Remember the 80s – A Golden Era of ACC Basketball

General NCS Basketball Sports Junkies Tradition151

I was chatting with a UNC fan colleague yesterday, who is also a world-class ACC historian (could have a great conversation with SFN commenter noah). He has an extensive game collection, and recently acquired tape of the first State/Carolina matchup in 1984. You may remember that as the year the Wolfpack opened with a repeat upset of again #1 Houston…and it went rapidly downhill from there. The Pack finished 4-10 in ACC play, and IIRC, lost to Florida State in the first round of the NIT. What I did not remember was how very good the ACC was that season. Virginia was the #6 seed (out of EIGHT, remember) in the ACCT, but made the Final Four, losing to Houston in OT. Wake Forest finished at .500 in league play, but made the regional final (also losing to Houston, by a mere 5 points).

One of my fondest wishes is for the ACC to start its own “classic” channel or series, or put out a DVD set with highlights and full games from ACC play in the 1980s. For the Wolfpack fan, this would include the 4OT game against Wake, the 1987 ACCT run, and of course, 1983.

Please share your own memories below (I would love more details on the regional final runs by the Pack in 1985 and 1986), and answer these 1980s ACC trivia questions:

– Name the Wolfpack starting five in the first game against UNC in 1984 (I got 3 correct).
– How many ACC teams qualified for either the NCAAT or NIT in 1985?
– Who was the last ACC team to go winless in league play, and in what year did they do it?
– Three ACC teams made the regional finals in 1985, but all 3 lost to Big East foes. Name the ACC teams and their corresponding Big East opponents.

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.

General NCS Basketball Sports Junkies Tradition

151 Responses to Remember the 80s – A Golden Era of ACC Basketball

  1. noah 06/13/2007 at 1:17 PM #

    I may make a Earl Mannigault reference later. Stay tuned!

  2. highstick 06/13/2007 at 1:20 PM #

    I may be wrong on this stat, but I believe that at one time State had the most players playing in the NBA of any school from the batch that came out of the 80’s.

    I remember that game against Houston that year. I hadn’t heard much about Spud, but he sure made me feel better about him being there.

  3. noah 06/13/2007 at 1:25 PM #

    I think we were tied or just behind UNC for a couple of years with Carolina. I don’t remember having more than them…but I could be wrong.

    We beat the CRAP out of Houston that day. Webb was amazing. 18 points and a bunch of assists.

    I remember Rodney Butts getting playing time…that’s how bad we beat them! : )

  4. noah 06/13/2007 at 1:27 PM #

    BTW, I had to look it up…in the 1984 game, Houston was 6-for-17 from the free throw line. : )

  5. kool k 06/13/2007 at 2:00 PM #

    The Goat! That does it…no more productivity from me today…I shall fantasize about a pickup game between me, Goat, Dalrymple, Sweet Pea and Paul Mokeski vs Connie Hawkins, Hawkeye Whitney, Hersey Hawkins, Darryl Dawkins and Jack Sikma

  6. Clarksa 06/13/2007 at 2:01 PM #

    I remember a cartoon from sometime in the 80’s of a couple walking in a scenic spring like setting…the caption read something like “you know it spring when the sun in shining, the birds are singing, and the Tarheels are choking.”

  7. noah 06/13/2007 at 2:12 PM #

    Earl Mannigault had the same heart condition that felled Reggie Lewis and Pete Maravich. Seems like it was called a myocardial infarction (a hole in the heart).

  8. BJD95 06/13/2007 at 2:18 PM #

    My father, uncle, and I spent a good 5-10 minutes on Saturday discussing the phenomenon that was Kenny Drummond. V went to the well one time too often for the juco/transfer PG, after striking gold with Spud and Nate. My uncle remembered a Raycom post-game interview where he was asked about why he had such a brilliant first half, then trailed off in the second. Quote KD: “Coach wouldn’t let me shine.” Crikey.

  9. BJD95 06/13/2007 at 2:21 PM #

    Oh, and Warren Martin (mentioned earlier in this thread) is my all-time least favorite Heel. He was essentially a glorified goon, but to judge his facial expressions and body language, he NEVER committed a foul in his life.

    It’s a close race between Martin and Chris Collins for my most loathed player in ACC history. I probably lean Collins.

  10. kool k 06/13/2007 at 2:52 PM #

    I remember a movie about Mannigault from about 10 years ago, I think it was an HBO movie. Don Cheedle played the Goat…Didn’t he play for Clarence “Big House” Gaines for at least one year, or am I remembering an obscure White Shadow episode?

  11. CaptainCraptacular 06/13/2007 at 2:54 PM #

    *Who was the last ACC team to go winless in league play, and in what year did they do it?*

    Georgia Tech, 1981

    Maryland won 1 reg season ACC game in ’89 before beating us in the tourney.

