A View from the Cheap Seats

My extreme, near-sinful hatred for Carolina could only be eclipsed by the even more intense jubilation of beating those Bastards Born & Bred and then enjoying every fleeting moment of it until it is our time, as dictated by some malevolent, forbidding destiny, to lose to them once again.

I can recall with striking accuracy – actually it’s not really that impressive given the limited opportunities in my lifetime – every victory I’ve witnessed over them: 2007, twice in 2003 and 2002…1998, 1995, twice in 1992, 1991, 1990…

Miserably enough, we beat Carolina exactly once while I was at State. But for a kid that dropped C++ because its mandatory lab interfered with that Thursday night Syracuse game my sophomore year, that lone victory over the very namesake that represents everything unholy in this world was easily one of the most satisfying and lasting victories of my lifetime.

That 1998 basketball season would bestow but a single extraordinary, enduring impression during a decade devoid of such. In retrospect, we must hope that the similarities between this season and that one diverge – and quickly.

Like this season, 1998 had arrived with the newfound optimism and promise of a second-year coach and a presumably much-improved team. Then, like now, the previous team had been thin and oft-outmanned, but had made an unparalleled ACC Tournament run on nothing more than sheer will fused with a dogged desire, having come up just short in the championship game against that one team every true State fan wholly detests most.

And entering a new season, there was indeed reason for optimism. Like 2008, in 1998 we had returned the established core of All ACC Clint Harrison along with returning starters Ishua Benjamin and Justin Gainey (unfortunately, Damon Thornton would miss the entire 1998 season recovering from the hip injury that had brought an abrupt end to his freshmen season). Harrison and Benjamin were seniors while Gainey had already proven himself a veteran. Added to this nucleus was the heralded recruiting class of Archie Miller, Kenny Inge, Ron Kelley, and Cornelius Williams.

Expectations had been raised, but State had struggled through two very ugly early-season losses to Princeton and Penn State. In a game that lulled its viewers into a trance, Princeton had won 38-36 in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at the Meadowlands. Each team hit only 15 shots from the field while 24 of Princeton’s 38 points were from behind the arc. Oddly enough, free throws had been the difference: Princeton didn’t shoot a single one while State missed two of its three, total.

By its February trip up I-40, State had already lost 74-60 in Reynolds the previous month in a game that had never been competitive after the first TV timeout; by all indications the game in Chapel Hill could be even worse. By this point, State was 14-11 overall and had floundered its way to 4-9 in the conference, and hadn’t made good on the preseason expectations.

Meanwhile, guided by All Americans Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter and supported by All ACC Shammond Williams, as well as future beneficiary of countless ghost hand-check fouls thirty feet from the basket, Ed Cota, Carolina had steamrolled over the ACC, having been tripped up only at Maryland a month earlier, en route to a 26-1 overall, 12-1 conference record, and the nation’s #1 ranking.

February 21, 1998 was typical for a Raleigh winter afternoon: gray skies and mild; a good day, as always, to beat Carolina.

There was an open viewing of the game on a big screen in Reynolds, which drew quite a crowd, young and old. Beforehand, David Thompson gave his usual speech to the captive audience, most of us convinced there was no way he was taller than 6’4,” which only amplifies his legend. This was my first and only time seeing him speak, and I’ll never forget it.

A short time later, I wasn’t so sure about the game, though. They jumped all over us early, leading 9-2 by the first timeout on the dominant play of Jamison. But then the game changed. The freshmen Inge and Kelley switched assignments and disrupted Jamison’s presence in the lane; along with Williams, the three combined for 27 points to counter the combined 34 points of Jamison, Okulaja, and Ndiaye.

People will forget that effort, however. They’ll also likely forget that State hit 30-of-32 free throws against Carolina’s 14-of-19. Impressive in and of itself, it’s absolutely beguiling that State was even allowed to take 32 foul shots, more than less hit more than Carolina took.

