Friedlander: Cardiac Pack, Part 2? Despite similarities, comparisons between this NC State team and 1983 just don't fit

DALLAS — The comparisons began before NC State’s 5-win in 5-day run to the ACC Tournament championship was complete.

And they’ve only intensified everywhere the Wolfpack have been since.

Questions about Jimmy V’s Cardiac Pack have been front-and-center at literally every press conference Kevin Keatts and his players have attended before and after their NCAA Tournament games in both Charlotte and Dallas.

It’s an absolute certainty that it will happen again once they arrive in Arizona to begin preparations for their national semifinal matchup against Purdue on Saturday.

Even if the take isn’t entirely accurate.

To be fair, there are some similarities between these 2 Final Four teams, 41 years apart.

Both are surprise region champions not given much of a chance once they arrived at the mountaintop. This year’s Wolfpack, the 11th seed in the South, is a 9.5-point underdog to the top-seeded Boilermakers from the Midwest according to ESPN BET sportsbook.

The venues for both their Final Fours are located in the desert Southwest. Both teams are dominated by a charismatic, larger-than-life personality. In this case, super-sized center DJ Burns has taken on the headlining role handled in 1983 by Valvano. And drew an opponent led by a 7-plus foot 2-time national Player of the Year.

But that’s about all they have in common.

When it comes to the makeup of their rosters and the circumstances surrounding their surprising rise to the top, you might as well be comparing apples and oranges. Or in this case, Wolfpacks and Tar Heels.

“We’re on this nice run because we’ve carved space out,” Keatts said before his team’s Sweet 16 victory against Marquette last week. “And we’re doing things our way and not trying to be someone else.”

It’s a reality Keatts has tried to drive home at every opportunity. Even if nobody really wants to listen. Narratives are much more fun.

This one in particular.

On this day in 1983, @PackMensBball won its second national championship!

Where were you when this happened, #WPN? Tell us in the mentions! #GoPack #ncsu pic.twitter.com/b8V8JJj6AH

— NC State Athletics (@PackAthletics) April 4, 2018

The ‘83 title team has taken on mythic proportions, not just among State fans. It inspired the phrase “Survive and Advance,” became the subject of a popular 30 for 30 documentary and launched Valvano to legendary status.

It also elevated its members – particularly stars Dereck Whittenburg and Sidney Lowe, along with championship game hero Lorenzo Charles – into what current team member Casey Morsell has described as “Wolfpack Royalty.”

It’s a status Morsell and his teammates are also well on their way toward attaining. If they haven’t already.

But to celebrate their similarities without recognizing their significant differences just because they wear the same red-and-white jerseys and represent the same school would be a disservice to the accomplishments of both sets of Wolfpack heroes.

Starting with the circumstances that preceded their incredible postseason runs.

Like any great epic, the tale surrounding the ’83 team has grown taller as the years have gone by. It’s not quite the Cinderella story it’s now made out to be.

That team started the season ranked in the top 20 and was 7-2 when shooting guard Whittenburg, arguably its best player, suffered a broken foot that kept him out of the lineup for the next 17 games. The Wolfpack weren’t at full strength again until Whittenburg returned for the start of the ACC Tournament.

Whether or not they had to win the tournament to get an NCAA bid in the 48-team field is a debate that can never truly be settled. Suffice it to say, it makes for a better story to say that they did.

Either way, State ran through a gauntlet of elite teams and Hall of Fame opponents – Ralph Sampson, Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon among them – to reel off 9 straight wins and cut down the nets in Albuquerque, NM as national champions. It’s easy to get lost in the details of how unbelievable each victory was, but Survive and Advance certainly was the perfect description.

The 2024 team didn’t have any Whittenburg injuries to overcome.

The squad that has reeled off 9 straight postseason wins and turned a pair of DJs into household names, transformed Michael O’Connell into “Miracle Mike” and taught Mohamed Diara who Cinderella was is exactly the same crew that stumbled to the end of the regular season by losing 10 of their last 14 and 4 straight.

The Pack were picked to finish 7th in the ACC’s preseason poll. And despite getting off to a 5-1 start in the conference, it justified those predictions by finishing 9-11 and so far off the NCAA bubble that it wouldn’t have even been visible from atop the Bell Tower on a clear day.

Keatts and his players came to the ACC Tournament knowing that their only hope of extending their season was to win the title. A feat no other team relegated to the opening round on Tuesday had ever come close to accomplishing.

But they pulled it off, slaying the top 3 seeds and the ghost of #NCStateStuff along the way. Then winning 4 straight NCAA games to make even more history. They’re the first team to reach the Final Four with as many as 14 losses on its record.

16 days ago NC State sent their semifinal game in the ACCT into OT after a missed UVA FT followed by a buzzer beater 3. They went on to win the ACCT, automatically qualifying for the NCAAT.

NC State just punched a ticket to the Final Four.

THIS SPORT!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/VDMYOdH4Ua

— brandie (@brandieeemac) March 31, 2024

Their 30 for 30 will be much more than just a sequel.

“What changed?” Keatts asked. “We got smarter. We got the same players who are playing with a little bit more confidence. But when we went back, let’s start with the ACC, and looked at every team that we lost to, it didn’t have a lot to do with them. It was more about what we didn’t do.

“We were good enough to win games. We had problems that you could solve. To our credit, we grew up in scouting reports, our film work became better and we understood what needed to be done not to beat ourselves.”

There was no injection of talent. No magic potion was added. No switch was flipped. Only a belief that morphed into a mantra similar to the one that fueled State’s other miracle run.

Why not us? It’s just another way of saying survive and advance.

Both encapsulate the urgency of each team’s moment and the sense of confidence and destiny that has grown with each improbable victory.

Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.

It’s the one true similarity between the 1983 and 2024 teams. Unless, of course, Keatts and this new group of Wolfpack Royalty can keep their roll going for 2 more games in Arizona.