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Villanova
It was announced Monday that Villanova’s Curtis Sumpter has torn his ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season. The Wildcats already needed a “hitting on all cylinders” performance to match Carolina on Friday night. Now their mission gets tougher. But…hey…they already needed a one-game-miracle-masterful-performance to win, now the potential legend of a possible victory can grow even larger.
NC State & Villanova
It feels kinda good that two national darlings of the 1980s are experiencing NCAA Tournament success in 2005 in the same regional. Jim Valvano and Rollie Massimino would be proud.
NC State & Villanova & UNC-Chapel Hill
In an odd sort of way, it is fitting that Carolina is included in the regional with the Wolfpack and the Wildcats as the Tarheels had some participation in NC State and Villanova’s success in the 1980s.
During Villanova’s magical run to the NCAA Title in 1985, the Wildcats disposed of Carolina in the Elite 8 in Birmingham, Alabama. (I think the color of the floor was green).
In 1983, the Tarheels provided Jim Valvano’s Wolfpack two marquee wins on our march to the NCAA crown –
(1) a win in Reynolds that will be forever remembered for Sidney Lowe’s backwards, between the legs bounce pass to Thurl Bailey on a fast break for a facial slam over Sam Perkins.
(2) an overtime win in the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament when Derek Whittenburg took over the overtime period and led the Pack into the finals against Ralph Sampson and Virginia.
On Tuesday, Caulton Tudor wrote an excellent piece recalling NC State’s 1983 Regional Final with Virginia. The piece also highlights some conference history within the NCAA Tournament and notes that had Carolina beaten Georgia in the Eastern Regional Finals in 1983, the Wolfpack and the Tarheels would have met in the Final Four in Albuquerque. Could you imagine?