But the effort no one could ever forget is that of Harrison. Like Lakista McCuller before him, with 24 points against #1 Carolina in 1995, he went to work with awesome accuracy and precision, slipping off screens and gliding through traffic to find every available open shot and then taking advantage, hitting 10-of-14 from the field and 8-of-9 behind the arc, en route to his career single-game record of 31 points. Neither Williams nor Carter had an answer for him on defense that afternoon.

On that beautiful winter afternoon of my freshman year, State routed #1 Carolina 86-72. When the team stepped off the bus into the frenzied throng outside Reynolds Coliseum late that evening, they had knocked the Heels off their perch atop the nation. For that day, at least, the top belonged to us.

We regrouped outside Owen, reconnoitering in anticipation of the already-building celebration. Of course we did the only logical thing we could think of: we merged with the growing mob as it drove us in chaotic, herd-like fashion towards Hillsborough Street. It had been a late-afternoon game so the celebration carried on late into the evening, and we hadn’t cleared Hillsborough until we had learned that the team bus would soon be arriving at Reynolds. Which was good, because I’m certain there remained no more parked cars undamaged along Hillsborough. I’ve seen video of the celebration on Hillsborough after the National Championship, and I would never attempt to compare the two, but that night it was utter chaos so I can only imagine just how truly epic it was in 1983.

Alas, this tale ends like too many other State stories: as dictated by some warped, predisposed fate, it would seem, our reign over Carolina wouldn’t – couldn’t – last. Evil wins more often than not, which is entirely necessary to ensure that Good remains all that more virtuous. Carolina got its revenge soon enough, in Greensboro a few weeks later, and while their season ended at 34-4 against Utah in the Final Four, our season ended at 17-15 against Georgia in the second round of the NIT.

But on that evening, none of that mattered, because North Carolina State University, the only land-grant institution established for the fine people of the Great State of North Carolina, the school of the greatest college basketball player ever and the original Cinderella, of Fire & Ice and the Spirit of Jimmy V, reigned supreme, once again, if only for that day.

I look back now at that 18 year-old kid and scoff at his innocence and naiveté: if this was just my freshman year, I could only imagine what the next four would hold in store. I mean, c’mon, we’re moving into the new arena in a couple years, we’ve got a stellar recruiting class again in 1999, and we’ll certainly have the most dominant frontcourt in the nation in 1999 and again in 2000. We’ll be a Final Four team for sure by 2001 after that Wilkins kid arrives. Things are going to be very good around here from now on, count on it.

I sure miss that kid.

I’m not callow anymore; on the contrary, perhaps a bit too cynical, hardened. I’ve also matured enough – I think – to appreciate that while sport often transcends life, it is still only a game; winning and losing isn’t life and death. This means I don’t yell so much at the TV anymore (apparently Herb couldn’t hear me anyway).

Of course, there are always exceptions: Carolina. Beating those Bastards Born & Bred is one of the things I treasure most in life. But I’m reticent to the reality of our chances this weekend in that heap of a town in Orange County, especially with Horner and Fells ailing. The simple reality is we don’t do a lot of things well this season while Carolina does, and I’m afraid they’ll easily exploit our many, many weaknesses — unforced turnovers, poor rebounding, poor perimeter shooting, lack of hustle. Right now, based on what we’ve seen to this point, Carolina is a league above us.

Which in this rivalry means absolutely nothing, as we’ve shown many times. Perhaps we’ve got them precisely where we want them, right? If anyone can fire this team up, it’s Coach Lowe, who understands what this game means to us all, because it means the same thing to him.

I want to win Saturday more than anything, and not even for myself – I’ve seen us beat a #1-ranked Carolina before. My reasons are entirely unselfish. I just want us to win so that my baby sister, who is a senior at State right now, can graduate this spring having experienced the elation of knocking off those bastards o’er the hill when they’re #1 like I experienced way back in 1998. I want to win this one for the kids.

C’mon, why is that so hard to believe?

About LRM

Charter member of the Lunatic Fringe and a fan, loyal to a fault.

07-08 Basketball General NCS Basketball

77 Responses to A View from the Cheap Seats

  1. haze 01/10/2008 at 8:04 AM #

    Bravo.

