I was only 3 years old at the time, so I don’t remember that one 😂
For our generation, nothing comes close. That was a meltdown of catastrophic proportions.
That one ranks right up there because it was an in-state school. We had 3 future N.B.A. players, but no true “Big Man”. By contrast, Furman had 7’1” “Moose” Leonard & not only was Clyde Mayes 6’9”, he was built like an NFL TE or DE. Despite that, Carolina had built an 11 point lead early in the 2nd half. That’s nothing today, but...in the days of no shot clock & no 3 pointer...we could have done a better job of milking the game clock. Had excellent ball handlers & free-throw shooters. Some young guys took some quick, low-percentage shots & Mayes + Leonard were killing us on the boards. Once the mo’ shifted in earnest, that was all she wrote!!
They all haunt, but none bigger than the 1970 ACC finals. But this haunting is predicated on Roche injuring his ankle the night before. Even if USC had beaten NCSU with an injured Roche, there's no guarantee that the dance would have been a cakewalk.
I don’t know which one hurt more... Copin St or Richmond the following year...
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That was a tough loss. I think it may be the worst because it kept us out of the NCAA. I took my two sons to the game. They were young and had fun. I think the statistic I remember most about that game was we missed more shots than they took. That was an unbelievable tournament for us. What an effort. Our shots were often short and I attribute that to having to play more games. They just seemed tired.
I was in the pep band and remember the layer of fog inside the Philadelphia Pelastra. We couldn’t figure out why 2 teams 100 miles apart had to go there to play each other. Both teams Pep Band’s comprised 90% of the crowd.
In those days, the Palestra was known as the Cathedral of College Basketball.
Many were anticipating a USC-UCLA matchup for the national title. Even if we had somehow beaten NCSU, I doubt we would have made it to the title game.
I want to like your post. I agree with the agony (I saw it on TV too). I can't like agony.
Coppin State is no doubt #1, but this game is a really close second for me. We weren’t high powered on offense by any means, but Tre Kelley was playing really well and we possibly could’ve won a couple in the big dance had we pulled this one out.
That's it. If Roche hadn't hurt his ankle in the semifinals, this would have been a "no contest."
