Battle of Backbone Mountain

1973–74 ACC men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 NC State †	12	–	0	1.000	30	–	1	.968
No. 4 Maryland	9	–	3	.750	23	–	5	.821
No. 12 North Carolina	9	–	3	.750	22	–	6	.786
Virginia	4	–	8	.333	11	–	16	.407
Clemson	3	–	9	.250	14	–	12	.538
Wake Forest	3	–	9	.250	13	–	13	.500
Duke	2	–	10	.167	10	–	16	.385

† 1974 ACC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1973–74 North Carolina State Wolfpack men's basketball team represented North Carolina State University during the 1973-74 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Wolfpack played their home games at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina, and competed as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. While losing only one game throughout the season, the team finished undefeated in the ACC conference lay, and went on to win the 1974 ACC men's basketball title. The Wolfpack then won the NCAA tournament, finishing the season as the national champions.

Season summary

NC State had several highly rated players, including star high-jumping forward David Thompson, 7-foot-4 center Tom Burleson, point guard Monte Towe, and several complementary players, including guard Moe Rivers and forward Phil Spence. The Wolfpack began the season ranked #2 in the nation, behind John Wooden's UCLA. On December 15, 1973, the two top-ranked teams met in St. Louis, with UCLA beating NC State by 84–66 after trailing by one at halftime. It would be the only loss for the Wolfpack that season. NC State later met and defeated the Bruins 80–77 in two overtimes in the NCAA tournament semi-final game, ending UCLA's streak of seven straight national championships. Two nights later, NC State won its first NCAA championship by beating Marquette, 76–64.

Roster

1973–74 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
C	24	Tommy Burleson	7 ft 4 in (2.24 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Sr	Newland, North Carolina
C	50	Mike Buurma	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Fr	Willard, Ohio
G	32	Bruce Dayhuff	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Walkerton, Indiana
F	14	Greg Hawkins	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Huntington, West Virginia
G	22	Dwight Johnson	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	So	Raleigh, North Carolina
G	34	Craig Kuszmaul	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Warren, Ohio
C	35	Bill Lake	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr	Carmel, Indiana
G	40	Mark Moeller	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Canfield, Ohio
F	52	Steve Nuce	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Rockville, Maryland
G	10	Moe Rivers	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Jr	Brooklyn, New York
F	30	Phil Spence	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	So	Raleigh, North Carolina
F	42	Tim Stoddard	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Jr	East Chicago, Indiana
F	44	David Thompson	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr	Shelby, North Carolina
G	25	Monte Towe	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	145 lb (66 kg)	Jr	Converse, Indiana

Head coach

Norm Sloan (NC State)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[1]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
December 5*	No. 2	East Carolina	W 79–47	1–0	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
December 7*	No. 2	Vermont	W 97–42	2–0	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
December 15* ABC	No. 2	vs. No. 1 UCLA	L 66–84	2–1	St. Louis Arena St. Louis, MO
December 18*	No. 5	Georgia	W 94–60	3–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
December 28*	No. 5	vs. Villanova Sugar Bowl Tournament	W 97–82	4–1	Municipal Auditorium New Orleans, LA
December 29*	No. 5	vs. No. 18 Memphis State Sugar Bowl Tournament	W 98–83	5–1	Municipal Auditorium New Orleans, LA
January 4*	No. 5	No. 4 North Carolina Big Four Tournament	W 78–77	6–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
January 5*	No. 5	vs. Wake Forest Big Four Tournament	W 91–73	7–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
January 12	No. 4	Clemson	W 96–68	8–1 (1–0)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
January 13	No. 4	No. 3 Maryland	W 80–74	9–1 (2–0)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
January 17	No. 3	at Virginia	W 90–70	10–1 (3–0)	University Hall Charlottesville, VA
January 19*	No. 3	UNC Charlotte	W 104–72	11–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
January 22	No. 3	at No. 4 North Carolina	W 83–80	12–1 (4–0)	Carmichael Auditorium Chapel Hill, NC
January 26*	No. 3	at Purdue	W 86–81	13–1	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
January 30	No. 2	at No. 6 Maryland	W 86–80	14–1 (5–0)	Cole Field House College Park, MD
February 2	No. 2	Virginia	W 105–93	15–1 (6–0)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
February 4	No. 2	at Duke	W 92–78	16–1 (7–0)	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, NC
February 8*	No. 2	vs. Georgia Tech North-South Doubleheader	W 98–54	17–1	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 9*	No. 2	vs. Furman North-South Doubleheader	W 111–91	18–1	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 13*	No. 2	Davidson	W 105–78	19–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
February 16	No. 2	Wake Forest	W 111–96	20–1 (8–0)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
February 20	No. 1	Duke	W 113–87	21–1 (9–0)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
February 23	No. 1	at Clemson	W 80–75	22–1 (10–0)	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC
February 26	No. 1	No. 4 North Carolina	W 83–72	23–1 (11–0)	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
March 2	No. 1	at Wake Forest	W 72–63	24–1 (12–0)	Winston-Salem War Memorial Coliseum Winston-Salem, NC
ACC tournament
March 8*	No. 1	vs. Virginia ACC tournament	W 87–66	25–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
March 9*	No. 1	vs. No. 4 Maryland ACC tournament	W 103–100 ^OT	26–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
NCAA tournament
March 14*	No. 1	vs. No. 5 Providence NCAA tournament • Regional semifinals	W 92–78	27–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
March 16*	No. 1	vs. No. 13 Pittsburgh NCAA tournament • Regional Final	W 100–72	28–1	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
March 23*	No. 1	vs. No. 2 UCLA NCAA tournament • National semifinals	W 80–77 ^2OT	29–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
March 25*	No. 1	vs. No. 3 Marquette NCAA tournament • National Final	W 76–64	30–1	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East.

^[2]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	2	2	2	5	5	5	4	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Coaches	Not released		2	6	5	5	4	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	Not released

ACC tournament

The 1974 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was held in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Greensboro Coliseum from March 7 to 9. NC State defeated Maryland 103–100 in overtime to claim the championship.

The final featured two of the top teams in the country. It has been regarded by many to be the greatest ACC game in histo — and one of the greatest college games ever.^{[citation needed]} The game was instrumental in forcing the expansion of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship to 32 teams, allowing more than one bid from a conference.

NCAA tournament

1974 NCAA tournament championship Game Box Score
Player	Min	FG	FT	REB	AST	PF	PTS
D. Thompson	40	7–12	7–8	7	2	3	21
M. Towe	37	5–10	6–7	3	2	1	16
T. Burleson	36	6–9	2–6	11	0	4	14
M. Rivers	40	4–9	6–9	2	5	2	14
T. Stoddard	25	3–4	2–2	7	2	5	8
P. Spence	19	1–2	1–2	3	3	2	3
M. Moeller	3	0–0	0–0	0	0	0	0
Totals	200	26–46	24–34	34	14	17	76

East
- North Carolina State 92, Providence 78
- North Carolina State 100, Pittsburgh 72
Final Four
- North Carolina State 80, UCLA 77
- North Carolina State 76, Marquette 64

^[3]

Awards and honors

Tommy Burleson, ACC tournament MVP.
David Thompson, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[4]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	3	Tommy Burleson	Seattle SuperSonics

^[5]

References

^ "1974 NCAA Final Four program". March 1974. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
^ NC State All-Time Results Archived 2018-09-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Jun-29.
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
^ "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
^ "1974 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2013.

[1] "1974 NCAA Final Four program". March 1974. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

[2] NC State All-Time Results Archived 2018-09-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-Jun-29.

[3] "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".

[Tourney_History-4] "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.

[5] "1974 NBA Draft on databaseBasketball.com". Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2013.

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[3]

[4]

[5]

NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
Venues	Thompson Gym (1925–1949) Reynolds Coliseum (1949–1999) PNC Arena (1999–present)
Rivalries	East Carolina North Carolina Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Dixie Classic/Big Four Tobacco Road 2018 corruption scandal
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics