Former Hoops Star Branch To Be Honored At 2004 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
2/26/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2004
GREENSBORO, N. C. - Former Maryland basketball player and NBA champion Adrian Branch, who starred for the Terps on the hardwood from 1982-1985, will be honored with one of the great coaches in ACC history and seven other ACC basketball standouts as Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Legends at this year's Tournament in Greensboro, March 11-14.
The Legends, one from each of the current nine ACC schools, will attend this year's Tournament and will be honored at the Annual ACC Legends Brunch, which will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 13 in the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. The Legends will also be introduced to the ACC Tournament crowd at halftime of the first semifinal basketball game on Saturday of the Tournament.
The ACC Legends Brunch will feature three hosts this year in ABC and Raycom Sports TV announcer Tim Brant, former Georgia Tech head basketball coach and current Raycom announcer Bobby Cremins and current Jefferson-Pilot and Fox Sports South TV personality Mike Hogewood.. A limited amount of tickets are available for the Brunch, priced at $35 with tables of 10 available for $350, and may be obtained by calling the Greensboro Coliseum Box Office at 336-373-7413.
Branch was a cornerstone of the outstanding Maryland teams in the mid 1980's, helping lead the Terrapins to the 1984 ACC Championship. The 6-8 forward still ranks fourth on Maryland's all-time scoring list with 2,017 career points. As a junior and senior, the Washington Grove, Md., resident led the Terrapins of Lefty Driesell to 49 victories and back-to-back trips to the NCAA's Sweet 16. He was taken in the secon dround of the 1985 NBA draft by Chicago, and was a part of the 1987 Los Angeles Laker team that won the NBA title.
Legendary Duke head coach Vic Bubas (Gary, Ind.), who took the Blue Devils to three NCAA Final Four appearances and captured four ACC Tournament titles in his 10-year tenure, is also among this year's ACC Legends. Bubas, who also played for and served as an assistant coach for NC State's storied Everett Case, compiled an impressive 213-67 record while at Duke. He guided the Blue Devils to the nation's best record from 1961 through 1967, winning 159 times to just 37 losses. Later, the current resident of Bluffton, S. C. served as Commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference and Chairman of the NCAA's Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.
Joining Branch and Bubas are former Clemson All-ACC guard Vincent Hamilton (Rutherfordton, N.C.), North Carolina's Lennie Rosenbluth (Bronx, N. Y.), the 1957 National Player of the Year, Georgia Tech All-America Tom Hammonds (Crestview, Fla.) as well as the leading scorer in Virginia history, Bryant Stith (Freeman, Va.).
Completing this year's ACC Legends class are NC State's Chris Corchiani (Miami, Fla.) one of the top playmakers in NCAA history, Wake Forest All-America Jack Murdock (Raleigh, N. C.) and Florida State two-sport standout Brad Johnson (Black Mountain, N.C.), who led the Seminoles to the NCAA Tournament in basketball and led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the NFL Championship in football.
Hamilton, one of the few backcourtmen to lead the ACC in field goal percentage, was a second-team all-ACC selection in 1981-82. The Lacrosse, Wisc., resident is one of only four players in Conference history to total at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists in his career.
Rosenbluth, the leader of North Carolina's 1957 National Championship team, is one of only two ACC players who have earned ACC Player of the Year, National Player of the Year, ACC Tournament MVP, NCAA Regional Tournament MVP and NCAA Final Four MVP honors in the same season. The Miami, Fla., resident still holds UNC records for scoring average for a single season (28.0) and a career (26.9). He led the Tar Heels to one of the great victories in the NCAA Championship play, against the Wilt Chamberlain-led Kansas Jayhawks in 1957.
Hammonds, still the fifth-leading scorer in Georgia Tech history with 2,081 points, led the Yellow Jackets of Bobby Cremins to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances. The 6-9 native and current resident of Crestview, Fla., earned All-America honors in 1989 and three times captured All-ACC accolades.
Stith, one of the most prolific scorers in ACC history, totaled 2,516 points in four seasons at Virginia. He still ranks fourth on the all-time ACC scoring list and helped lead Virginia to three NCAA Tournament appearances in four seasons. Impressively consistent, Stith, who resides now in Lawrenceville, Va., averaged 20.4 points over his last 98 games.
Corchiani, the "Fire" of NC State's famed "Fire and Ice" backcourt combination of the early 1990's, ended his career as the leading assist man in NCAA history with 1,038 assists. He still ranks third on the all-time NCAA assist list and is regarded as one of the best playmakers in ACC history. An outstanding defender as well, the Raleigh, N. C. resident ranks second on the all-time ACC steals average list, averaging 2.86 thefts for each of his 124 career games.
Murdock is one of only two players in the ACC's 51-year history who led the Conference in field goal accuracy and free throw percentage in the same season. Known for his accuracy from the charity stripe, Murdock led the ACC in free throw percentage in 1956 and 1957 and still ranks fifth in the ACC in career free throw percentage. After graduation the current Raleigh, N. C., resident served as an assistant coach to famed Deacon head coach Bones McKinney and also spent one year (1966) as the Deacons head coach.
Johnson, who led the Seminoles to a 19-11 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 1988, was a two-sport standout, also lettering for FSU in football. That same season he shot 58.2 percent from the field and a team-high 89.1 percent from the foul line. Johnson, who just completed his 12th season as an NFL quarterback, led the Tampa Bay Bucs to the NFL Championship during the 2002 season.
