“Big Event” in BBall to be Announced

Link

“On Inside Wolfpack Sports this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on WRAZ Fox 50, Athletic Director Lee Fowler will announce a big event that will be hosted by the men’s basketball team.”

Does anyone know anything?

Most fans on internet message boards are speculating that this could be an announcement of a “Midnight Madness” for the coming season. That would be nice.

While we are on the topic of announcements for the coming season…SFN would like to suggest the following — how about a ‘special’ event to commemorate the 25 year anniversary of the Wolfpack’s 1983 National Championship? It sure would be nice if State would announce a match-up with the Houston Cougars for next year.

Even better would be a four-team event in the RBC to mimic the 1983 Final Four. The first night should have Louisville play Houston and the Wolfpack match-up with Georgia. The second day of play should have Louisville and Georgia followed by the Wolfpack and the Cougars. This event would/could have all types of traditional tie-ins; don’t forget that Georgia served as the Wolfpack’s first opponent in the RBC Center (called the ESA at the time).

This really shouldn’t be that big of an under-taking to put together, can it? Especially since we’ve had 25 years to plan something.

Can you imagine the national recognition and play that our program could get from such an event? Think about the honors and attention that we could turn on Jim Valvano and the V Foundation. Especially in light of Kay Yow’s current battle with cancer.

I am excited to see what kind of innovative event that our Athletics Department has put together in honor of one of the most memorable National Championships in basketball history.

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07-08 Basketball General

98 Responses to “Big Event” in BBall to be Announced

  1. redfred2 07/29/2007 at 1:29 PM #

    Bo, agreed on all counts.

    Madwolf, I’m pretty certain that last year, Sidney’s Lowe first and really the fitting and only time to him give a huge welcoming home celebration from just the Wolfpack crowd, the red/white game was held on a Weds or Thurs night, and with the women’s coaches pretty much running the show. There was alot of speculation as to the why’s it been decided that way, but none of them made good sense to me. I may wrong about all of that, but that’s the way I remember it anyway.

  2. highstick 07/29/2007 at 3:21 PM #

    Whew, I was afraid Fowler was going to announce we were going to play Gardner Webb twice in football in one year and had scheduled East Carolina for a bowl game!

  3. PAPacker 07/29/2007 at 3:39 PM #

    Is it time yet to bring back the FIRE JED signs at football and or basketball games? Football and basketball appear on the road to prominence but what about the suffering of all those other sports at State?

  4. burnbarn 07/29/2007 at 5:51 PM #

    “Wouldn’t it have been a nice touch to put the Midnight madness on with a home football game? It’s now set on an off week for football (which maybe would have worked better last year since we needed football boys to suit up in order to scrimmage). Maybe just a schedule thing that could be worked out some other year. Just thinking in terms of maximizing recruiting trips.”

    MM date is mandated by NCAA as the beginning of practice.

  5. redfred2 07/29/2007 at 10:02 PM #

    I was really hoping that Lee was going to announce that we had earned a spot on the coveted “Sleep America Classic” mattress.

  6. Clever_Wolf_Name 07/29/2007 at 11:13 PM #

    Nothing would say more about our school than honoring a coach who got the program put on probation, which led to the darkest era in the men’s basketball program’s history. Well thought out!

  7. MadWolf92 07/29/2007 at 11:47 PM #

    red, I’ve gone to about 3 R/W games in the past 5-6 years, and they’ve all been the day of football games. I only know of one that wasn’t, and I thought it received all the noise simply because it wasn’t on a Saturday, like the rest had been.

  8. cooldrip 07/30/2007 at 12:29 AM #

    Clever_Wolf_Name, if that is the synopsis of your opinion of the events surrounding Jimmy V’s tenure here, you should try to discover the TRUTH about what happened, and the real reasons that our program went into a coma for a few years. I would imagine you never had a chance to watch the man’s teams play; you would understand the love many of our fans had for Jimmy V, and I wouldn’t be defending him right now.

  9. Rochester 07/30/2007 at 8:04 AM #

    Yeah, please don’t make Jimmy V out to be Jim Harrick. Read the book “Valvano” if you have an open mind and get his side of the story.

  10. Rick 07/30/2007 at 8:08 AM #

    “Nothing would say more about our school than honoring a coach who got the program put on probation, which led to the darkest era in the men’s basketball program’s history. Well thought out!”

    This might be the most ignorant post I have ever read on this site and that is saying something.

    I do not know if beo still has his Valvano site but if so I would love him to link it.

  11. 66pack 07/30/2007 at 9:22 AM #

    clever wolf name is clever only in name—ignorant is the name.

  12. TNCSU 07/30/2007 at 9:44 AM #

    CWN…Wow! – are you kidding me?? I could write a paragraph or two about how much I disagree with that post, but evidently I just don’t think you would get it. Please do some reading and find out about all the great things Jimmy V did for NCSU (and all of college) basketball.

  13. Clever_Wolf_Name 07/30/2007 at 9:51 AM #

    I became an N.C. State fan in the early 80s because of Jim Valvano, and subsequently graduated from there. I have read the books, from Personal Fouls to The Gave Me a Lifetime Contract … ” I am fully aware of the man, his accomplishments and his character. But I feel that naming something after a coach who got the program put on probation is inappropriate.