    History, hope, brooding reality, awareness and generosity…

    Oh how our Nation does hate Carolina.

  2. ChuckAllYall 01/10/2008 at 8:35 AM #

    I wonder if Sid will wear the Red Jacket.

  3. Dr. BadgerPack 01/10/2008 at 8:43 AM #

    LRM, fine writing as always. I recall that win in 98. Unfortunately towards the end, I had to go to my research lab in Dabney hall. Of course, I drove slowly and waited in the car after I parked for the final countdown. It was pretty cool to hear the noise begin to swell as the clocked ticked down, and hear the campus erupt when the clock hit zero. Best day of chemistry lab research ever.

    LRM Note: Ol’ Dabney Hall. I feel confident in saying that I retained less knowledge out of that building than any other building on campus…

  4. partialqualifier 01/10/2008 at 8:52 AM #

    Great Job! Great, great job!

  5. senez 01/10/2008 at 9:07 AM #

    If there is a God in the heavens…

    …surely he will find some way to quash any hopes we have of beating Carolina on Saturday. However, he will bestow upon us fading glimmers of false hope for the remainder of the season. Such is the life of the Wolfpack faithful.

  6. Clarksa 01/10/2008 at 9:28 AM #

    Great job! I was at that game and the UNC-CH fans left in mass quantities with about 4min to go in the game…it was lots of fun.

  7. TNCSU 01/10/2008 at 9:40 AM #

    Great post, LRM!

  8. smfrank 01/10/2008 at 9:46 AM #

    Great post. That 1998 year was my sophmore year. We gave up alcohol to watch the game in Reynolds and it was truely one of the most memorable experiences in my dorm days.

    Ironically, no unc fan is born and bred, except in wal-mart.

  9. Sweet jumper 01/10/2008 at 9:53 AM #

    Great post. My first memories of Wolfpack hoops go back to Dick Braucher and Eddie Biedenbach and then the Vann Williford years. My best NCSU-UNX memories are everytime we played them in 1973 and 1974 and the 1983 game in Reynolds. Sid’s between the legs pass to Thurl was wicked. I thought the roof was going to come off Reynolds. A great day is when State wins and Carolina loses in basketball or football. A perfect day is when State beats Carolina! Go Pack!

  10. newt 01/10/2008 at 9:59 AM #

    “But for a kid that dropped C++ because its mandatory lab interfered with that Thursday night Syracuse game my sophomore year”

    You’re talking football, right? I was teaching a Thursday night course at NC State that year and cancelled class so everyone could go to the football game, which we won on a late drive. And people think we didn’t like football until Amato.

    LRM Note: Newt, it was that Thursday night football game, yeah. Fall of ’98. I mentioned to my lab instructor that it interfered with the game and I’m certain he had no idea what I was talking about. I’d already missed once for the Ohio game, which had also been on a Thursday night, so a second one would have done me in. He wouldn’t budge, so I sure showed him.

    The most frustating moment of my freshman year was a few weeks after this game. I had tickets to the ACC Tournament for both the play-in game (State-FSU) and Friday game (versus Carolina). However, my calculus professor — a TA that week — decided Wednesday on a Friday quiz. I asked politely to be excused from this quiz, completely honest about my reasons. She denied my request, saying I needed to understand priorities (which was a valid point); so I studied and went to class for the one-question quiz. The question: What was the final score of last night’s game? I was so infuriated at this that I wrote a complete recap of the game and let her know exactly what I thought about her and her “quiz.” I don’t think she liked me very much.

    Another note – that Jamison/Carter team started 0-3 in ACC play the year before and were 3-5 after their first trip through the conference. They wound up in the final four and preseason #1 the next year, losing only to Maryland, NC State, and Duke before falling to Utah in the final four that year. My point – Everyone should be patient and see how this NC State team pans out over the long run.

  11. highonlowe 01/10/2008 at 10:00 AM #

    Great post
    I can take a loss as long as there is heart and hustle.

  12. James 01/10/2008 at 10:03 AM #

    Great reflection. I graduated from State in May and also experienced ONE win over UNC-CH during my tenure there. I had the pleasure of attending our victory in the RBC last year.

