YouTube Gold: Dudley Bradley’s 1979 Steal At NC State
An ACC classic
There are some plays in ACC basketball history that are written in the collective memory. Christian Laettner’s shot against Kentucky. David Thompson trying to jump over Billy Knight to block a shot and tumbling to the floor. Kihei Clark’s brilliant pass in the 2019 NCAA Tournament to Mamadi Diakite to put a near-certain loss to Purdue in overtime instead.
And the 1979 Dudley Bradley steal is on that list too.
To set the table...
In 1979, Dean Smith was the unquestioned capo of the ACC. In fact, at one coach’s meeting, when he left the room, the late Lefty Driesell looked at the other ACC head coaches and said “we gotta get that guy.”
He probably had some takers, not least of all the volatile Norm Sloan, who really disliked Smith.
The old joke after Sloan had a two-year, 57-1 run culminating in an NCAA title was “yeah...but imagine what Dean could have done with that team.”
No one outside of Chapel Hill much liked Dean Smith.
In 1979, the Tar Heels went over to Raleigh and were blowing the doors off of Sloan’s NC State at the half, up 40-19.
But State had a rally that got announcer Billy Packer really excited (you’ll hear that) and were up 69-68 with just :09 left on the clock.
Then Clyde Austin made a big mistake: he turned his back on Bradley.
A wiry 6-6 wing, Bradley never quite lived up to expectations at UNC but he was a terrific defender. And when Austin turned his back, Bradley picked him clean and took the ball to the other end for a dunk. State had :05 left but had to settle for a long desperation shot.
And when Wolfpack fans went home, they had yet another reason to hate Smith.