TSN Archives: All Hail the Wolfpack Savior (March 21, 1983, issue)

02-28-2023
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(TSN Archives)

This story, by correspondent Al Thomy, first appeared in The Sporting News dated March 21, 1983, after the Wolfpack — described by one Atlanta paper as the "other Carolina team" — defeated Virginia in the ACC Tournament final. Spoiler alert: Even bigger things awaited N.C. State in the NCAA Tournament.

ATLANTA — If any coach had the perfect verbal posture to be the coach at Oral Roberts, it's Jim Valvano.

All season long, he kept telling his North Carolina State Wolfpack that "something good is going to happen to us." Well, something good did happen. The Pack got off the tee with four straight wins, then went to 7-2 before playing Virginia at home in game No. 10.

"Coach V kept saying something good was going to happen to us," said point guard Sidney Lowe, "and then, in the Virginia game Dereck Whittenburg (his longtime running mate) was hurt in the second half. I thought, ‘Well, is this what's good that's going to happen to us?’"

Whittenburg, a young man for whom the three-point play was made, had scored 27 points and led State to a 16-point lead over the Cavaliers before breaking a bone in his right foot. Virginia and Ralph Sampson took advantage of the break, literally and figuratively, and rallied for an 88-80 win.

Something good?

The State squad appeared to go into an extended period of mourning when the medics informed Valvano that Whittenburg, a senior, had played his last game. To fill the void, Valvano went to his bench. He pressed freshman Ernie Myers into service in the pressure-packed Atlantic Coast Conference, with sophomore Terry Gannon, a designated zone-buster, in relief. Freshman skill and enthusiasm are fine, but no match for senior leadership.

Something good?

In their next game, the Pack stopped a young Georgia Tech team, but then was blown out by North Carolina and Wake Forest and beaten by Memphis State in a close game played under normal NCAA rules instead of the ACC's 30-second clock and three-point play. At that point they were 8-6 and the "good" was hard to find: The loss column mounted to 10 and Valvano had practically resigned himself to the NIT.

He was even making statements such as, "As a New Yorker, I've always had a special affection for the NIT."

At long last, something good began to happen in game No. 25. Whittenburg returned. If not a medical miracle, it was a human miracle. He played well, but tired in the game at Virginia.

Two games later, the Pack finished its regular season by blowing out Wake Forest, 130-89, and posting a 17-10 overall chart.

"To have any chance for the NCAAs," said Valvano, "we need to win two games in the (ACC) tournament in Atlanta. In my opinion, three wins would get us in."

Snicker, snicker. Oh, sure, three wins in a bracket that included defending national champion North Carolina after the opening pairing with Wake Forest and then leading into the finals against awesome Virginia and Ralph Sampson, who'd never played on an ACC championship team. Triple snicker. But, like Oral Roberts, Jim Valvano is a man of vision.

"I have this vision," he said, "where Dereck comes back and we get to the ACC finals and then he makes the winning shot." 

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"More a daydreamer than a visionary," laughed the skeptics. State's 71-70 decision over Wake Forest in the first round at The Omni caused few rippies. The Deacons had been in disarray for some weeks and there were rumors that Carl Tacy would resign to return to his former job at Marshall.

When the Pack stunned the Tar Heels, 91-84, in overtime, some began to suspect that something was ordained and perhaps the stars were right. Remember that line about seeing Whittenburg on the line? Well, he scored 11 of his 15 points in overtime as State overcame a six-point UNC lead, an almost unheard of occurrence. For the first time since 1975, State won two straight from a Dean Smith team. Lowe, the point guard who learned to love scoring when Whittenburg was out, had 26 points and underrated Thurl Bailey 17.

"This sets things up for a Virginia cakewalk,” derided one self-appointed pundit.

As things turned out, his prediction was somewhat weaker than Valvano's vision.

Stunningly, the Pack stayed close all the way after racing to a 12-1 lead and upset the Cavs, 81-78, as Bailey scored 24, Lowe 18 and Whittenburg 15. Gannon also hit on four of six three-point plays. For Virginia, Sampson had 24 and Othell Wilson 18. and the No. 2 team in the country concluded four years of the Sampson era without an ACC championship and without a Sampson MVP award. Lowe got that.

No one talked about the NIT anymore.

There was great significance out of the first, ACC tournament ever held south of North Carolina.

Whereas a few month ago some State alumni were complaining about the new, long-term contract given Valvano, who at the time was 0-7 against archrival North Carolina, they were now hailing, him as a Wolfpack savior. Despite all his midseason miseries, he was 2-1 against a Dean Smith team.

Also, he had scored a recruiting coup in the Atlanta area and on national TV with his sideline histrionics and flip one-liners. And he has advanced his program despite having a friendly relationship with Smith unlike the past, when ex-State coach Norm Sloan and Smith were not exactly pen pals.

Still, Valvano was not deluding himelf. Speaking of the ACC finals, he retained great respect for the Virginia squad.

"I've never been one who thought a loss could be good for you," he said. "But this talented Virginia team can say to itself. ‘Hey, enough of this,' and get together and really put it on in the NCAAs."

Something good? He laughed.

"But I could never be coach at Oral Roberts," he said. "They don't dance. And I don't know about them, but I think I'll have a drink.

"It bothered me that one Atlanta paper, in a headline, described us as the 'other Carolina team.’ Maybe now they'll call us N.C. State."

Or call them ACC champions, or one of the chosen NCAA 52.