Pano Celebrates!

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In the “Greece Celebrates” sidebar of ESPN.com’s recap of Team USA’s most recent “stunning” upset, we find this nugget from former NC State cult figure/icon Pano:

“This is the biggest thing we’ve ever done,” former Greek star Panayiotis Fasoulas said. “The Americans are the most talented players but we have a better team. Right now we’re the best in the world. … Beating the U.S. is more important than the final.”

Call me unpatriotic if you will, but the simultaneous thought of Pano’s exhiliration and the fuming of Coach “Messiah” brings a smile to my face. As much as I hate to say it, I have to tip my hat to the undisputed ACC trivia guru (who is also a big UNC fan) in my office for finding this. You can also check out Pano’s collegiate stats here.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

Alums General NCS Basketball

7 Responses to Pano Celebrates!

  1. vtpackfan 09/01/2006 at 9:31 AM #

    Pick and roll, pick and roll, pick and roll…. This is evidently an effective way to offset the over exuberant, hand check D Coach K has relied on for over a decade. Way to go Hellas, it can’t be non patriotic since this is not war but only games.

  2. RickJ 09/01/2006 at 9:46 AM #

    Incredible find and thanks for sharing. I’ve always wondered what would have happened in the 1986 NCAA tourney if we had elected to play Pano. It seems like we held him out because we were concerned about his eligibility for some reason. Foreign players weren’t as common back then. This is the year we lost to Kansas in a great game in the Regional finals in Kansas City (I’m pretty sure this is the last year they allowed anything like this kind of home court once you got to the round of 16). Kansas had a very good college center over 7 feet named Greg Dreiling and of course, Danny Manning.

    The linked stats would lead you to believe Pano didn’t play much of a role on that team but note that he had 56 blocks in 29 games in 11 minutes of action per game. That works out to a blocked shot for about every 5.5 minutes of play – an insane number. He could also rebound OK but was terrible offensively. He was a great example of how V could use a one dimensional player to great effect; i.e. Kelsey Weems is another example.

  3. joe 09/01/2006 at 10:18 AM #

    Fasoluas was actually drafted by an NBA team but that was back when the draft was 7 or 8 rounds. I remember him saying he was shocked to be drafted.

  4. redfred2 09/01/2006 at 10:22 AM #

    Nothing unpatriotic in that statement at all. Team play winning out over a bunch of athletic one on oner’s is happening with more frequency all of the time. It’s the way the game was meant to be played and a beautiful thing to watch.

  5. ShootingGuard 09/01/2006 at 10:25 AM #

    GRECIAN FORMULA 13, BABY!!!!!

    Jimmy V was a character who definitely put some characters on the floor…Those were the days!!!!!

  6. cfpack03 09/01/2006 at 12:02 PM #

    PLAY LIKE A TEAM and we can win. Play like selfish ball-hogging jerkwheats and lose. (which is why I hate the NBA).
    anyway, I just love to see K lose.

  7. SuperStuff 09/01/2006 at 12:20 PM #

    Fasolous had incredible timing when it came to blocking shots. He barely got off the floor and still blocked shots. That’s about all I remember about that guy. Can’t even remember him scoring any baskets.

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