  14. RickJ 07/30/2007 at 9:58 AM #

    Hate to interupt this mornings pissing contest but doesn’t ESPN cover Midnight Madness at a few sites around the country? It would be incredible if we made their telecast. The Lowe – 25th Anniversary – V angle would be a natural. Maybe even have Vitale cover it from Raleigh with a V Foundation tie-in.

    This is just a hunch but I think we are going to set an all time, per game NC State basketball attendance record this year.

  15. Rick 07/30/2007 at 10:18 AM #

    “The Lowe – 25th Anniversary – V angle would be a natural.”

    SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    Don’t you know we should be ashamed of that?

  16. BoKnowsNCS71 07/30/2007 at 10:56 AM #

    I think it was more the kids (players) who put the program on probation.

    “The NCAA put the North Carolina State men’s basketball team on probation for two years for violating NCAA rules involving the sale of complimentary admissions and sneakers during the past four seasons. The sanctions preclude the Wolfpack from playing in this season’s NCAA or NIT tournaments.”

    Now what did the Coach do wrong here? Some players sold their tickets and free sneakers for extra cash. This is not an action of cheating or recruiting violation by a coach that might get a school in trouble. The bottom line is a few of the player’s action (acting on their own) — created a situation which in the end shafted their coach.

    You can say “He was in charge and therefore responsible.” but that’s 20-20 hindsight.

    If you were around at the time, you also understood that a lot of people wanted his head becasue he was so prominent — including the local media and those in the University system.

    Yes we did go on probation. However, other than trust his players too much and become a celebrity in the national media (during and after his time at NCSU) — I don’t fault the man.

  17. highstick 07/30/2007 at 11:05 AM #

    Quote from Wilkepedia:

    I appreciate the kind words about your wishes for the book, and very much appreciate your candor about my brother and his reputation. Your summation is in fact one of the main reasons I want to write the book. I agree that he has been ‘sanctified’ and it is for the wrong reasons. He got sick and died very young, and handled it with great dignity and courage. I am proud of that. But he really was no different in his illness than he was in health. It was simply the perception, publicly, that changed, and your comments are a reflection of that. Let me ask you a question. You say Jim ran one of the dirtiest programs in America. Did you know that after three investigations, the only thing he was ever accused of was that his players sold complimentary athletic shoes and tickets? Period. Did you know that? Did you know that the guy who ran the NCAA investigation, Dave Dideon, a hardened veteran of dealing with slick, underhanded coaches, said that he never investigated a more misunderstood coach than Jim, and that following the investigation, he wrote a letter to Jim saying that if he had a son, he would be proud to have him play for Jim? Probably not, and my guess is that if you did, you would rather not have it cloud your preconceived judgment that Jim was a bad guy. He made mistakes. He tried to do too many things at once. He assumed details were being tended to that weren’t, that he should have seen to. But dirty program? Astoundingly inaccurate, but perpetuated, as is the misconception that he became a ‘good guy’ when he got sick. He was always a ‘good guy,’ an inspiring guy, and he made his share of mistakes. Both have been blown out of proportion, and it makes Jim a cartoon character. Please don’t take my remarks personally . . . I am probably tilting at windmills to think I will change anyone’s mind, but it is a noble fight. To fight it, I can’t, and won’t, make Jim out to be a saint, but the criticisms are as inaccurate as the accolades are simplistic. It is worth trying. -Bob Valvano

  18. RTPMedic 07/30/2007 at 11:09 AM #

    It is shameful the way Jimmy V’s name has been drug thru the mud. Perfect? No. But no one can deny he was a class act and acted with only the best interests of NC State in his heart.

    I think they should honor V in some way like naming the court for him. Let the two or three folks that would be against it just learn to deal with it. I don’t know anyone that would not support such a move.

  19. packbackr04 07/30/2007 at 11:33 AM #

    I like Case Court personally, has a nice ring to it.

    but the RBC Valvano Center sounds awesome… its all moot though

  20. rkw 07/30/2007 at 11:43 AM #

    IIRC, V is honored at the RBC to the same degree that Case and Sloan are. As much as I liked and respected him, I’m not sure he deserves to be held up above them.

  21. noah 07/30/2007 at 11:54 AM #

    I would imagine that my dog will have a building at NC State named after her before Jim Valvano does.

    I’m not saying that’s fair or not…just stating the obvious.

  22. Rick 07/30/2007 at 12:00 PM #

    I think noah is right.

    Apparently some of the big dogs did not like him. I know that putz that put out the ten seeds of greatness loved to run down V.

  23. nycfan 07/30/2007 at 12:01 PM #

    I’ve said for years that I didn’t understand why Sendek refused to host Midnight Madness; the change is long overdue.

    Is State planning a lot of 25th anniversary stuff for the ’83 run? Seems like a requirement and a great opportunity for the program to promote the resurrection under Lowe via the memories of the ’83 team.

  24. RAWFS 07/30/2007 at 12:04 PM #

    Sadly, Noah is probably correct…and the only reason I say probably is that if one of the owners of our program (Murphy, Dail, etc.) decide to name a building after Valvano, it shall be so named.

    Finally, renaming the RBC takes a lot more than NC State deciding to do so. First, there’s the fact that NC State doesn’t outright own the building, secondly, they do not even operate the building, they are mere tenant, and third, the naming rights contract undoubtedly prohibits a name change during the life of the contract.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Lee Fowler’s Big Announcement? Midnight Madness at 850 & 620 THE BLOG - 07/30/2007

    zAPED5 This is one awesome blog post.Really thank you! Awesome.

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