  12. CaptainCraptacular 06/13/2007 at 2:56 PM #

    well, never mind, I didn’t see BJD’s answers. Forgot about Wake and MD in 86 and 87

  13. noah 06/13/2007 at 4:17 PM #

    Rucker Park on 155th street in New York is named for Goat’s mentor, Holcombe Rucker. It’s a cool place to visit. No, the neighborhood isn’t that bad.

    If you’re a baseball fan, go visit the park…you’re standing where Willie Mays made that over-the-shoulder grab in the ’54 World Series.

  14. noah 06/13/2007 at 4:34 PM #

    Oh, and my all-time 1980s team (must have played at least three seasons during the years 1980-1989):

    PF – Tom Hammonds, averaged 17 points and nine boards a game…Ferry belongs here, but I’m not putting him on my first team.
    SF – Len Bias, not as good as Michael Wilbon would have you believe, but he still makes the squad…avg. 16.4 for his career, two-time player of the year
    C – Ralph Sampson, not Lew Alcindor, but a three-time player of the year is still pretty good.
    SG – Michael Jordan, yeah, he was better later…but he was still the 1984 player of the year.
    PG – Sid, was the all-time leader in assists when he finished his career and he won a national title, of course.

    Second Team

    PF – Horace Grant, he and Albert King are the only non-multiple player of the year award winners for the decade.
    SF – Danny Ferry, two-time player of the year
    C – Brad Daugherty, not a lot of competition here…#1 pick in the 1986 NBA draft
    SG – Johnny Dawkins, he and Ferry and Thompson are the only ones (I think) with 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists.
    PG – Mark Price, deadly shooter and an underrated passer, averaged 17.6 and almost 5 assists a game for his career.

  15. cpwolfpackfan 06/13/2007 at 4:52 PM #

    I kow this is off subject, but i was looking for a recording of the unc vs nc state game in the rbc center this past year. If anyone knows where i can find it and let me know that would be great.

  16. choppack1 06/13/2007 at 8:45 PM #

    The 80s in the ACC were incredible – so many great guards…
    At UMd – you had Adrian Branch and Adkins (1 pro)
    At GaTech – you had Mark Price and Bruce Darymple (if this lets you know how much the game has changed, Bruce couldn’t hit anything outside of 5 feet) – and Craig “Noodles” Neal (1 pro)
    At Wake Forest – you had Frank Johnson(maybe he was late 70s), Mike Helms, Danny Young, Delaney Rudd and Muggsy Bogues. (4 pros.)
    At UVa – you had Othello Wilson, Ricky Stokes, Jeff Lamp, Jeff Jones, and Rick Carlyle(though one could argue those guys were swingmen)
    At Clemson – you had Vince Hamilton and Grayson Marshall
    At Duke – Vince Taylor, Amaker, Dawkins and Gerald Henderson
    At UNC – Jimmy Black, Michael Jordan, Kenny Smith, Steve Hale and maybe Jeff Lebo
    finally at NC State you had – Sidney Lowe and Derrik Whittenberg, Spud Webb, Nate McMillan, Vinnie Del Negro, Fire and Ice..

    Not bad at all – front court was pretty special too
    GaTech – John Salley, Ivan Joseph, Tommy Hammonds (an absolute beast in college)
    UMd – Len Bias, Ben Coleman, Derrick Lewis
    UVa- Ralph Sampson, Kent Edelin (who helped UVa to the Final 4 after Ralph left), and Olden Polynice
    Wake Forest – Alvis Rogers, Jim Johnstone, Anthony Teachey, Kenny Green and Sam Ivy
    Clemson – Horace Grant, Dale Davis – and of course, Murray Jarmin
    Duke – Alarie, Bilas, and Ferry
    Carolina – Perkins, Worthy, Wolf, Popson, Martin, Daugherty, JR Reid
    State – Thurl, Lorenzo, Washburn, Cozell, Chucky Brown, Shackleford, Brian Howard, and Tevin Bins (whose claim to fame is that he dropped 40 in a red/white game.)

  17. RabidWolf 06/13/2007 at 8:53 PM #

    We had Lo, Co, Washburn (for the first 10 games),

    Can we EVER get away from Washburn references??????

    My favorite State game was the early 90’s (don’t remember the exact year) when UNX was LOADED and ranked #1–Les Robinson took a highly undermanned State team into Chapel Hell and managed to hang 99 points on the Tarholes in probably one of the biggest upsets in ACC history. Was it Ishua Benjamin who was totally unconscious from the outside in that game?

  18. wolfpackbball 06/13/2007 at 9:02 PM #

    I know this group starts to get out of the realm of the pure 80s, but I figured I would throw in ‘Lethal Weapon 3’, just for the mere fact that that GT team was pretty badass. I think that was the 89-90 season that Oliver, Anderson, and Scott were together. Scott had to have won player of the year that year.
    I have fond memories of Dennis Scott single handedly breaking UNX’s back with many 3s in the course of a huge comback win in Atlanta. All hail 3-D.

