Some ACC History

Lenny Rosenbluth, the big star of UNC’s 1957 team that beat Wilt Chamberlin to win the NCAA championship, died yesterday.

Len Bias, one of the more talented players in ACC history, died on this date in 1986, just after having been selected first in the NBA draft. That is easily the most shocking event in the history of the ACC. Lefty Drisell got fired even though he had no blame. You can even draw an indirect line between Bias’ death and Maryland’s departure from the ACC. Bias’ death certainly had a terrible effect on the Maryland athletic department for many years.

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Originally Posted by hallcity

Lenny Rosenbluth, the big star of UNC’s 1957 team that beat Wilt Chamberlin to win the NCAA championship, died yesterday.

Len Bias, one of the more talented players in ACC history, died on this date in 1986, just after having been selected first in the NBA draft. That is easily the most shocking event in the history of the ACC. Lefty Drisell got fired even though he had no blame. You can even draw an indirect line between Bias’ death and Maryland’s departure from the ACC. Bias’ death certainly had a terrible effect on the Maryland athletic department for many years.

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Slight correction: Bias was selected 2nd after Brad Daugherty. I remember well, as I was in Boston at the time.

Somewhere on another thread there was a short discussion of great Jewish basketball players. Rosenbluth, even though his best days were his college days at UNC, certainly belongs on that list.

Whoever had the idea to create the documentary about the ACC tournament deserves additional kudos. They captured some great interviews with Rosenbluth and other great historical figures from the early years of the ACC.

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Originally Posted by Section 15

Slight correction: Bias was selected 2nd after Brad Daugherty. I remember well, as I was in Boston at the time.

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Daugherty was a heck of a player but selecting him over Bias was “certifiably insane” to use a phrase from ACC history.

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Originally Posted by hallcity

Daugherty was a heck of a player but selecting him over Bias was “certifiably insane” to use a phrase from ACC history.

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Given what each of them accomplished at the professional level, how can you say that? Knowing what we know Bias would do, of course selecting Daugherty was the smarter move. The Celtics got zero out of Bias.

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Originally Posted by tommy

Given what each of them accomplished at the professional level, how can you say that? Knowing what we know Bias would do, of course selecting Daugherty was the smarter move. The Celtics got zero out of Bias.

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Yeah, and without knowing what Bias would do, it wasn’t a bad pick by the Cavs. Daugherty was a 5-time All Star and one-time All NBA center (during arguably the golden age of centers) before back problems cut his career short.

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Originally Posted by CDu

Yeah, and without knowing what Bias would do, it wasn’t a bad pick by the Cavs. Daugherty was a 5-time All Star and one-time All NBA center (during arguably the golden age of centers) before back problems cut his career short.

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Strongly agree. A great 80’s NBA team was built around a great center. I suspect most of the first picks in the 80’s were bigs.

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Originally Posted by Jeffrey

Strongly agree. A great 80’s NBA team was built around a great center. I suspect most of the first picks in the 80’s were bigs.

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I should have added, until the 80’s, all of the greatest NBA players had been centers (Russell, Chamberlain, and Jabbar).

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Originally Posted by Jeffrey

I should have added, until the 80’s, all of the greatest NBA players had been centers (Russell, Chamberlain, and Jabbar).

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How about Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, John Havlichek?

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Originally Posted by Jeffrey

Strongly agree. A great 80’s NBA team was built around a great center. I suspect most of the first picks in the 80’s were bigs.

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Yep. Carroll, Sampson, Olajuwon, Ewing, Daugherty, Robinson, and Ellison were all #1s in the 80s.

Malone, Parish, Ewing, Olajuwon, Robinson, and Abdul-Jabbar were Hall of Famers.

And then guys like Gilmore, Sikma, Willis, Cartwright, Laimbeer, Gminski, Carroll, Bowie, Duckworth, Edwards, Benjamin, and Dawkins were pretty darn solid. Tough era to be lacking at C.

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Originally Posted by Bay Area Duke Fan

How about Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, John Havlichek?

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I’d now rank West and Robertson between 10-15th greatest. The other three would not make my current top 20 and I would rank (too seldom mentioned) Moses Malone higher than all three.