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NCCU championship never gets old
http://www.triangletribune.com/index.php?src=news&srctype=detail&category=Sports&refno=2907

Published Wednesday, November 4, 2009 7:00 am
by Bonitta Best>

Miles Clarke has dozens of DVDs, but there's only one that he just can't get enough of. In fact, he can just about recite the entire program word for word.

It's the NCAA 1989 Division II Championship starring N.C. Central and Southeast Missouri State. Clarke had a prominent role, recording 15 points and five rebounds, and earning tournament most valuable player honors.

A little over 20 years have passed since NCCU won its only national basketball championship, but that didn't stop alumni from celebrating last weekend during homecoming.

At Champs restaurant in Southpoint Mall, the alumni association reserved every big screen TV in the house to broadcast the game over and over and over again. And from the looks on the faces of Eagles in attendance, they never got tired of watching.
http://nccueagles.yuku.com/topic/5034

Count Clarke among them.

"I look at the DVD maybe four times a month," said Clarke who was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks. (The NCAA made the game available to purchase earlier this year.) "It's something my great-grandkids will get to see. Look at me up there, you'd never know I had a throat infection and a 140-degree fever."

Indeed, the Redhawks were the ones who looked sick. NCCU (28-4) beat them like they stole something - 73-46 - and it wasn't even that close.

Clarke said the team felt it had something to prove. "N.C. State had won a national title ('83), Duke and UNC had won championships. We wanted one too. Now, we all have one in this area."

To get to the final, the Eagles had to go through a talent-rich Virginia Union team, led by legendary coach Dave Robbins and filled with such stars as A.J. English and Terry Davis. After the Panthers, Clarke said, SE Missouri was a cakewalk.

"The win really opened doors for me," he said. "Coach K [Duke's Mike Krzyzewski] got me my agent."

Poetic Moton

To some spectators, N.C. Central coach LeVelle Moton probably looked out of place at the Triangle Sports Commission's Oct. 29 tip-off luncheon. (And we know who they are, don't we?)

Moton sat among over 60 years of coaching experience - North Carolina coach Roy Williams, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and N.C. State's Sidney Lowe - but the new kid stole the show. He was a one-man theatre performance.

When asked the two players he would most like to coach, Moton said Bill Russell and Michael Jordan. Why? "Job security."

What music does he listen to on his iPod that would shock people? "Cyndi Lauper. Hey, girls just want to have fun."

Personally, I'm still recovering from Krzyzewski's admittance that he listens to Morris "Gigolos get lonely too" Day.
After about 15 minutes, Moton had them eating out of his hand.

And while it may appear that he and NCCU are worlds apart from the laden-rich ACC, take away the enormous coaching contracts, the larger universities and better media exposure, and what do you have?

"We all came from humble beginnings," Moton said. "Coach K and I have a lot in common; we both had mothers who worked in other people's homes to provide us a better living."

There you have it, four men who fought their way up to where they are today. Think Moton isn't as important as the other Big 3?

Ask some of his former neighbors from the housing project he grew up, and they're sure to tell you different.