  19. bTHEredterror 06/13/2007 at 11:40 PM #

    How can we not mention Brian D’amico, and Warren Martin, and ?

    I’d take Kenny Anderson, Jordan, Bryant Stith, Bias and Sampson to start on my all ’80’s ACC team. Bring in Sid, Dennis Scott, Perkins, Rodney Monroe and Elden Campbell.

  20. BillyTheKid 06/14/2007 at 6:52 AM #

    RabidWolf, I think you are talking about the game Lakista McCuller went for 24pts with 6 3pters!! It was in 1995 or 1994 I think.

  21. ncsslim 06/14/2007 at 7:30 AM #

    Guys, any all-80’s team that leaves out James Worthy is totally suspect. The man was a total force on the ’82 championship team (he met the “three year” criteria as well, coming in that incredible freshman class of Sampson, Nique, Sid, Whit, etc…), pretty much single handedly taking the bad guys to the promise land. In spite of the fact that Jordon repeatedly makes all-time final four teams due to that one shot he made in his only final four appearance (as a freshman); Worthy, of course, was the main horse on back-to-backs in ’81 and ’82, and if he had chosen to stay for his senior season, the legend of JimmyV would have been much more unlikely! He has to be on the team.

  22. Rick 06/14/2007 at 8:08 AM #

    “Oh, and Warren Martin (mentioned earlier in this thread) is my all-time least favorite Heel. He was essentially a glorified goon, but to judge his facial expressions and body language, he NEVER committed a foul in his life.”

    Not to mention he was built like a baseball bat. Small at the bottom and just kept getting bigger

    I love the Murray Jarmin reference. Nothing like a 6’6″ white guy with a 40 inch verticle playing center.

  23. noah 06/14/2007 at 8:40 AM #

    >Can we EVER get away from Washburn references??????

    When talking about the 85 and 86 teams? Of course not.

    >I’d take Kenny Anderson, Jordan, Bryant Stith, Bias and Sampson to start on my all ’80’s ACC team. Bring in Sid, Dennis Scott, Perkins, Rodney Monroe and Elden Campbell.

    Neither Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott, Bryant Stith or Rodney Monroe played at least three years during the 1980s. Hell, Kenny Anderson only played one semester (maybe seven or eight games) during the 1980s.

    Elden Campbell’s not a bad choice.

    >Guys, any all-80’s team that leaves out James Worthy is totally suspect.

    I thought about Worthy long and hard. In the end, he doesn’t have great numbers. He only averaged 14.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg. He probably belongs on the second team instead of Grant. I chose Grant because of his last two years…he put up 16 and 10 and 21.5 and 9.5.

    One other thing about Worthy…he’s always had the fortune of playing alongside great players. At Carolina, he had Perkins and Jordan and Jimmy Black and Al Wood (the leading scorer on the 80 and 81 teams). In the pros, he played alongside Alcindor and Magic and Byron Scott and AC Virgin. I never saw him as a guy who could put a team on his back and carry them. Remember after Fred Brown threw him the ball at the end of the Georgetown game, he missed those two free throws and kept the Hoyas alive (albeit very very briefly).

  24. ncsslim 06/14/2007 at 9:16 AM #

    I’m find it kind of awkward defending any UNC player, but to capsulize Worthy’s performance in the ’82 final four as two missed critical free throws is about like describing Marylyn Monroe to a teenager as just a ditsy starlet who died her hair blond. James was virtually a one man team against both Houston (Phi Slamma one year earlier) and Georgetown (where 2nd team AA freshman “wonder” Perkins was a total “boy” against 3rd team AA “man” Ewing), and other than the missed free throws, played one of the more dominating final fours this side of Bill Walton.

    No doubt, James played with some good players at UNC, but notice, other than his soph and jr years, none of those guys ever sniffed the final four, especially the ’85 team that gagged in the second round to Indiana. I have chosen to explain this specifically as Worthy’s ability to step up and out of the Dean Smith formula that was so successful in the ACC, but was paralyzing in the NCAA’s. No other player, including M (God) J, exhibited the ability to step out of the “system” when it really counted.

    To me, James is probably the most dominating power foward (a perfect example of where numbers totally understate reality) ever in the ACC, and to equate his career with the college version of Horace Grant is just plain wrong. Just my opinion. Otherwise, great work.

  25. BillyTheKid 06/14/2007 at 9:58 AM #

    I have to agree with ncsslim. I think Worthy’s low numbers were more because of Dean’s system than because of Worthy being only a good player and not one of the very best in the 1980’s ACC. My opinion he was the best UNC had in the 1980’s. In the 82 Final he was at his best. It’s in those types of games that the true dominating players step-up.

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