Holliday: From final five to Final Four, NC State's dream season lives on

We begin with a shout out to the late, great Jim Valvano, who did so much to make March magic in West Raleigh. Folks forget that after NC State’s wild ride to the NCAA Championship in 1983, the Wolfpack made deep runs in both 1985 and 1986. In fact, the Pack played in the very last Elite Eight game in both of those years. Coach V dubbed it “the Final Five.”

I can still hear Coach V pregame in 1986. “Once again we made it to the Final Five,” he said. They had lost to his paisan Lou Carnesecca and St. John’s in 1985. Wolfpack hopes were high in 1986, but Kansas and Danny Manning won a close one to again relegate State to a “Final Five” finish. No Final Four.

In 2024, NC State reached the Final Five for the first time in 38 years. Yes, the Wolfpack was again playing for the very last ticket to college basketball’s biggest event – against arch rival Duke no less! What are the odds?

NC State is headed west (always heading west it seems) because of a phenomenal second half Sunday in a 76-64 win over the Duke Blue Devils. It was but another chapter in this march through March for the Wolfpack, an extraordinary postseason journey that defies statistical evaluation alone.

Wolfpack make history, send both men's and women's teams to Final Four

Something else is also at work here, and for that explanation I turn to the late Dan Fogelberg, who wrote these powerful words circa 1980. Fogelberg was writing about horses, but I feel the same sense of mystery about the 2024 Wolfpack.

There are of course tangible reasons for NC State’s success this spring. Beginning with the maestro, point center D.J. Burns. Marquette double teamed big D.J. He only scored 4 points, but dished out 7 assists, mostly to three point shooters like D.J. Horne, Jayden Taylor and Michael O’Connell, who buried the three ball at a 47% clip against the Golden Eagles.

Duke’s Jon Scheyer knew from the ACC season about Burns’ extraordinary passing skills. So his Blue Devils played Burns straight up. Burns absolutely torched the Devils scoring 29 points on a dazzling display of positioning, footwork, spins and shooting touch. Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell fouled out trying to contain Burns as Duke’s four big men recorded a collective 15 fouls trying to rein in DJB.

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If Burns is the DJ that gets the party started, Horne is the DJ that keeps it going. His electric shooting has fueled more than one NC State run during this postseason, including Sunday when the Wolfpack outscored the Blue Devils 22-9 around the midpoint of the second half to break open a tight game.

Casey Morsell is another tangible reason for NC State’s success. Morsell is State’s lockdown defender. Duke shot just 32% against State and made only 5-20 from beyond the arc. Also, Morsell, like Taylor, can hit the tough shots when needed.

Michael O’Connell is the point guard to Burns’ point center. O’Connell runs the offense, in both the half court and transition. He handed out six assists against Duke. And of course his 30-foot bank shot in the ACC Semifinals against Virginia is the sole reason NC State is still playing.

Last but certainly not least is the inspiring Mo Diarra. The 6’11 forward has been observing Ramadan this entire postseason, meaning no food or even water between sunrise and sunset. The Duke game, being played before sundown, Diarra took none of the sports drinks and other nutritional supplements he had been permitted during several other later games. Diarra still grabbed seven rebounds Sunday.

So NC State has transformed itself from a 17-14 club whose coach was on the hot seat, into a postseason juggernaut, riding a nine-game win streak and playing in its first Final Four in 41 years.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas says, “NC State going to the Final Four this season is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in basketball.” Wow. Let that sink in.

Bilas was a freshman at Duke in 1983 and vividly remembers the NCAA Championship run. He says 2024 is even more remarkable.

Speaking in a video on Instagram released Sunday night, Bilas reminds us that “NC State had to play on Tuesday. There wasn’t even a thought of them winning the ACC Tournament.”

But of course they did, and then after those emotionally draining five days, getting refocused for the NCAA’s. In the two ensuing weeks, the Pack has put away Texas Tech, Oakland, Marquette, and Duke.

Says Bilas, “You keep thinking it has to end, but it never ends!”

