The devil and all of his crew is making Dean Smith play monkey in the middle 24/7 365 for 10,000 centuries, and that's too good for him.
Dean Smith’s Four Corners
- Thread starter wcc31
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The real farce about Dean Smith was that he was some modern day abolitionist. The entire AA studies/degree scandal was created on his watch, and he deprived hundreds of AA athletes of a legitimate education. Nothing could be more "racist" than that IMO. Further, Smith learned the art of cheating from Frank McGuire---who coached during UNC's first title. Not sure there has ever been a case where the "image" misaligned with the truth more than with Dean Smith.
I hate them both with unbridled passion, but gotta disagree with you on this one. At least Knight made no pretense about himself, and was no darling of the press. Smith was a smarmy, phony SOB who was lionized by the media while hiding behind the facade of "the Carolina Way." I hope he's roasting in hell.
Yes, & Dean’s mugshot should accompany the definition. I’ve always equated it to punching someone in the nose & then running away while telling everyone you won the fight. UNC fans should be embarrassed by that fraudulent gargoyle, not naming arenas after him. I’d rather lose if I had to win like that. UNC has always been my most hated team. I hated them before I even knew why I should or who they were. Dad, I hate to say he indoctrinated me but who am I kidding, hated UNC & DS with a passion & taught me to hate them just as much as he taught me to love UK. And, he was 100% correct. I do have to credit them on one thing though; they couldn’t have picked a better color to represent the program than that weak ass shade of blue.
Michelangelo, cheater extraordinaire who did less with more than any coach ever and one title was literally handed to him.
I'd be willing to bet that, in really big games between similarly talented teams, Dean Smith's 4-corners cost them as many games as it won. I know I remember several NCAA/ACC tourney games where his team would be on a roll with maybe a 9-point lead and he'd go to the 4-corner. End of momentum, end of run. And, slowly the other team would creep back into it and, when it got too close late, UNC couldn't just flip a switch and recapture the momentum to win. I think the reliance on the 4-corner offense cost Dean at least one, if not two, NCAA championships. And, yes, he always had a ton of talent and got EVERY single loose ball call by the zebras and still managed to back into 'only' two championships. Always thought he underachieved with the talent that he brought to Chapel Hill. How many times did UNC enter the NCAA tourney a 1-seed and not even make the FF? Several, IIRC. A few times as the overall #1 seed, too.
I watched many games where Dean slapped on the four corners when UNC was up 10 or so. Family would turn the channel at that point. We didn't want to see or hear it. The ratings for UNC games must have been abysmal from that point in the game. I would think the networks carrying the games had some input into the NCAA implementing the shot clock. Hate UNC for that awfulness and their faux Carolina way and now the worst unpunished scandal in college basketball history.
I was not alive during his and IU’s peak, but from the interviews I’ve watched, Knight comes off as a total smart ass bully. Always others down.
The day Knight slapped Coach Hall in the back of the head, assistant coach challenged him to step outside and fight, but guess what, Knight wouldn't go. It was cool when Knight started yelling ay Scot Skiles, and Skiles turned around and got right in Knight's face. Knight always tried to act like a bad ass, but when someone stood up to him he always backed down. Knight also slapped assistant coach Ron Felling, and Felling got enough money from Indiana to retire to Arkansas. It was Felling that turned in that tape of Knight choking Neil Reid. By the way Felling was Jay Shidler's coach at Lawrenceville High School.
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Lynn Nance would have given Knight the beating of his life.
Dean Smith didn't even invent the four corners offense and Charlie Scott was not the first black student-athlete in the ACC or at North Carolina but the humble Dean has no problem taking credit for stuff he had nothing to do with.
Dean liked to present himself as a man who takes a stand for social justice. He once brought up Reid and Williams SAT score being higher than Laettner and Ferry's SAT score and people acted like he had taken a brave stand but when Bobby Knight pretended to whip a black player Dean did not utter a word.
Dean liked to present himself as a man who takes a stand for social justice. He once brought up Reid and Williams SAT score being higher than Laettner and Ferry's SAT score and people acted like he had taken a brave stand but when Bobby Knight pretended to whip a black player Dean did not utter a word.
