Shades of NC State and 1983? The 2024 Wolfpack is creating its own basketball story

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and senior associate commissioner Paul Brazeau were seated courtside at N.C. State’s NCAA Tournament opener in Pittsburgh when one said something about it feeling like “1983 all over again.”

To which the first reaction might be: Puh-leeeeze!

Not 1983, again. It will always be a beloved, almost fabled N.C. State team, but this year’s Wolfpack is creating its own special story, winning the ACC Tournament, winning two games in the NCAA Tournament. And still advancing.

“Four more games,” Pack guard Jayden Taylor said Saturday. “Four more. That’s it.”

What Taylor meant was that the Wolfpack is four wins removed from winning the school’s third national championship. Not that he’s looking ahead. Just stating a fact.

“No one thought we’d make it this far and we want to keep it going,” Taylor said. “We’ve come this far and we’re trying to win the national championship.”

The Wolfpack (24-14), seeded 11th, next faces Marquette (27-9), the No. 2 seed, Friday in the semifinals of the South Region in Dallas. Duke will also be there, the fourth-seeded Blue Devils matched up against Houston, the No. 1 seed, in the second semifinal.

“We’re on top of the world after winning two in Pittsburgh and we’re ready to go to Dallas,” Pack forward Ben Middlebrooks said Saturday. “There’s no quit in this team. We keep on battling.”

The Pack has been made a 6.5-point underdog against the Golden Eagles, coached by Shaka Smart — not that the Pack seems to mind such things.

“We don’t focus on who’s the underdog or who’s the higher seed or the lower seed,” Pack guard Michael O’Connell said Saturday. “It’s just the matchup at hand.”

There are some similarities to the ‘83 team and that’s one — no quit in the team. The Pack won the 1983 ACC Tournament. It had 17 regular-season wins.

But that team had a core group of guards Dereck Whittenburg and Sidney Lowe and post player Thurl Bailey, all seniors. They had played together for four years at State and Whittenburg and Lowe even longer after being teammates at DeMatha High in Hyattsville, Maryland. Others were recruited: Lorenzo Charles, Cozell McQueen, Terry Gannon, Ernie Myers. Alvin Battle was a junior-college transfer.

No full-scale roster shuffling, No NIL enticements. No portal.

This year’s Wolfpack is a “new-age” college team. The transfer portal brought much of the roster to Raleigh. And NIL promises. Earlier this season, D.J. Horne was showing off a new bejeweled pendant, smiled and said, “Thanks, NIL.”

N.C. State big man D.J. Burns and other teammates been wearing T-shirts that say “Our Moment” on the front, which is exactly what it is — this Wolfpack team, this season. It can stand alone.

Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts has talked of his team’s core values being “ARTT” — standing for accountability, relentless, toughness, together.

“Every time we start to waver I go back to them and say, ‘Are we doing ARTT?” Keatts said Saturday after the Pack’s 89-83 overtime NCAA win over Oakland in the Pittsburgh.

“Are we accountable? Are we holding each other accountable? Are we relentless in how hard we play? Do we play with toughness and are we doing all of that together?

“That’s what we came up with at the beginning of the year and it has stuck with us. It has really taken us through because we’ve been able to challenge each other and say, ‘Are you doing this or not?’”

Did the Wolfpack have to win the 2024 ACC Tournament to get in the NCAA Tournament? Undoubtedly, although only those in the NCAA selection committee know for sure. Beating North Carolina in the championship game, after the overtime win over Virginia in the semifinals, ended all doubt.

“Every game we go out there, I feel like we’re getting better and it’s showing,” Horne said. “We’re really inking ourself in history.”

As for the 1983 team …

One basketball myth that has persisted through the years is that the 1983 Wolfpack would not have been in the NCAAs had it not won the ACC Tournament. That it had to go through Wake Forest and then UNC and Virginia to take the league’s automatic bid.

The late Dave Gavitt, chair of the 1983 NCAA basketball selection committee, said his group had the Pack in the field before beating Virginia in the title game in Atlanta.

Gavitt, in an interview with the N&O at the 1984 NCAA Convention, said the committee had factored in the foot injury to Whittenburg that sidelined the shooting guard in the regular season. Whittenburg was back for the ACC Tournament. The Pack beat Wake Forest in the opening round, then the Tar Heels in overtime to get to the finals.

“We already had State on the board and in the field before they played the semifinals against North Carolina,” Gavitt, then the Big East commissioner, said in the N&O interview. “We considered that Dereck Whittenburg was not available for 14 games, and who State had played, and had State as one of our top 24 teams.”

The Wolfpack went West for the 1983 NCAA title, through games in Oregon and Utah before winning it in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The opponent in the championship game: Houston.

A No. 1 NCAA seed in 1983, Houston is a No. 1 NCAA seed in 2024. And in Dallas.

Maybe there are some shades of ‘83 in the Pack’s NCAA run, after all.