    And to think I almost didn’t go. I skipped the whole campout thing to get tickets. What can I say, senior design in biomedical engineering is demanding. I got a last minute opportunity to go because SG officials announced a ticket giveaway on the Wolf Web. One of my best friends and I stood outside in the cold and rain to get two tickets.

    Since he didn’t want to go, I tried to market the ticket to other friends. One of my friends chose to watch the game with his girlfriend at ECU. The other still attends State and is a Carolina fan. Everyone else was out of town or busy or not interested.

    Later that afternoon, I drove toward RBC. Since I had no one to go with I drove past Trinity Road. Then I started to think. “What if I don’t go… and we win?” I thought. I did a u-turn near the NC Museum of Art and headed back. I had to go.

    I’ve been a State fan since I was seven. I remember some great wins over UNC. From Googs 36 point performance in ’92, to Lakista going crazy in ’95, to Harrison in ’98, but I had never seen one in person. I also remember the heartbreaks. The ’93 debacle. Three close losses during Herb’s first season. UNC besting us in our first matchup in RBC.

    That’s what made that afternoon so remarkable. I had witnessed the bonehead plays, not being able to get the ball inbounds, and terrible officiating. That game was different. We made shots. We answered when they made a run. We hit free throws. And, well, we won.

    I’ll won’t forget preparing to storm the floor, slapping hands with people I had never met. As I stood on the floor, I called my Dad, a ’77 state grad who was at State when we won it all in ’74. His frustration with Sendek, Lee Fowler, and our administration’s low expecations caused him to lose interest. “Guess where I am Dad?” I shouted over the crowd.

  13. 66pack 01/10/2008 at 10:21 AM #

    after the last 25 years of poor atheletics imo we should try to join a conf like caa in all sports except fb.although they might not want us.unc is not going to allow us to be better than them in anything-atheletics or academic.there is only going to be one unc and that will be in chapel hill.

    lrm note:dead on.thk goodness for all those unc engineers,agriculture scientists,physical scientists,farmers,and veterinarians making this world a better place to live in.

  14. packbackr04 01/10/2008 at 10:30 AM #

    if fells is out saturday, can Marques play the 2 spot so we dont ever have to watch Fergie play again?

  15. gcpack 01/10/2008 at 10:42 AM #

    To chuckallyall:

    Yes Sidney will wear his red blazer. He said so on his radio show Monday night. But what good is that if we don’t win?

    This team really perplexes me. The chemistry is <0.
    My wife(ECU grad) even mentioned after the game last night
    that it is one in another of the 4 games she has gone to where the play isn’t fun to look at, nothing is exciting including the crowd. (Why should they be?)

    My only hope is that Sidney has been holding his cards back with his substitution patterns and play calling. That hope probably won’t come to fruition. Particularly with Fells apparently out this weekend and Horner hobbling.

    It’s amazing how one player (Atsur), who got no post season accolades, can have such an affect on the performance of an entire team. It was like night and day last season and it has transitioned into this year’s team.

    Sure Degand had speed and Johnson seems to have potential but his learning curve is still weeks, if not a season, away. In either case we still don’t perform up to last year’s post season performance with the exact same players plus one super big guy.

    Hopefully this will be similar to the start of Dick Sheridan’s career at State. A really good start in his first year in 1986 but fell to 3-8 in 1987. The rest is history.

    Maybe Sidney will hit his stride next year. I hate to write off this season but so far this team performs mediocre at best.

    Maybe Sidney’s down cards are double aces.

  16. wolfonthehill 01/10/2008 at 10:52 AM #

    Wolfpack Basketball: Catch the Apathy!!!!

  17. StateFans 01/10/2008 at 10:57 AM #

    In addition to playing Johnson/Horner at the two to keep Fergie off the court….

    …could we not move Grant to the two, Costner to the 3 and play Ben and JJ down low?

