30 ■ THE WOLFPACKER
BUCKET BUCKET
LIST LIST
Michael O'Connell's
History-Making Heave Is Only
The Latest In A Long Line
Of Legendary Shots By NC State
BY TIM PEELER
s so o n a s M i c h a e l
O ' C o n n e l l 's t y i n g
three-pointer banked
in against Virginia in the
semifinals of the ACC
Tournament, the debate
began raging: Where
does it rank among the greatest shots in
NC State men's basketball history?
Like all such debates, it's subjective.
Does that mean most important? Most
spectacular? Most gravity-defying? Most
high-pressured? Longest? Choose your
criteria.
There's no doubt that O'Connell's
high-arching prayer over Virginia's Isaac
McKneely was the catalyst that resulted in
the best Wolfpack postseason run in more
than four decades. Coach Kevin Keatts
and his team won nine consecutive games
en route to the program's first ACC cham-
pionship since 1987 and its fourth Final
Four appearance.
A
