Former UCLA assistant leads North Carolina State to the Sweet 16

A piece of what’s left of UCLA in this year’s NCAA tournament can be found in the middle row of the Bruins’ 1995 national title photo.

Seated between assistant Steve Lavin and head coach Jim Harrick is a young assistant.

Lorenzo Romar?

No, Romar was on that staff, too, seated in the picture on Harrick’s left.

The coach is Mark Gottfried, who on Sunday led No. 11 North Carolina State to a 66-63 upset victory over No.3 Georgetown in the Midwest Regional.

North Carolina State, in its first tournament since 2006, advances to next week’s round of 16 in St. Louis.

Gottfried joined Harrick’s UCLA’s staff in 1987.

Harrick is retired now, Lavin is doing studio work after his St. John’s team didn’t qualify for the postseason. And Romar is home in Seattle after Washington failed to make the field despite winning the Pac 12 regular-season title.

Gottfried coaches on. He used UCLA’s success to get the Murray State job, and then spent 11 seasons at Alabama before resigning mid-season in 2009.

After a few years as an analyst, Gottfried took over a North Carolina State team that finished 15-16 last year and turned the Wolfpack into a 20-win team.

N.C. State, of course, is the team that ended UCLA’s streak of seven consecutive national titles in 1974. The Wolfpack also won a title in 1983, but has slumped of late.

Gottfried said N.C. State sort of reminded him of the UCLA program he joined.

“If you go back and remember, UCLA missed the NCAA tournament five out of the previous seven years,” Gottfried said this week. ”I was a graduate assistant, but very similar in that you’ve got great tradition, history, fan base, people want you to win. They expect you to win. Yet they weren’t winning.”

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Former UCLA assistant leads North Carolina State to the Sweet 16