N.C. State's Final Four double has Wolfpack fans howling with March Madness delight

RALEIGH, N.C. — The grave sits perched on a hill in the historic 72-acre Oakwood Cemetery near downtown. It bears “Valvano” carved in large letters on polished black stone, honoring N.C. State’s charismatic coach who sold big dreams then lived them in an unforgettable run to the 1983 national championship.

Jimmy V has been gone more than three decades. Yet visitors are leaving fresh tributes. Among those: a sticker bearing the “Why not us?” mantra defining the maddest of March moments here in decades.

The Wolfpack men have followed their first ACC championship since 1987 with an even more improbable Final Four appearance, the first since Valvano’s “Cardiac Pack” magic of ‘83. Even more magical: The women are in the Final Four, too, their first trip since 1998, which came under their own beloved late Hall of Famer, Kay Yow.

It all has led to an emotional reconnection with past glory on Tobacco Road, including this time a generation that has never seen anything like this.

It’s a thrill borne of built-up frustration. Yet battered hope remains for a women’s team that has been nationally relevant for numerous seasons and a men’s program that spent much of the post-Valvano era wandering in the wilderness.

Payoffs came Sunday with Final Four tickets. Now N.C. State owns a spotlight it often has to fight to share with nearby rivals Duke — the 11th-seeded Wolfpack men’s Elite Eight victim — and North Carolina.

By early Monday, fans were greeting one Final Four team in its campus homecoming, then the other about two hours later.

Both programs have leaned into it. Women’s coach Wes Moore attended the men’s ACC title win in the nation’s capital, then men’s coach Kevin Keatts sat behind press row as Moore’s women beat Tennessee in an NCAA second-round home win.

Businessman Greg Hatem, whose Empire Properties helped revitalize downtown Raleigh with restaurants and building projects, is savoring it all. Part of the Wolfpack Club’s board of directors, Hatem was a photographer for N.C. State’s student newspaper, The Technician, during the 1983 run that ended with Lorenzo Charles’ dunk to beat Houston and Valvano frantically looking for someone to hug in Albuquerque.

It was an enduring moment for a program that also won the 1974 NCAA title, which included beating UCLA in the Final Four to end John Wooden’s run of seven straight championships. Now 2024 has its place in Wolfpack lore.

“It’s nice to feel the energy again, it’s nice to see people out wearing the red,” Hatem said. “Now they’re excited again, and I’m talking about the young ones who have never seen this, and folks my age who have seen and remember ’83 and ’74.

“It’s something I didn’t know when we would get to see it.”

The same is true of 1983 team member Ernie Myers, who said teammates are talking constantly about this run on their group text. Charles, he of the famous dunk, died in 2011 and is buried not far from Valvano.

Myers is a radio analyst for the women and worked their Elite Eight win against Texas. The wait hadn’t been quite the same for Moore’s team, which reached the Elite Eight two years ago. That top-seeded team faced a lower-seeded Connecticut team in the Huskies’ home state, suffering a crushing double-overtime loss.

Yet this team picked eighth in the ACC took that final step.

Chasity Melvin was the top scorer for the program’s lone Final Four appearance before playing professionally in the WNBA and overseas and since has moved into coaching.

She’s following superstitious routines for the Wolfpack’s matching runs: wearing N.C. State socks, sitting in the middle of a three-cushion couch, no texting or tweeting during play.

“I believe it was very hard for coaches and ADs to really have a vision of, ‘OK, we’re tired of saying we just can’t do it because we have to fight with Carolina and Duke,’ ” Melvin said. “But actually demanding, like: ‘Hey, it’s going to be hard but we want to build a culture. We can get on the winning side of this game, too.’ ”

The Wolfpack women face No. 1 overall seed and unbeaten South Carolina on Friday in Cleveland. The men face top regional seed Purdue on Saturday in Glendale, Ariz.

“It’s a special time obviously,” Moore said. “Memories that will last you a lifetime.”