The late Jim Valvano was the ultimate tournament coach.
I don’t mean he was the BEST tournament coach (although he was pretty good), only that he came alive at tournament time. In his 10 seasons at N.C. State, Valvano won 65 percent of his regular season games. He won 70 percent in the NCAA Tournament.
Valvano’s catchphrase was “Survive and advance.”
For the most part, he lived up to that. With one exception.
In 1988, his Wolfpack was seeded No. 3 in the Midwest Region. Valvano didn’t mind that – what he objected to was a bracket that had him playing a very underseeded Kansas team in the second round.