  18. newt 01/10/2008 at 11:11 AM #

    “where the play isn’t fun to look at, nothing is exciting including the crowd”

    Just keep in mind that we have been playing against extreme slow-it-down-and-play-zone-defense teams, which is tedious and unexciting.

  19. zahadum 01/10/2008 at 11:20 AM #

    Having Grant at the two would certainly be worth a try, versus having Fergie out there.

    The, I guess you could say, perverse thing is that we’ve recently seen a prime example of what we need to do on Saturday. Namely, do our best Presbyterian impersonation and milk the shot clock for all its worth. If we can somehow keep the score in the 50’s we’ve got a chance but for every 10 points higher than that our odds get exponentially worse.

    Don’t know that a 2-3 zone is the way to go, but perhaps for periods something exotic like a 1-3 and chaser, with the chaser on Ellington, and make Lawson be the one who has to beat us from outside.

  20. Stoner 01/10/2008 at 11:22 AM #

    I watched part of the Carolina-Kent State game and the announcers said Carolina got bit by the injury bug, because their back-up PG was injured….I wonder what we’re bit by if losing then…

    It’s amazing how one player (Atsur)…can have such an affect on the performance of an entire team.

    I all honesty it shouldn’t be surprising. You’re replacing a 4 year starter with two guys – Degand and Javi – who never played a college game before the year began.

    Here’s hoping and praying Fells can go, without a problem on Saturday.

  21. Stoner 01/10/2008 at 11:24 AM #

    **EDTI: I wonder what we’re bit by then…

  22. SuperStuff 01/10/2008 at 11:34 AM #

    I hope we play something like a box and one with the one defender guarding Lawson full court. We could switch that defender all game so someone keeps a body on Lawson constantly. One thing I’ve see with Carolina is that they like to inbound on a key made basket quickly to Lawson. He has the green light to take it all the way to the rim. I just think keeping a defender full court on Lawson will at least slow that inbound.

  23. TNCSU 01/10/2008 at 11:35 AM #

    ^^^The other still attends State and is a Carolina fan.

    That’s a friend you need to dump — and fast! 🙂
    Seriously, I’ve never understood Carolina fans that go to State. If you went to Carolina, fine, but rooting for our #1 rival??? Geez…

    As far as Grant at the 2, that may work, but Costner will have a tough time at the 3 (mainly on defense). I think Sidney mentioned something close to that in the postgame interview. I’m wondering a little about Tracy Smith. I’m surprised he didn’t play more. He came in with about 2:49 left – immediately had a block and then scored on a putback lay-up. I think he’s in Sid’s doghouse for some reason. I have to admit, he seems kind of lathargic – even when he’s playing fairly well. Hopefully, the prospect of playing time will fire him up!

    As far as Fells, it will hurt, but it could fire this team up some. It gives some other folks a chance to step up and shine. I think there’s no way he ready on Saturday. It would have to be a very MINOR sprain, and the way he looked on the court, it didn’t look minor. I would guess 2-3 weeks minimum, but lets hope for a quick recovery.

  24. packbackr04 01/10/2008 at 11:35 AM #

    “In addition to playing Johnson/Horner at the two to keep Fergie off the court….

    …could we not move Grant to the two, Costner to the 3 and play Ben and JJ down low?”

    THATS A GREAT THOUGHT SFN…

    we have to find a way to get and keep our best players on the court. my concern is that Costner is so terribly out of shape and overwieght that he cant possibly hang with the 3’s in the acc for a full 40 minutes much less the next 9 weeks. heres hoping he proves me wrong

  25. ChuckAllYall 01/10/2008 at 11:43 AM #

    Everytime it looks like this team is making progress, they seem to regress against sub-par competition. There does not appear to be any fire, drive or intensity out there at all. It will be tough to win more than 4 ACC games with no defense, poor outside shooting, no proven point guard, little overall effort, and zero chemistry. I am not counting them completely out yet, but thus far they have been excruciating to watch. I too agree with what another poster said earlier, it’s one thing to get beat by a team that is better than you……but you should never get beat because of a lack of effort or desire. Show some pride in yourself and your university dammit.

Leave a Reply