"As soon as Lorenzo Charles' dunk ended the 1983 championship game with a 54-52 NC State victory, [Valvano] began a sprint across the floor of The Pit that has become immortalized as the pinnacle of joy in college basketball for the last quarter century. The coach was hoping to jump into the arms of Whittenburg, as he did after nearly all of the Wolfpack's come-from-behind, postseason victories. But on the greatest night of his life, Valvano found his star player already in Lowe's arms. Valvano had no one to hug. He jumped on a pile of other celebrants, one of whom may have been NC State athletic director Willis Casey. As Valvano told the story time after time over the next 10 years, his crusty old boss leaned over and kissed him right on the mouth. Like most of Valvano's stories, that's probably a wild exaggeration. Still, it started the most compelling postgame celebration in NCAA Tournament history." Book jacket.