In 1955, Everett Case guided the Pack to their second consecutive ACC Championship, and his second consecutive ACC Coach of the Year honor. NC State finished the regular season with a 25-4 overall record and a 12-2 record in conference play. Junior Ronnie Shavlik jumped right in and filled the shoes of Mel Thompson, who graduated the year before, and left a team void of their leader. Shavlik and Molodet, who were the Sophomore studs that forecasted so much hope for the Pack in the previous season, lived up to the hype. Both of them earned All-ACC honors, with Shavlik landing on the All-ACC First Team and Molodet landing on the All-ACC Second Team for the second straight year. As a Junior, Shavlik ranked 5th in the ACC in scoring (22.1ppg) and 2nd in rebounding (18.1rpg). Molodet was the model of consistency, averaging 13.5 points per contest, which was right in line with his production from the previous year (13.8ppg). NC State entered the ACC Tournament as the #1 seed, and they played how you would expect a #1 seed to play. The Pack matched up against Clemson in the first round, and NC State handed the Tigers a 25-point beating, winning 101-76. Next up for the Pack was Wake Forest. The Wolfpack again won with ease as they defeated the Demon Deacons 85-70. NC State made it three-for-three, beating the Duke Blue Devils 87-77 in the ACC championship game. Ronnie Shavlik (1st Team), Vic Molodet (2nd Team) and Phil DiNardo (2nd Team) were all selected to the All-Tournament team, with Shavlik claiming the MVP honors. His numbers were worthy of the honor, as he averaged 23.3 points and 18.0 rebounds in tournament play.
This basketball team was purely dominant and no one will ever no what they might have accomplished. The Pack was held out of the NCAA tournament due to recruiting violations and Duke represented the ACC in their stead. Even though the Pack was held out of the prized tournament, they managed to finish the season ranked 4th in the AP poll.
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7 Responses to "ACC Time Capsule: NC State's 1955 ACC Championship"I was just curious as to what recruiting violations we might have been guilty of back then. Since this era of wolfpack basketball if before my time, I haven't really heard alot about this team. I certainly know that Everett Case was one of the best ever and all the contributions he had to the ACC and collegiate basketball in general. Were the violations a direct reflection of him and how he ran these teams in any way?
Ah the good old days. Not many people go back far enough to remember these day of Pack Basketball. I however do know these days very well...and miss them.
Its about **** time somebody decided to re-educate the wolfpack nation on the rich history of this great school.
Anon-In 1955, State was put on probation for illegally trying out players. Two years later, it happened again when Case apparently gave Louisiana high school phenom Jackie Moreland cash and gifts to pull him away from Kentucky. Case was quoted as saying "The NCAA rules are like your income tax; you need an adviser to tell you what's going on with your income tax and you need an adviser to tell you what is going on with the NCAA. The NCAA has got a million rules and they have caught me on every one."
He often claimed no knowledge of the rules he was breaking. Some on the other hand felt we wanted to win so badly that he was willing to overlook the rules.
I loved the points this team used to put up- believe I read once it was atleast 5 times they passed 90 pts. That is with no 3 point line and no shot clock, just plain awesome stuff.
It was vintage Case basketball with full court man press on every possession and the games and teams were so enjoyable to watch for the crowds that there is no doubt that the spirit and enthusiasm still belonging to the NC State faithful today were born out of these exciting teams of yesteryear.
Thanks WPH for doing this time capsule segments as a reminder that the game has changed very little over time in the things that matter most. First; you have to go out and compete with the best to get the best talent. Do you think Shavlick was under the radar nationally?
Secondly you have to play the game the way it was meant to be played- intelligent and with loads of energy.
This has been the trademark of all the great teams that have been highlighted in these capsules and will continue through out the summer. Folks need to trust Coach Lowe to follow through on his plans to get the best in here again and play ACC championship basketball the NC State way again- Let it play out.
^it's our pleasure. We enjoy doing the time capsule pieces ourselves.
And good seeing you up at the YMCA yesterday!
RodneyWolf, I do love it when someone shows up talking Wolfpack BB, and especially when, they are even older than I am!
1955 was before my time, but I do have some memories, very faint though, of early to mid sixties Wolfpack BB.
I do kinda sorta, remember Van Williford, Ed Leftwich, and so on. Those were the good old days, as you said. NC State BB back then screamed out, "We're confident, we simply know how to play this game, and we will we be happy to take you on, and anywhere that suits you!!!".
Then came none other than DT, along with a whole host of other very competent BB players throughout the years. Of course there's Jimmy V, with many great players, and even our own current HC tagging along behind him, as the NC State basketball program remained nationally recognized as a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
Then, it happened, or rather, it didn't really happen. But either way, NC State University decided to tear down it all down, they dismantled and totally ignored all of the undeniabe facts that were still telling everyone else otu there, that NC State's BB program was rare and special bred, and it was one of the very few who earned their own way into becoming a two-time National Champion.
Les Robinson's years weren't even fair, not to him as a struggling BB coach, not to his players, and not to any of the great NC State fans who stayed faithful during all of that. But, regardless of his coaching ability and the rest of that monsense, Les Robinson did love NC State University. Pretty much everything he did was NOT for the welfare and glory of Les Robinson, but for the betterment of NC State University itself.
Then came the next decade, a new coach, and with him a former two-time National Champion NC State, is introduced to an entirely new way to play the game of BB. The same game that it had once dominated on a national level. And, throughout that ten year period, NC State's BB program was changed, remodeled and reshaped, until it became uncognizable to the people who had known it in it's former life. Whether it was intentional or out of plain ignorance to the facts, NC state's BB program was being dragged, and further and further removed from it's own past glory with each and every BB season that passed us by. So much so, that the average NC State fan of today can hardly come to grips with the fact that we once ruled the courts, and not only in this particular area, but nationwide as well.
So, here we are today, with what many of the younger NC State fans are considering to be just another, and the latest, "experiment" for it's ailing BB program. I'll just say this, that if those ten years of nothing but "experimentAL" BB didn't wear on you enough so that they totally turned away from NC State's BB program altogether, then you can cetainly handle this little bump in the road. You are more than perfectly able to wait out this current attempt to reverse and undo the effects of the last experiment that lasted and lasted, until an entire decade was gone.
Whoa, sorry guys, and WPH, I got off on a little redfred tangent there. Man, sorry about that, but I do feel better now.
Thanks.
I wasn't around in the fifties but I read on one of the sports stats sites that NC State was the second winningest basketball program (by win / loss margin) in the decade behind Kentucky. Pretty impressive if it is true.
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