Dean Smith, RIP
- Thread starter kybobcat_rivals185207
- Start date
I don't know, but Michael Jordan himself sad something pretty mean about Smith today. Said that besides his parents, Dean Smith had a bigger impact on his life than anyone. Knowing what a piece of crap Jordan is as a person, that's a pretty big insult. Low blow, especially for Jordan to say on the day Dean Smith died.
Hard to argue with his career achievements. Have no idea what type of person he was. I will say that, in my mind, there will always be a question of whether his teams under-achieved. I can't remember how many times his teams entered the NCAA as a #1 seed (and several times, the overall #1 seed) and did not win the championship. He went to 10 (?) Final Fours and he did win two, though, so it's not like he was the greatest never to win one. It just seems like his teams always had superior talent and then couldn't close the deal in the tourney. I know for a fact because I witnessed it, the 4 Corners cost UNC at least 3 NCAA tournament games because he went to it way too early and the opponent came storming back to beat the Heels.
Sad that he had dementia/Alzheimers - what a horrible ordeal for his family to go through. A great coach and a well-deserved HOF'er. Just wonder if maybe he overthought/overcoached his teams and they fell short in games they should have won at times. Of course, they won plenty of big games or they wouldn't have reached the FF. But, 2 out of 10, especially in light of the fact they were probably favored to win it all in 6 or 7 of those years, somehow feels like UNC under-achieved on the biggest stage.
Sad that he had dementia/Alzheimers - what a horrible ordeal for his family to go through. A great coach and a well-deserved HOF'er. Just wonder if maybe he overthought/overcoached his teams and they fell short in games they should have won at times. Of course, they won plenty of big games or they wouldn't have reached the FF. But, 2 out of 10, especially in light of the fact they were probably favored to win it all in 6 or 7 of those years, somehow feels like UNC under-achieved on the biggest stage.
They're not going to mention that considering the guy just died, or in the last few years when he was in bad shape.
Regarding his FF record, it's not THAT bad. His first four FF's were during UCLA's 7 title stretch. He then lost two more (Marquette and IU) before winning the title in 82. He probably should have won again with MJ, and likely again instead of Duke's first title.
