For the generation of basketball fans that have nothing in their memory banks recalling the days that Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta wore the red and white from N.C. State, they were good. They were damn good.
They were also part of an era’s end, when Jim Valvano was asked to step down amidst a scandal that to this day has no consensus, and represent what some of us along Tobacco Road have dutifully tried to remind folks over the last decade-plus: that N.C. State basketball was once relevant not just regionally, but nationally.
So seeing both men get tossed out of the RBC Center during the Wolfpack’s loss to Florida State on Saturday engendered embarrassment for the two, but also brought back the memories. Instead of getting tangled up in the web of referee Karl Hess, the ACC, and the unsubstantiated emotion by N.C. State fans that the world is out to get them, the choice here is to recall what made Corch and Googs so special.
Corchiani was unconventional for his position even then. Maybe 6 feet wearing lifts, he was one of those players opposing teams hated. They didn’t dislike the Wolfpack point guard, they hated him.
He was to opposing point guards what Rickey Henderson was to opposing pitchers, a nuisance. Corchiani was one of those guys that took every drill seriously, and his favorite may have been loose ball drills. He loved diving on the floor. If Corch were a high school junior today, he’d love the idea of playing for Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, and the feeling would probably be mutual.
But Corchiani was also highly skilled. A great ballhandler and passer, he was the all-time NCAA leader in assists when he left N.C. State. But he could score, too. Corchiani’s career average was 11.5 points per contest, and as a senior, playing alongside NCSU’s all-time leading scorer, Rodney Monroe, Corch averaged 16.3 points per outing.
He converted more than 40 percent of his 3-point tries, and when his college career ended, the pesky Miami native was the NCAA’s third all-time leader in steals.
Corcniani played a few seasons in the NBA and eventually settled in Raleigh and runs successful mortgage company.
Gugliotta was very different from Corchiani. He was one of the first 6-foot-9 players more comfortable playing 20 feet from the basket than in the lane. Googs could stroke the perimeter shot, drive to the basket and either pull up for a runner or get to the rim, and he was excellent at using back screens for alley-oop dunks.
But the thing most people will probably remember about Guliotta is that he was a deadeye assassin. Here’s a classic Googs scene: After a defensive rebound by the Wolfpack, he would get a pass ahead by Corchiani just after crossing the mid-court line, and take about two or three dribbles, stop, and drain a 23 footer. It appeared almost effortless.
A native of Hunting Station, N.Y., he was drawn to N.C. State because it was one of the more high-profile programs in the nation and was regularly winning NCAA Tournament games and sending guys to the NBA.
Thurl Bailey, Chucky Brown, Vinny Del Negro, Lorenzo Charles, Nate McMillan, Sidney Lowe, Spud Webb, and several others from that late 1970s to late 1980s group that played in the league.
Gugliotta and Corchiani, unfortunately, also represent the last time NCSU was relevant outside its own state. They were teammates in 1991 when the Pack was eliminated by Oklahoma State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the last game for Corchiani and Monroe, still known as “Fire & Ice,” and since then, State has won just five NCAA Tournament games.
The following year, State fell apart, finishing the season at 12-18. But the Wolfpack did beat North Carolina twice that season, including January 22. That night, Gugliotta scored 36 points – he converted 8 of 14 shots from beyond the arc – in a 99-88 shocker over the Tar Heels. Googs’ point total remains an NCSU high versus the hated Tar Heels.
Gugliotta averaged 22 points as a senior and was the sixth overall pick in the NBA draft that summer.
Both men have their jerseys hanging in the rafters at the RBC Center and will always be a prominent part of Wolfpack lore. Sadly, we are reminded of their wonderful playing days by what transpired Saturday.
But at least a newer generation of hoops fan will learn about Corch and Googs, two of the most entertaining college players of their time.
