily for the talented players on those teams, but for the situations they were in. Herb Sendek's inaugural team in 1997 and Sidney Lowe's team in 2007 had to play four games to get to the championship. Sendek's teams from 2002-05 had to face Duke and Maryland, both of which won national championships during that span. As much as everyone around the program wanted it to hap- pen, it was just too much. That was seemingly the case when Keatts and his team went to Washington, D.C., all of their futures in considerable doubt. They were, however, up to the challenge of winning five games in five nights, all against oppo- nents that have won national championships in the past quar- ter century. A team cobbled to- gether with some local players, some long-term contributors and a handful of dynamic play- ers who captured the attention of basketball fans across the country turned out to be just what Keatts needed to break whatever supposed curse had been cast on the program. And the fans celebrated. They went to the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and won both, just as Wes Moore's women's team cap- tured its games over Chattanooga and Tennessee in Reynolds Coliseum. And the fans celebrated. Both teams won in the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight, and they advanced to the Final Four simultaneously for the first time in history — the first time since 1983 for the men and 1998 for the women. And the fans celebrated. Whatever happened to both teams in the final weekend almost didn't matter. Neither was expected to be there, either from the beginning of the season or, in the case of the men's team, at the end of the regular season. Every successive victory was another reason to celebrate. It was a fine time to kick karma to the curb. And that's something worth remem- bering throughout the offseason and into next year when both programs have the chance to do it all over again. ■ NC State has a histor y of surprising performances at the ACC Tournament, and coach Kevin Keatts added to it when he led the Pack to this year's title. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS