The fever that is college basketball on Tobacco Road started from a small outbreak in Raleigh, North Carolina, when Indiana basketball legend Everett Case became the coach at N.C. State University. He restarted the dormant construction of Reynolds Coliseum, and for 50 years, it was one of the most important basketball arenas in the country.
Through the years, the Wolfpack has won two NCAA championships and 10 Atlantic Coast Conference championships, while giving the sport of college basketball some of its brightest color, from the plaid jackets worn by Norm Sloan to the unbelievable athletic ability of David Thompson to the mouth of Jim Valvano, who spewed one-liners at the speed of hummingbird wings.
There have also been dark days during StateÂ’s 50-year history as a member of the ACC. Now emerging from a decade of near-dormancy, N.C. State basketball has a long history of producing stars, comebacks, and even a few villains, all of which of are detailed by Tim Peeler in Legends of N.C. State Basketball.
