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N.C. State Upends Virginia for ACC Title

By Tim Peeler, GoPack.com

Mar 21, 2008

Atlanta —  In the days after senior Dereck Whittenburg suffered what was thought to be a season-ending broken foot, Jim Valvano gathered his remaining players in the lockerroom in the basement of Reynolds Coliseum and told them it was too soon to quit.

He was convinced something good would happen to his team, even if Whittenburg was not in the lineup to help. The coach also told his players about his dream that Whittenburg would miraculously return to the lineup, lead the Wolfpack to the ACC title game, then hit the winning shot over North Carolina for the school’s ninth ACC title.

Hollywood scripts always need revising, and this one was no different. Fate determined that Whittenburg would be critical in beating North Carolina, but it happened in an overtime semifinal victory on Saturday.

Sunday’s championship game needed an even bigger antagonist: Virginia All-America center Ralph Sampson.

The 7-foot-4 giant, who was supposed to help lead the Cavaliers to ACC glory when he was recruited four years ago, became the perfect tragic figures. Sure, he scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, but his presence was non-existent in the game’s final stages, as the Wolfpack took advantage of the Cavalier mistakes for an 81-78 victory at the Omni in front of 16,723 stunned spectators.

Sampson took only four shots in the second half, scored only six points and had the ball taken away from him by the smallest player on the court, Wolfpack guard Terry Gannon, at the most critical point in the game. When his team needed him the most, he was held at bay by a smothering defense from sophomores Cozell McQueen and Lorenzo Charles, with help off the bench from battlin’ Alvin Battle.

“Defensively, we knew it was impossible to stop Ralph, but we wanted to control him,” Bailey said after the game. “The other guys were doing a good job of keeping him away from the basket.”