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. CaptainCraptacular 06/14/2007 at 10:38 AM #

    *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?*

    In ’92 our Pack swept UNC in the reg season, both times scoring 99 points:
    http://www.sportsstats.com/ACC/boxlines/NCSU/1992

    No 80’s discussion could be complete without an Yvon Joseph reference. I liked the early 80s GT underdog teams, and when they started getting good, he was my fav player for them.

  2. waxhaw 06/14/2007 at 10:51 AM #

    “I just played great defense” …. Kenny Drummond when asked about Kenny Anderson(?) having an off night shooting.

    How can you not crack a smile at that kind of confidence?

  3. burnbarn 06/14/2007 at 10:58 AM #

    many mentioned Dean was the only person that hold M(God)J to under 20ppg!!

  4. Attackwolf 06/14/2007 at 11:19 AM #

    Anyone that thinks Worthy was no more than a role player on the 82 Carolina team certainly didn’t see him play. Jordan was a wet nose freshman and Perkins was still finding his way in 82. Worthy was a man amoung boys and yes took over that final four and brought home a championship. And had not Jordan gone on to such star studded fame in NBA, Worthy would be the talk of UNC basketball glory. Worthy did what so many UNC greats could not including Jordan (as a freshman Jordan was no more than a role player on the 82 team) , lead UNC to a NCAA Championship. And at the time no one talked about Jordan being the best player at UNC it was Worthy. Worthy was a UNC God on campus and amoung the fans. Hard to discount Worthy’s importance to the Lakers, if not for his presence down low Magic doesn’t have the freedom to play his game as much and an aging Alcindor doesn’t have to carry as much of a load. And to state Worthy always played along side great players is not a reason to discount how good he was. Doesn’t most every player on a championship team play along side other great players? Worthy and Magic, Mchale and Bird, Jordan and Pippen…… Worthy was a great forward in ACC in 80’s and his great success/long career in NBA only proves it. Of course had not Len Bias died and went to the Celtics as drafted and gotten a few rings with Bird we all might be saying he was best player in 80’s. Him taking over in his last game against Carolina is one of the most amazing single game performances I have ever seen by a player. Larry Bird was so excited about Bias being a Celtic he was going to go to rookie camp and play with Bias.

  5. CaptainCraptacular 06/14/2007 at 11:26 AM #

    Count me with the Worthy guys. As far as UNC players go, he is my favorite. I liked watching silky smooth James work his magic.

    Anyway, without him Carolina doesn’t win the ACC championship in ’81 or ’82, the NCAA title in ’82, and LA doesn’t win the ’88 NBA finals.

  6. legacyman 06/14/2007 at 11:26 AM #

    One poster stated that the possible ’83 match up between unc-ch and State would have been the greatest match in the state of NC. OK if he meant between local schools. BUT, the greatest matchup in the state of NC was the ’83 semifinal game between UCLA and State. The final game with marquette in ’83 was anticlimatic as most know the final outcome before it was played.

  7. Attackwolf 06/14/2007 at 11:36 AM #

    I’ve heard that too that only Dean could hold MJ to under 20 ppg. Give Dean credit he developed MJ to become the player he did. Plus college with its zone defenses and such was a much different game than the NBA at the time. And Dean didn’t constantly push the ball and use the fast break offense like Roy does, lots of people ssume Roy uses Dean’s offensive system but he doesn’t. Dean with Gutheridge were very established and good at developing big men in the post and developed their attacks accordingly. Why so many UNC big men such as Joe Wolf had long careers in NBA, they were taught how to play in the post. NBA people regarded Gutheridge as one of the best teachers of post players in the college game.

  8. BJD95 06/14/2007 at 12:04 PM #

    State vs. UNC in the Final Four would have been HUGE. Maybe bigger impact in the state than the UCLA game, b/c almost everyone would have an emotional interest.