Remarkably, NC State next faces a program with an even longer Final Four drought and less NCAA history – not that those things will matter on the court. Purdue last reached the Final Four under Lee Rose in 1980. Led by seven footer Joe Barry Carroll, that Purdue team beat Duke to earn a trip to the Final Four in Indianapolis. However the Boilers lost in the Semifinals to UCLA at the old Market Square Arena 67-62.

As a young college student, I can remember Purdue making a deeper NCAA Tournament run. In 1969, sharp shooting Rick Mount, Bill Keller and North Carolina native Herm Gilliam paced a Purdue team that absolutely buried ACC Champion North Carolina 92-65 in a flurry of Tar Heel turnovers. Purdue reached the National Championship before losing to John Wooden’s UCLA. I was there for those games in Louisville’s Freedom Hall, one of 25 Final Fours I have witnessed or covered.

And now a third Final Four for a school still seeking its first national championship. Like in 1980,Purdue is again led by a big man, 7’4 Zach Edey. All Edey did in Purdue’s Midwest Regional Final against Tennessee was to score 40 points and grab 16 rebounds. Edey over the course of the season averages 25 points per game.

And he has help: Braden Smith, Lance Jones, and Fletcher Lowyer all average in double figures. Versatile Trey Kaufman-Renn is the fifth starter. Mason Gillis and Myles Colvin bring energy off the bench.

Purdue will bring a record of 33-4 to Phoenix. And get this – all of the Boilers’ losses came against Big Ten competition. Matt Painters’ club is undefeated against the likes of Gonzaga, Tennessee, Marquette, Alabama, Arizona and Tennessee again.

The most fascinating matchup when Purdue meets NC State of course will be Edey vs. Burns. I mean woah!

I would seriously doubt that Painter will double Burns; he will want Purdue’s guards clinging to NC State’s perimeter shooters.

So Edey will be mano a mano with Burns and State’s other post players, as he almost always is. Edey has blocked 80 shots this year and almost certainly will get his hands on some of Burns’ attempts at the basket. Burns will certainly try to get the big guy in foul trouble but Edey only averages two fouls per game.

I’m thinking Burns might have some success with his fall away and step back jumpers. He may also be able to spin around Edey and use his body to shield college basketball’s player of the year on a reverse. We shall see.

The larger issue is Burns defending Edey. DJB is somewhat foul prone. Maybe State’s team defense can force Edey to catch post passes eight feet from the basket, but there’s no stopping him four feet from the basket. If this happens and Burns is one on one with Edey, it will be more important for him to merely contest the shot but not reach and try to block it, even if Edey scores. Which he will. It’s much better that Edey score rather than Burns get in foul trouble.

Kevin Keatts will no doubt make ample use of Ben Middlebrooks against Edey. Middlebrooks is a different style defender than Burns, with active feet and quick hands. He may pick up fouls but that’s OK. Middlebrooks, valuable as he is overall, is not the central point of NC State’s offense as Burns is.

Edey by the way, is just an average free throw shooter. He made only 14-22 against Tennessee.

Because of Edey’s dominance inside, the Wolfpack will need a huge game along the perimeter. Note this: Tennessee’s three point shooters hit 42% beyond the arc.

Horne, Taylor, O’Connell and Morsell need to take shots that don’t require an offensive rebound. You get me? Because oh, yeah, Edey owns the defensive boards, too. Tennessee Sunday rebounded only 15% of its missed shots. Hard to win that way.

NC State’s best chance to win hinges on its defense, which has played superbly in four NCAA games. Check out these numbers:

Remember, the foundation of the Kevin Keatts system is to shoot the three and stop the three; and then win the turnover battle. Defense is vital to helping State get easy transition baskets, and even fast breaks.

Matt Painter at Purdue will try to make this a half court game Saturday. He did that against Tennessee to the surprise of Vols’ Coach Rick Barnes.

NC State must do everything humanly possible – and note that Diarra will once again play during a full fast for this 3 p.m. Pacific Time tipoff – to play a faster game and keep this amazing streak going.

It all starts with tempo for these men who have adopted the motto “Why Not Us?” Gotta play fast. And smart.