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In 1974, NC State and Maryland met in the ACC Tournament Finals and put on one of the greatest games in college basketball history with State winning 103-100 in overtime.
Lefty Driesell had been at Maryland since 1969 and it looked as if he were about to turn Maryland into, as he had boasted, the UCLA of the East.
In those days, the NCAA tournament was limited to 16 teams and the Wolfpack got the ACC’s automatic bid. Maryland was left out.
Adding to the sense that the Terps were about to kick into overdrive was that high school great Moses Malone had signed with Maryland. Things were going great.
Unfortunately, Malone decided to sign with the ABA straight out of high school, the first player to ever do so. Maryland remained an elite program for years but it was a huge hit. Malone was immensely promising as he would soon show.
Here are some of his NBA highlights. He was not the most athletic center in the league but no one worked harder. He was a relentless offensive rebounder and in 1983, helped lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a dominant NBA title. Here are some highlights from that season.
Sadly, Malone died in 2015 at the age of 60 with various heart issues. He was scheduled to have a meal with Driesell and a mutual friend and the friend was the one who discovered that he had died.