NC State returns to Elite Eight, pays ‘homage’ to 1983 squad،
DALLAS — None of this year's NC State players were born in 1983, when the Wolfpack last made its improbable run to the men's championship in the NCAA Tournament. But they know the story.
“I’m fully aware of that,” guard Casey Morsell said. “We honor this team and this group throughout the year. These guys have been invaluable to us by coming back, giving us feedback, giving us different things we could do to be better .So we really appreciate them and we honor them just by going out and trying to win.
This season's Wolfpack resembles the 1983 team. A seemingly unlikely team, as an 11 seed, to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament in its debut, the Wolfpack advanced Sunday to the Elite Eight South Regional game by defeating second-seeded Marquette 67-58.
They will face Duke, who beat Houston 54-51 later Friday. NC State beat Houston in the 1983 title game on a last-second shot.
NC State also won the NCAA championship in 1974 led by the legendary David Thompson.
Coach Kevin Keatts called the members of both teams big brothers, uncles and “maybe even grandfathers to some of them” to the current players.
“Our 1983 team [and] our 1974 team was great,” Keatts said. “We don't need to talk about that history now because we celebrate it all the time. We've been talking about it since I've been here, and we'll be talking about it for as long as we remember. This is not the case. one of those things where we have to point to it and say, “Here's what happened in 1983, here's what happened in 1974.” We're talking about the great David Thompson. Obviously, we unveiled his statue for him this year. These guys are still here.
This NC State team had to win five games in five days to win the ACC Tournament just to qualify for the NCAA Tournament – beating Duke along the way. He has now won three more matches in the tournament by dominating Marquette.
The Wolfpack held the Golden Eagles to 4 of 31 3-pointers and overwhelmed them 42-35. Those are stats that could take NC State to its first Final Four in 41 years if it can repeat them on Sunday.
“Why not us?” asked center DJ Burns. “We get a lot of disrespect. People still don't think we're supposed to be there, but we're going to keep trying to spoil the party.
