WSJ: North Carolina's Basketball Dynasty

[DukeUsul]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704679204575646904081860726.html?m od=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth



As No. 1-ranked Duke, college basketball's defending national champion, meets No. 6 Michigan State Wednesday night in one of the season's first major clashes, it's time to acknowledge one of the more extraordinary developments in sports.

In recent decades, North Carolina, a relatively rural state in the American South, has made a convincing case to be described by the following title: Basketball Capital of the World.


I'd probably quibble with this point "North Carolina's first claim to basketball fame is Michael Jordan" if the author means first chronologically. But a fine article nonetheless.

[JasonEvans]

The DBR linked this article this morning. It is an excellent piece and includes some great history about how hoops came to be so big in the state. DBR friend Bill Brill is quoted in the article.

--Jason "highly recommend folks read that article" Evans

[rasputin]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704679204575646904081860726.html?m od=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth



I'd probably quibble with this point "North Carolina's first claim to basketball fame is Michael Jordan" if the author means first chronologically. But a fine article nonetheless.

I didn't interpret the statement as a chronological one. I think he was referring to order of importance or magnitude.

[wilson]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704679204575646904081860726.html?m od=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth



I'd probably quibble with this point "North Carolina's first claim to basketball fame is Michael Jordan" if the author means first chronologically. But a fine article nonetheless.I also thought it interesting that the piece belies the heels' oft-repeated claim that El Deano is somehow the godfather of Tobacco Road basketball. If anything, the WSJ suggests that Everett Case was the true progenitor of NC's basketball prowess. It makes sense, considering that Case predated Dean and came from Indiana, basketball's "Fertile Crescent," if you will. I'm not saying that Dean shouldn't be considered a lion of Tobacco Road (and indeed of the game in general). I just thought it interesting that an "outsider" perspective lays as much credit with Case as with Dean.

[sagegrouse]

I also thought it interesting that the piece belies the heels' oft-repeated claim that El Deano is somehow the godfather of Tobacco Road basketball. If anything, the WSJ suggests that Everett Case was the true progenitor of NC's basketball prowess. It makes sense, considering that Case predated Dean and came from Indiana, basketball's "Fertile Crescent," if you will. I'm not saying that Dean shouldn't be considered a lion of Tobacco Road (and indeed of the game in general). I just thought it interesting that an "outsider" perspective lays as much credit with Case as with Dean.

The story, which I have heard repeated many times, is that NC State had an ambitious athletic director in the 1940s. He knew, just knew, that State couldn't compete in football with national powerhouses [sigh] Duke and Carolina. Therefore, State would become a basketball power. He recruited Everett Case, a successful high school coach in Indiana with a lot of success coaching military teams during WWII.

Case built State into a power, helped a bit by playing SoCon and ACC tournament games at Reynolds (previously they had been at Duke).

sagegrouse

[DeepBlue70]

I enjoyed the article and realize that there are any number of angles you could put on the main thesis, but man oh man, how can you leave out the role of the ACC tournament in the early days? The Dixie Classic may have been intense (it was before my time) but I gotta believe that when the ACC tournament was played only in Charlotte or Greensboro and determined the only NCAA rep from the ACC that that was the Dixie Classic on steroids. No other conference had anything to compare. Many said it was suicidal because it drained too muc hemotional energy right before the NCAAs. But if you were living or going to school in North Carolina in those days it was more important than the Big Dance. In my opinion the intensity of those three frenzied days every year is what made the state of North Carolina the center of the basketball universe.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I enjoyed the article and realize that there are any number of angles you could put on the main thesis, but man oh man, how can you leave out the role of the ACC tournament in the early days? The Dixie Classic may have been intense (it was before my time) but I gotta believe that when the ACC tournament was played only in Charlotte or Greensboro and determined the only NCAA rep from the ACC that that was the Dixie Classic on steroids. No other conference had anything to compare. Many said it was suicidal because it drained too muc hemotional energy right before the NCAAs. But if you were living or going to school in North Carolina in those days it was more important than the Big Dance. In my opinion the intensity of those three frenzied days every year is what made the state of North Carolina the center of the basketball universe.
We were here, and you are correct.
Love, Ima