Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yjMElE5Se8
In 1983, the NC State Wolfpack Men’s Basketball team won the
NCAA Championship. The documentary Survive and Advance (Hock) describes a
bond the players shared throughout the run, the belief the team’s head coach,
Jim Valvano, instilled in his players, and the importance of playing basketball
for more than oneself. Dereck Whittenburg, who was a guard on the NC State team
and a main talking figure in the documentary, had the idea for the film after
the death of one of the team’s players. Lorenzo Charles, a center who had
caught Whittenburg’s airball in the waning seconds of the championship game and
slammed home the game-winning dunk, passed away in July 2011. Whittenburg,
known as Whitt, told the team if they did not get together once a year,
everyone would only be coming back to each other’s funerals. The film
interviews team members and staff using close-ups. Other scenes depict the
whole team sitting at an oval table in a restaurant, reminiscing about the magical
run through the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) tournament and through the NCAA
tournament. Whitt and another teammate on NC State, guard Sidney Lowe, went to
DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland. Whitt’s cousin had won a basketball
championship at NC State in 1974 and Whitt dreamed of following in his cousin’s
footsteps. An establishing shot showed the DeMatha gym and pictures of Whitt
and Sidney hooping for the team. Norm Sloan, who coached Whitt’s cousin, ended
up recruiting Whitt and Sidney to play at NC State. The two high school
teammates would team up with Thurl Bailey, a 6’11 recruit who was also a
freshman in the fall of 1979. Sloan would leave after Whitt’s, Sidney’s, and
Thurl’s freshman year, staging the entrance for the New York-rooted Jim
Valvano.
Survive and Advance (Hock) introduces Valvano through
a talk on stage he is giving years after the team won the national
championship. He has a spotlight on him and casts no shadow against a black
background. As is typical of Valvano, he was joking around about arriving at NC
State. He later joked about how he played hard to get, telling the athletic
department he would accept a multi-week contract (Hock). Whitt explains
Valvano, known as Coach V by his players, was a dreamer. From day one, Coach V discussed
winning the national championship, even proclaiming, “I know I’m going to win
the national championship.” Thurl remembered: “The more [Valvano] spoke, the
more we listened.” The film then flashes to Whitt’s, Sidney’s, and Thurl’s
senior season, the championship 1982-1983 season. NC State started the year
with 7 wins and 2 losses, but an injury to Whittenburg against a mighty Virgina
sidelined him for some time. Before discussing the team’s response to Whitt’s
injury, Survive and Advance cut back to Valvano on the stage discussing
the belief his dad always had in him. Valvano would call his father when making
the NCAA tournament, even at his previous school before NC State, and the call
would become a ritual between the two. “My bags are packed… I’m gonna be there
when you win the national championship.” Valvano quipped: “The gift my father
gave me…was he believed in me. My father believed in me.” Valvano maintained
belief in the team’s talent after Whittenburg’s injury. The team fell to 9-7
during Whitt’s injury and lost the first two games after he came back. Whitt
held a team-only meeting and was yelling at all the players about playing with
motivation and the urge to win. Coupled with Valvano’s belief in staying
positive and inviting players into his office to discuss anything, the speech
sparked a nerve with the team. The coach told his players winning the ACC
tournament championship was the only avenue of reaching the NCAA tournament.
The “Survive and Advance” moniker came to symbolize the string
of closely contested ball games NC State would win. In the first round of the
ACC tournament against Wake Forest, NC State won 71-70. Wake Forest was
attempting to hold the ball for three minutes as the game was tied at 70.
Valvano had the idea of trapping the Wake Forest players, leading to a NC State
steal and a foul to send Lorenzo Charles to the line. Charles made one of two
shots to give NC State the one-point lead and eventually the win. NC State then
faced North Carolina, whose roster had future NBA players Sam Perkins and
Michael Jordan. The game was tied 70-70 when Perkins attempted a game-winning
three, with the ball rimming in and out to send the game to overtime. Down six
points in overtime, NC State began fouling North Carolina players to put them
on the line in hopes of a miss. The strategy worked, as multiple players missed
free-throws to keep NC State in the game and allow them to climb back in. The
Wolfpack took down Jordan’s team 91-84. In the ACC championship game against Virginia,
the team NC State was playing the day Whitt got injured, NC State squeaked out
a narrow win 81-78. Valvano used a triangle-and-two defense on Ralph Sampson, a
7’4 Virginia center who required two defenders around him.
Valvano had one practice every year involving cutting the
nets down. No balls were dribbled or shot, only a ladder was brought out to
allow Coach V to practice cutting the net down with his gold scissors. After beating
Virginia in the ACC tournament championship, Valvano climbed the ladder and cut
down the nets exactly as he had envisioned with the team in practice. Survive
and Advance (Hock) panned to ESPN’s revealing of Valvano’s cancer
diagnosis in June 1992. His wife revealed he had a year to live after the
diagnosis if chemotherapy worked (if chemo did not work, then only ten months
to live). The film follows the cancer announcement by flashing back to the
start of the 1983 NCAA tournament. NC State, fresh off wins over North Carolina
and Virginia, was not too concerned about playing Pepperdine in the first
round. NC State, despite being down six points with a minute to go in overtime,
squeaked out a 69-67 win after implementing a strategy of fouling Pepperdine
players and hoping for missed free throws. In the second round, NC State took
on a 28-2 UNLV team led by future NBA player Sidney Green. Green had made a
comment in the paper prior to the game about how he was unimpressed with Thurl
Bailey. Bailey took Green’s comments personally and had the game-winning
rebound put-back, securing a 71-70 NC State victory. Following the game against
UNLV, Bailey referenced a story about a woman whose husband was in a coma. She
wrote to the team explaining how her husband is a big NC State basketball fan
and she is not. She turned on NC State basketball games for him on the radio and
began to follow the unlikely run the team had been making beginning in the ACC
tournament. Bailey stated the lady explained: “[NC State basketball] has given
me a reason to believe.” The team knew their run symbolized hope and was more
than solely about winning games. The theme of hope continued with a flashback
to Valvano’s cancer treatment conversations with former Duke basketball head
coach Mike Krzyzewski. Coach V wanted to win his fight with cancer and thought of
the idea of leaving a legacy through the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer
Research. NC State defeated Utah by 20 points in the Sweet Sixteen before an
Elite Eight rematch with Virginia. Valvano once again instructed his team to
foul in a tie game. A freshman from Virginia made one of two free throws to
give the Cavaliers a one-point lead, before Lorenzo Charles canned two free
throws enroute to a 63-62 NC State win. The Wolfpack furthered the run after
defeating Georgia 67-60 in the Final Four. Before highlights from the NC State
and Houston championship game in 1983, Survive and Advance (Hock) recounted
Valvano’s speech at the 1993 ESPYs. Coach V emphasized three crucial things to
do each day: laugh, think, and cry. He announced the motto for the Jimmy V
Foundation as “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”
On April 4th, 1983, NC State defeated Houston in
the 1983 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship by two points, 54-52. At the 10-year
anniversary of the 1983 team, Valvano and his players assembled at one of NC
State’s home games for a ceremony. Valvano, with months to live, explained to
fans the lessons the 1983 team taught him. The team taught him about hope and the
betterment of conditions despite adversity. His players taught him the
importance of dreaming, as every goal begins as a dream. Lastly, his players taught
him about persistence and the importance of loving one another.
Citations:
Survive and Advance. Directed by Jonathan Hock, ESPN Inc.,
2013.
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