OT: Survive and Advance

[The Reptile]

Did anyone else watch the ESPN 30 for 30 Sunday on the 1983 NC State team. IMHO, it was one of their best and that's saying a lot. I was hooked immediately because they started by following Derreck Whittenburg as he was making way to Lorenzo Charles' funeral. I remember the day he died very well. I was taking my son to basketball camp and I-40 was jammed due toa bus crash. We didn't know until later that Charles was the driver and he died in the crash.

Anyway, this 30 for 30 had a team reunion which had some very good moments and inserted some moments of Coach Valvano doing a speech. Overa, some very good documentary making and highly recommended for those who have not seen it yet.

[TAS35]

Agreed. It was one of my favorites. I had one small nitpick. They kept saying NCst over Houston was the biggest upset in tourney history. I disagree. The last shot was easily the best moment in tourney history, but Villanova over Georgetown was the biggest upset. As Bilas pointed out early in the doc, NCst before Whittenburg got hurt was a very good team and would have easily made the tourney. They only had to scrape to make the tourney because DW got hurt and they lost 10 games while he was recovering. Again, very small nitpick. I loved the doc.

[Gato78]

Did it delve into Jimmy Valvano's recruiting practices? Considered a cheater at the time but that reputation seems to have faded with time.

[TAS35]

Yep, touched on it in the last segment. Didn't go too deep, but had Coach K basically saying he never really cheated and didn't deserve to be driven out. Not sure that's true. It didn't seem to me like the doc glossed over it, seemed to play it down the middle a bit.

[TheSultan]

I completely forgot to watch it...I am bummed.

Anyway, one thing that I will always remember is watching NC State needing two overtimes, after a miraculous finish to even tie it up in regulation, to beat Pepperdine in the first round of that tournament. It was a late night game, back when then still had those, that tipped off at like 10:30 Central Time, and I watched the entire thing on a black and white television in my basement.

That was also the year that the NCAA let the conferences try different three point lines, and the ACC's was so short that it actually cut through the top of the key. And their shooting is pretty much how NC State won the ACC tournament that year. Of course that didn't give them any advantage in the NCAA tournament since there was no three point line.

Here is a picture of that three point line:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/rs/image/2335783/

[DCwarrior]

I caught the 2nd half of it and it was good. However, in my opinion the best 30 for 30 by far was the one Vlade Divac produced about war-torn Yugoslavia and how it effected the relationships between he, Kukoc, Drazen Petrovic, and the other ethnically diverse players from that really talented national team.

The other notable aspect of the NC St. documentary was watching how good Sampson and Hakeem were. I can't even imagime how they would dominate today's college players. Granted - they were upper classmen, but they were so much better than any big man that has come out of college in the last 2 decades.

[CaribouJim]

Agreed. It was one of my favorites. I had one small nitpick. They kept saying NCst over Houston was the biggest upset in tourney history. I disagree. The last shot was easily the best moment in tourney history, but Villanova over Georgetown was the biggest upset. As Bilas pointed out early in the doc, NCst before Whittenburg got hurt was a very good team and would have easily made the tourney. They only had to scrape to make the tourney because DW got hurt and they lost 10 games while he was recovering. Again, very small nitpick. I loved the doc.

I would go with the NCState game. 'Nova had already played G-Town once or twice that year prior to the game and as good as G-Town was Houston was crazy good and with a one two punch of Hakeem and Drexler were intimidating as heck. IMO Hakeem is the most under appreciated b-ball player in the history of the NBA. It was a shame that he didn't win at least one of his two NCAA finals. That 3-4 year stretch in college b-ball was filled with studs.

[CaribouJim]

I completely forgot to watch it...I am bummed.

Anyway, one thing that I will always remember is watching NC State needing two overtimes, after a miraculous finish to even tie it up in regulation, to beat Pepperdine in the first round of that tournament. It was a late night game, back when then still had those, that tipped off at like 10:30 Central Time, and I watched the entire thing on a black and white television in my basement.

That was also the year that the NCAA let the conferences try different three point lines, and the ACC's was so short that it actually cut through the top of the key. And their shooting is pretty much how NC State won the ACC tournament that year. Of course that didn't give them any advantage in the NCAA tournament since there was no three point line.

Here is a picture of that three point line:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/rs/image/2335783/

I too remember that game. It was a Friday night game right as I was in a bar in Lincoln Park on Halsted near DePaul so my recollection of game details was fuzzy - I do recall rooting for Pepperdine as Jimmy's shtick rubbed me the wrong way.