But there was a game — and a team, a coach and a building — that time has not forgotten, 30 years after it was played. Thirty years ago today.

Ogden, Utah, 1983

Ralph Sampson strode into the small hotel, a day before a spring snowstorm hit. He was the king of college basketball, a two-time player of the year, and the NBA’s most coveted prize.

A young reporter walked up to him, stared straight into the belt buckle of the 7-foot-4 Virginia Cavalier, and asked for a moment. Sampson, without a glance down, sidestepped him.

Later, a bus pulled up and there was a ruckus.

North Carolina State had landed.

The Wolfpack had guys like the cool Sidney Lowe, artistic Thurl Bailey, Lorenzo Charles and Cozell McQueen (known affectionately as Lo-rilla and Co-rilla), super sub Terry Gannon and Dereck Whittenburg, the heart and soul of the bunch.

Then there was the coach. He was a New Yorker named Jim Valvano, born in Queens to Rocco and Angelina.

He was a little different. Purists, he said, win coaching awards. Purists, he said, win games 18-17. Purists, he said, don’t drink with him at 4 in the morning.

He used to bring a stepladder and some scissors to practice every now and again, and have his players climb up and clip the net off the rim. He wanted them to envision winning the kind of game that would lead to such a scene.

They were glad to be at the NCAA West Regional and determined to enjoy every minute. They could fill up a hundred reporter’s notebooks.

North Carolina State had somehow slipped past North Carolina (and Michael Jordan) and Virginia (and the aforementioned Sampson) in the ACC tournament to qualify for the NCAAs. It took the ’Pack two overtimes to beat Pepperdine in the first round. They then edged UNLV and Sidney Green by a point to get to the Purple Palace of Weber State.

They ruined the home state’s party by beating Utah in the regional semifinal, only to have to face Virginia (and Sampson) again.

Then they slew Sampson.

Albuquerque, 1983

When the Wolfpack arrived in Albuquerque for the Final Four, they did so without much fanfare.

The talk was all about Houston, the fabled Phi Slama Jama, and Louisville, the descendants of the Doctors of Dunk. They were to meet in the second semifinal in the Pit.

Valvano referred to the N.C. State-Georgia semifinal as the JV game.

But the folks from Raleigh, N.C., were having a good time. The N.C. State cheerleaders wandered the city, occasionally breaking into the Duran Duran tune, “Hungry Like the Wolf.” Many N.C. State fans stayed 70 miles away in Grants and carried their party there.

There was an Albuquerque club called The Hungry Bear that featured a huge fish tank and a small dance floor. Valvano hit that floor and finished second in a dance contest.

It gave new meaning to “The Big Dance.”

After N.C. State dispatched Georgia, Houston and Louisville put on a dunk-a-thon. The Cougars had 14 slams and won 94-81.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in a real game,” Louisville’s Rodney McCray lamented.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a game with more great athletes than this one,” Houston coach Guy Lewis said.

“They are absolutely awesome,” Valvano said of the Cougars.

Houston’s roster included Akeem (no “H” at the time) “the Dream” Olajuwon, Clyde “the Glide” Drexler, Larry “Mr. Mean” Micheaux and Benny “Instant Offense” Anders.

All that was left for Houston, which had won its games by an average of 19 points a game, was to dismantle North Carolina State.

While most expected Valvano to slow the game to a crawl, the coach encouraged his players to be aggressive. And, he told them, don’t let Houston dunk.

With five seconds left, as improbable as it seemed, the game was tied 52-52 and the Wolfpack had the ball. Whittenburg flung the ball toward the basket from about 27 feet away, but it needed to travel another foot. No matter. Charles grabbed it and dunked it.

Game over. Pandemonium. Pit history.

Albuquerque would forever be linked with that game, that team, that coach.

“My wife’s pregnant,” Valvano said. “She doesn’t know it yet, but we’re going to name him Al B. Querque.”

When the game was over, and N.C. State had outdunked Houston 2-1, Valvano sprung from the bench looking to embrace Whittenburg as he had done after so many dramatic games that season. But Whittenburg was caught up in another celebratory pile.

“Where were you?” Valvano would ask him later.

Whittenburg, it seems, has lost the two guys most associated with him and that moment. Charles died in a bus crash in the summer of 2011. Valvano died of cancer in the spring of 1993.

But in the echo of that game, Lorenzo Charles dunks and Jim Valvano dances.