Updated: Sunday, March 13, 2005; Noon ET
It was 18 years ago the ACC Tournament was last played in the Washington, DC area (Landover, Maryland to be exact).
NC State won that tournament by completing a clean sweep of our Big Four Rivals – defeating Duke in overtime in the quarterfinals; Wake Forest in the semi-finals in double overtime; and #1 ranked UNC-CH on Sunday. That was the last Championship of merit that NC State’s Basketball Program can claim.
On that fateful day in 1987, NC State had won 29.4% of all ACC Tournament Titles – 10 to be exact. No school had more; Carolina also had 10 Titles. Duke, that program that supposedly is insurmountable because they have “always been good” had only 7 Championships.
Since 1987, a lot has happened in college basketball and at NC State. One thing that hasn’t happened has been a Championship at NC State. Since this last title, NC State now ranks a distant third in the list of total ACC Championships, having won only 19.4% of all titles.
I’d just like to personally thank the Larry Monteith, Todd Turner, Les Robinson, Herb Sendek, Lee Fowler (and even Marye Ann Fox) fraternity for their ability to manage such a formerly successful program into an 18 year drought that is almost statistically impossible.
Oh well…wait til next year!
Today’s Links
— Don’t let the empty space fool you. There is a pie chart at the bottom of this entry that illustrates the information in the table above.
— In today’s News & Observer, one of my favorite former Technician writer’s J.P. Giglio wrote and article titled, “Despite wins, Wolfpack fans are frustrated”.
“Sendek has had more success at the ACC Tournament than during the regular season or NCAA Tournament. In nine seasons, he is 167-121 overall with a 62-82 record in conference play. At the ACC Tournament, he has won at least one tournament game in eight of his nine seasons and has a 13-9 overall record. His teams have reached the tournament championship game three times. “
— Lenox Rawlings writes that it’s the same old Blue Devils. Herb Sendek just lost his 5th game to Duke in the ACC Tournament in 9 years. Sendek is now 3-20 overall against Duke in 9 years. Sounds like the same old State.
— For you hoops junkies, our friends at ACCBasketblog have put together a super list of links for your reading and educational pleasure. Get over there!!
— Been following the RPI this year? You might want to take a double-check that.
— Speaking of RPI — For the record, State’s current RPI is #63 in the country. Sounds like a “down year” doesn’t it? It must be some kind of anamoly, right? LOL!!! Think again. Sendek’s #63 is actually right in line with his historical results. In 9 years of coaching at State, Sendek’s average finish in the RPI is #57 and median finish is #56. State has finished better than #53 in the RPI only twice in the Sendek era – #32 in 2002 when we got a late season surge and #17 last year.
