Year in Review: Top 10 sports stories of 2024 in North Carolina
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- It's been another memorable year in the world of sports and without further ado, the ABC11 team With the year coming to a close it's time to look back on the biggest stories.
Make sure to check out our other year-end collections including big stories, weather, and politics,
The following is a list of the top stories with an excerpt of the entire article.
Top Sports Stories of 2024
1. NC State wins first ACC basketball championship since 1987
In a year of big Triangle stories, nothing topped the Wolfpack's unexpected run to the ACC Tournament title and beyond. The Pack won five games in five days at the ACC Tournament in Washington to end a 37-year conference championship drought and clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Fueled by the "Why not us?" mentality of star guard DJ Horne, the Pack went on a dream run -- rallying past Louisville in the opening game, blowing out Syracuse, stunning Duke and dominating Virginia in overtime after tying the game on a miraculous buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send the game to the extra period. They topped it off in the best possible storyline, beating rival North Carolina 84-76 in the title game on March 16.
During the historic run, NC State beat all five other ACC teams that have won national championships.
2. UNC fires Mack Brown as head football coach
Brown sounded firm in his intent to return for another season as North Carolina's coach. A day later, on Nov. 26, the school announced it was time for a change, sending shockwaves throughout the Triangle sports scene.
The 73-year-old Brown was the program's winningest coach and a College Football Hall of Fame member who won a national championship at Texas. He had two stints at UNC, spanning 16 total seasons.
The Tar Heels had been bowl-eligible in every season of Brown's second tenure as he stabilized a crashing program, with a peak of reaching the ACC championship game in 2022. But this year's team had a difficult first half of the season that shook confidence in the program's footing, highlighted (or lowlighted_ by a humiliating home loss to James Madison where the Tar Heels defense surrendered 70 points. In the aftermath, Brown stirred uncertainty about the immediate future of the program with emotional locker-room comments to the team that included floating whether he should remain coach.
3. UNC hires Bill Belichick as head football coach
Following the stunning news of Brown's departure, the folks in Chapel Hill made perhaps even bigger news by signing one of the biggest possible names available to replace him: NFL legend Bil Belichick.
The eight-time Super Bowl winner (six as the head coach of the New England Patriots) took over the program amid much buzz and fanfare.
"I've always wanted to coach in college football," Belichick said during his introductory campus news conference. "It just never really worked out. Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK."
Expectations will be enormous as Belichick, who signed a $10 million per year contract, has stated he wants to run every aspect of the program in an NFL-like manner. Will that yield results on the field? Stay tuned.
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4. NC State places men's and women's basketball teams in the Final Four
As if a long-awaited ACC basketball championship wasn't enough, this NC State men's basketball team wasn't done, taking its fans on a thrill ride all the way to the Final Four, the only ACC team to make the prestigious semifinals and the first appearance for the Wolfpack since the 1983 national championship season.
Doubling the fun, NC State's women's basketball team also reached the Final Four of the women's NCAA tournament.
5. Duke football hires Manny Diaz, wins nine regular-season games
Excitement built in Durham for two seasons as new coach Mike Elko turned the Blue Devils around. Then it seemingly came crashing down as Elko bolted for Texas A&M.
But Duke regrouped and hired Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz as its head coach. Diaz was no stranger to the Triangle or the ACC, having served on NC State's staff in the early 2000s under Chuck Amato. In more recent times, Diaz was head coach at Miami.
In his first year at the helm, Duke went 9-3 in the regular season and swept its Tobacco Road rivals, beating UNC, NC State and Wake Forest. The Blue Devils earned a spot in the Taxslayer Gator Bowl on Jan. 2 against No. 16 Ole Miss with a 10-win season in sight, proving Duke football remains in good hands.
6. NC State quarterback Grayson McCall retires
McCall transferred to NC State from Coastal Carolina with quite a bit of fanfare. The graduate transfer had a storied career with the Chanticleers and was expected to provide leadership and dual-threat abilities at the quarterback position.
Well, the best-laid plans sometimes go awry but no one foresaw the direction McCall's time in Raleigh would take. McCall, who had a history of concussions, missed two early games for the Wolfpack that were presumed to be head-injury related. He then returned against Wake Forest but suffered a frightening hit that knocked him out cold.
After being released from a hospital, McCall made the unsurprising yet difficult decision to retire from football, citing a head injury that he could not "come back from."
McCall said he would immediately focus on beginning his coaching career.
7. Duke wins ACC baseball championship
Duke entered the ACC Tournament as the No. 6 seed after posting a 40-20 record. Though the Blue Devils were seen as a quality team, few expected them to roll to their second-ever ACC championship and second in four years (2021).
Duke took care of No. 10 Virginia Tech 11-8 in its opening game then used a home-run barrage to eliminate No. 3 seed NC State in the next game.
The Blue Devils dispatched No. 11 seed Miami 8-2 in the semifinals and completed the run on May 26 with a 16-4 pounding of No. 5 seed Florida State.
8. Star tennis player barred from Green Hope High School signing day
In one of the stranger stories of 2024, Green Hope star tennis player Lisa Kranec was not allowed to participate in the school's Signing Day events.
Kranec led Green Hope to the state championship in her junior year, being named MVP. By her senior year, she was the No. 2 recruit in her class in North Carolina, and 80th in the country.
Because she spent much of the fall semester traveling to colleges for recruitment visits, she wasn't going to be able to make the minimum required number of matches, and she was forced to opt out of playing tennis for Green Hope her senior year.
When ABC11 reached out to the Wake County Public School System to find out whether the school would reconsider its policy after a petition started gaining traction to allow her to be a part of the ceremony, we received a two-word response: "No changes."
A few weeks out from the ceremony, she was told she wouldn't be able to participate, learning that Green Hope's policy requires students to play for the high school team their senior year to be eligible to participate in the school's ceremony.
Kranec called it "really upsetting" but she moved on and accepted a full scholarship to play tennis at Elon University.
9. Cooper Flagg hype hits Duke's campus.
Duke basketball is used to landing coveted recruits, but none since Zion Williamson has caused the buzz that Cooper Flagg did before even stepping onto the court at historic Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Flagg, the top prospect in the nation who is projected by some analysts as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, committed to Duke in November 2023.
Flagg, who has already competed against the likes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis in an exhibition game against Team USA, hasn't disappointed at Duke.
In the first seven weeks of the season, Flagg has been recognized as ACC Rookie of the Week four times. The 6-9, 205-pound guard/forward is averaging 16.3 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game for the Blue Devils through 12 games this season, with a high of 26 points in a loss to Kentucky on Nov. 12.
10. The Soccer Tournament grows, features big names
The second annual The Soccer Tournament (TST) at WakeMed Soccer Park proved a big success as the participation of former soccer legends and varied celebrities drew good crowds to Cary for the June tournament with a $1 million prize on the line.
In 2024, TST added a women's 7v7 tournament with its own $1 million prize.
In total, 48 men's and women's teams from across the United States and the world came to Cary for a shot at the big money in the 7v7 format.
Celebrities such as ESPN's Pat McAfee, and former NFL stars J.J. Watt and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson came to the Triangle to play. Former international soccer stars such as Sergio Aguero of Argentina and Nani, of Portugal also participated.
On the women's side, the US Women beat the North Carolina Courage 6-3 in the final to take home to the big prize. The men's million-dollar winner was La Bombonera FC, which blanked Nani FC 4-0 in the championship game.
TST has announced that it will return in June 2025 for a third year of fun and futbol.
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