12/11/2019 basketball Edit

The 1983 NC State title team understood the challenge of facing No. 1

Tim Peeler

The Wolfpacker contributor

With Louisville’s loss last night to Texas Tech, it looks like college basketball may next week get its fifth No. 1 team in the young season. Kansas or maybe Ohio State, you’re on the clock.

What makes this interesting is that only once in the history of the Associated Press poll, which dates back to 1939, has there ever been more than five different No. 1 teams in a season.

That year was 1982-83, when seven different schools were ranked No. 1 in the nation: Virginia (5 weeks), Indiana (2), Memphis (1), UCLA (2) UNC-Chapel Hill (2), UNLV (2) and Houston (3).

The most under-appreciated and most important stat from that season is that NC State played 10 games against teams that sat atop the poll at some point that season: four against Virginia, three against UNC and one each against Memphis, UNLV and Houston.

So while Houston was the only one ranked No. 1 at the time of their game against the Wolfpack, it’s unfathomable to think that Jim Valvano’s Cardiac Pack won six of those contests.

That’s why, even though the nine-game postseason run to the national championship was the most unlikely month of success in NCAA history, the Wolfpack’s win over the Cougars in the title game wasn’t really an upset. Even with dominating future Hall of Fame players Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in opposing uniforms.

The Pack had more experience playing against the best teams in the country that year, including two games that bookended the fall exam schedule against teams that had recently won national championships.

On Dec. 10, 1982, the Pack beat Michigan State at Reynolds Coliseum, 45-41, took a week off, then lost a narrow decision, 57-52, at Louisville. The Cards ranked as high as No. 2 in the AP Top 20 that season on its way to joining the Wolfpack in Albuquerque at the Final Four. The Pack was that close to having played an 11th game against a top-ranked opponent.

It was after that loss to Louisville that Valvano told his disbelieving team at midcourt of Reynolds Coliseum: “From what I saw from you guys in the game last night, this is a team that is good enough to make it to the Final Four.”

It wasn’t an easy path, of course. The Pack had to deal with uncertainty after the loss of Dereck Whittenburg to what was thought to be a season- and career-ending broken foot, similar to the one he suffered during his sophomore year at DeMatha Catholic High School.

Valvano, however, was a master adjuster. In Whittenburg’s absence, he changed his primarily halfcourt team into more of a running squad, which befit the talents of Whittenburg replacement, freshman slasher Ernie Myers.

It forced sophomores Terry Gannon, Lorenzo Charles and Cozell McQueen to mature on the fly. It should be remembered that in the Wolfpack’s nine postseason games, Charles stepped up to win three of them on the last possession: Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament, Virginia in the NCAA West Region finals and, of course, Houston in the national title game.

No team before or since has played so many games against teams that had been No. 1 during the season. And no season had more No. 1s.

That could change this year, if a new team keeps rising to the top of the polls.

If you are looking for a secret candidate to win it all this year at the Final Four at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in early April, see who plays the most games against those No. 1 teams and if they have the same kind of success Valvano and his team did in 1982-83.

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. His account of the 1983 NCAA championship season, When March Went Mad, is available here.