One Dean E Smith

[throatybeard]

Today I'm 31, which is of little consequence...

...BUT...that means on this date, ten years ago, Dean Smith retired.

Hope the old schnozz is prospering in his autumn years. A worthy opponent.

[Indoor66]

Today I'm 31, which is of little consequence...

...BUT...that means on this date, ten years ago, Dean Smith retired.

Hope the old schnozz is prospering in his autumn years. A worthy opponent.

I heard he is still eating BLT's for lunch at Merritt's a couple times a week.

[jimsumner]

It's Dean Edwards Smith. And yes, he was a worthy opponent.

[throatybeard]

Damn, I always thought it was Earl. Earl's better. He should try that.

Well all of y'all eat a hold-em Heels deal over there for me.

Or don't.

[4decadedukie]

However, in the words of one Mike Krzyzewski, "basketball was invented by Naismith, not Dean Smith."

[Olympic Fan]

However, in the words of one Mike Krzyzewski, "basketball was invented by Naismith, not Dean Smith."

Actually, that quote belongs to Bill Foster ... not Coach K.

But it contains an important warning. Dean Smith was a GREAT coach -- maybe not the greatest of all time, but one of the top 4-5. But he was not a saint and he was not perfect as so many Carolina fans seem to think.

And just as they need to understand that he was a human being with strengths and weaknesses, Duke fans need to be careful not to glom onto his negatives and try and portray him as less than he was.

Obviously, that same approach should be used with Coach K -- he's a GREAT coach, one of the greatest of all time, but he's also a human being who has weaknesses and has made mistakes. Any Duke fan who deifies him and any Carolina fan who demonizes him are equally quilty of distortion.

I hope the middle-aged readers of this board understand how lucky we were in the Triangle to have lived during the reigns of two of the greatest college basketball coaches who ever lived.

And that doesn't count Jim Valvano, Vic Bubas, Roy Williams, Norm Sloan or (if you are older) Everett Case. No wonder this is basketball country!

[jimsumner]

Early in his tenure at Duke, K was recruiting a big guy named Mark Acres. It turned out that Acres was from a very religious family; he ended up going to Oral Roberts. At some point during the in-home it became obvious to K that the Acres family viewed Duke as overly-heathen for their needs. Sensing that Duke was losing Acres, K mentioned that should Acres come to Duke, he would be going to college eight miles from God.

Or so I've been told.

[Johnboy]

Happy Birthday, and many happy returns!

[greybeard]

Two "innovations" by Dean that I hated:

1. The four corners.

2. Later, the defensive ploy used against jump shooters: raise your hands straight up and walk forward. Give the guy something to think about when he lets it go, like whether he will still have a foot and ankle when he lands.

The first was boring beyond description, and an insult, in my opinion, to the game.

The second has to be the most unprincipled tactics of outright physical intimidation I have seen routinized as an acceptible maneuver on a basketball court. No one ever called him on it. The moral, make gods of no man.

[SilkyJ]

Early in his tenure at Duke, K was recruiting a big guy named Mark Acres. It turned out that Acres was from a very religious family; he ended up going to Oral Roberts. At some point during the in-home it became obvious to K that the Acres family viewed Duke as overly-heathen for their needs. Sensing that Duke was losing Acres, K mentioned that should Acres come to Duke, he would be going to college eight miles from God.

Or so I've been told.

if that's true, thats one of the funniest things I've ever heard about K.

[Fish80]

By shear coincidence, today is also my birthday, although I have about 18 more years of wisdom? Must be a good day for birthdays!

[hurleyfor3]

[Four Corners] was boring beyond description, and an insult, in my opinion, to the game.

Dean didn't like Four Corners much either, but used it because he had players who could execute it and because it worked. He did have at least one high-profile failure with it, the 1977 national championship game.

Dean didn't invent stall ball, and lots of people have used some form of it at some point. I think the big reasons it got associated with Dean so much is that Curalonna was a popular, high-profile program to start with, and that Dean would use it to intentionally hobble some of the best players in the game in a way, say, John Wooden or Guy Lewis would never dream of.

Still, Dean will forever hold the unbreakable record of guiding his team to a zero-point half. (But which two teams were involved in the lowest-scoring ACC game of all time?)

[Fish80]

Are you talking about Spanarkel's last game in Cameron? If I remember correctly, the score was 7-0 at half and 47-40 final. Awesome, baby! Dean tried stall ball in the first half, and it did not work.

But I doubt that was the lowest scoring ACC game.

[hurleyfor3]

But I doubt that was the lowest scoring ACC game.

It was not. I was asking that as a trivia question, and the game I refer to did *not* have a zero-point half.

[gethlives]

NC State 12
Duke 10

1968 Tournament.

God Bless You Dean.

[Cameron]

8-20 is still priceless.

Happy Birthday, Pinocchio.

[Indoor66]

NC State 12
Duke 10

1968 Tournament.

God Bless You Dean.

Absolutely Vic Bubas' poorest coaching performance, and I love Vic.