The only game that made me madder in my life than 2015 Wisconsin was this one. That KY team was CLEARLY the best in the country. Givens, et al, should’ve been two time champs. The refs gave Carolina the lead and then they played stall-ball all of the 2nd half. Dean Smith went after Rick Robey and called him a thug. That isn’t basketball and was one of many games with which UNC was involved that led to the shot clock. Dean Smith was a creep.
I think cal is dean smith level “less with more.”
I remember hall saying they won't be playing us anymore either, this is a cowardly way of trying to beat teams. Fans driving hundreds of mile to watch a game with the final score of 24 to 11. Kentucky won the game but nobody enjoyed watching that sh** even if we did win
Dad always gets heated when talking about the cheats and their 4 corners. He said it was pu$$y ball and wasn’t worth a fvck! 🤣
Knight was under an arrest warrant in Puerto Rico for hitting a security guard. Don't know if it is still in valid. I think the last straw at Indiana was when he verbally abused and/or physically threatened a secretary in the athletic department.
In the championship game that same season against Marquette early in the second with UNC leading by I don't remember but I believe UNC had a double digit lead. Then Dean Smith went to his four corners. UNC lost it's momentum they started turning the ball over & Marquette caught them, passed them & won the national championship, or they didn't win it as much as Dean Smith simply blew the game.
Seems like I can recall another game that UNC played in the late 70's or early 80's where they went to their four corners at the start of the game and as a result I believe the halftime score was 6-4. It was an absolute nightmare to watch this garbage.
I was a teen, listening to that game on the radio. After that game, I wanted to never play them again.
1. I have never liked Dean Smith, was not a fan of the four-corners, nor do I like UNC. That said,
2. Nowhere in the rules of the game does it say you have to score X-number of points or that you have to play a certain style. The only rule is that you have to score more points than your opponent to win. The fact that a lot of us don't like that style of play - it's not visually appealing - doesn't matter. Those of you who say it violates "the spirit of the game" are only applying your own beliefs on how the game should be played. No one on here complained when the UK football team was running the ball 90% of the time in 2019 with Lynn Bowden (yeah, but that was in response to not having any quarterbacks). Smith only ran the 4-corners when his team was mismatched, or to kill the clock in the final minutes. BTW, that season his team averaged 83 ppg.
2. Nowhere in the rules of the game does it say you have to score X-number of points or that you have to play a certain style. The only rule is that you have to score more points than your opponent to win. The fact that a lot of us don't like that style of play - it's not visually appealing - doesn't matter. Those of you who say it violates "the spirit of the game" are only applying your own beliefs on how the game should be played. No one on here complained when the UK football team was running the ball 90% of the time in 2019 with Lynn Bowden (yeah, but that was in response to not having any quarterbacks). Smith only ran the 4-corners when his team was mismatched, or to kill the clock in the final minutes. BTW, that season his team averaged 83 ppg.
My favorite Duke/SAT story came from UL. Before their match in the NCAAs, Duke players were mocking the IQs of the UL players. The old "Is that their jersey number or their IQ" joke. Pervis Ellison took it in stride and asked if any Duke player wanted to compare their SAT scores with his. None did.
Despite the mega talent he coached over the years, his titles both came on completely fluke plays that we might never see again
How did Scott Skiles get in his face that day,he wasn't even in high school at the time.
no way.....UNC always did things the proper way and Dean Smith was nothing but a class act according to all of the espn gang
Yeah its an odd thing to us old timers who lived through that. Back then it was seen as revolutionary by Dean and he was the wizard who though it up. And since we hadnt experienced a shot clock it wasnt as crazy then as it seems today. A lot of teams did that at the end of games to "kill the clock", so it was more just a stretching of that concept.
But now when we look back at it it is the most infuriating and low class thing you can imagine a coach doing and cant believe he went that route to try to win.
Well said. I lose my shit when a guard jumps into a player and gets the call 99% of the time. Same with the head snapping. Thank God I wasn't alive for that for corners crap. But I think I feel a little bit in Cals offense and his propensity for rock fights. Why Cal doesn't run and gun is beyond me. We are always good in transition and usually more athletic than most teams are.
Question. Is that why the NCAA adopted a shot clock?
UNC and Duke played a game 7-0 at halftime. Don’t think there was any stops of the clock. TV was starting to ramp up the money. So glad the shot clock came about. Some folks say this game kinda forced the SC.
A game was seriously 7-0 at halftime? That's insane. I think that very well could be true about that game forcing the SC. Thanks for the info.