    I went to same HS as James Worthy, and in journalism class, got to see the old yearbook from his senior year. Mens’ basketball had half a B/W page, and there was a full page, color spread simply titled “Worthy.”

  9. ChuckAllYall 06/14/2007 at 12:14 PM #

    legacynman,

    you mean 74, I’m assuming?

  10. noah 06/14/2007 at 1:28 PM #

    For Houston, Larry Michaux, Clyde Drexler and Matt Rose all outscored Worthy in the semis. Perkins had 25 and 10 and Jordan had 18.

    In fact, during the NCAA tournament in 1982, James Worthy was the sole leading UNC scorer a grand total of….one time.

    Against JMU, Perkins was the leading scorer. Against Alabama, Worthy and Matt Doherty were the leading scorers. Against Villanova, Jordan was the leading scorer. Against Houston, Perkins was the leading scorer.

    Against Georgetown, Worthy had his one great game…scoring 28. Of course, as I recall, Ewing was responsible for a big pile of them with the goaltendings. Considering the fact that Worthy was two-for-seven from the line, maybe he should have talked Ewing into blocking some of those as well.

    Worthy was an excellent player and if you want to pick him for YOUR all-80s team, I don’t think you’d find too many people to disagree with him. When he broke his leg in 1983, the Sixers just cruised.

    AC Green was an excellent player. Byron Scott was an excellent player. But they couldn’t carry the lakers. And neither could Worthy.

    Magic could…and did. Kareem could…and did, up through about 1986 (averaged more than 21 ppg every year).

    What does Len Bias dying have to do with his career in the ACC? And Bias was a better college player than Worthy. So was Danny Ferry. So was Ralph Sampson. So was Johnny Dawkins. So was Al Wood.

    You wanna know how bad Maryland was in 1986? Against Dook, Bias had something like 40 points and 10 rebounds and they still lost by 15 points.

    Bias was a fantastic shooter, much better than Worthy. Bias was shorter than Worthy by about an inch, but was heavier and stronger. Bias was easily the better athlete.

    Michael Wilbon thinks Bias would have been as good as Michael Jordan and that’s stretching things….but Lefty thinks the two best players in conference history are Bias and David Thompson and that’s not a stretch at all.

  11. noah 06/14/2007 at 1:34 PM #

    “Give Dean credit he developed MJ to become the player he did.”

    Dean Smith is an oustanding coach and undoubtedly had a great deal to teach Michael Jordan…but it was Jordan who came to the table with incredible athleticism. And it was Jordan who was the most competitive person on the planet (according to everyone around him) and it was Jordan who spent every waking moment working on his jump shot.

    I give Dean credit for getting Matt Wenstrom into the NBA.

  12. Attackwolf 06/14/2007 at 2:43 PM #

    Worthy was not at UNC in 83, he left after 82. And would it hurt you to give Dean a little credit for Jordan’s development, I mean MJ himself does.

  13. BillyTheKid 06/14/2007 at 2:55 PM #

    Bias had 41 in that 86 Duke game and Massenburg had 8 pts. They were the only two MD players with more than 4 pts!!!! Talk about a one man show. Duke won 80 to 86, but they would have won by more if Danny Meagher was still playing that year, we can agree on that, right Noah. Anyone who quotes HST on a sports Blog is # 1 in my book.

  14. BillyTheKid 06/14/2007 at 2:56 PM #

    Sorry, Duke won 80 to 68;>)

  15. CaptainCraptacular 06/14/2007 at 3:27 PM #

    *if Danny Meagher was still playing that year*

    Hate Duke, but Danny was cool.

    Fav players from teams other than Pack (not just of the 80s, but fav all time I guess):

    GT: Yvon Joseph
    UNC: Worthy
    Duke: Danny Meagher
    UMd: Bias
    UVa: None
    Clemson: Tree Rollins
    Wake: Rod Griffin

  16. noah 06/14/2007 at 3:54 PM #

    Michael Jordan was one of the two or three greatest athletes in the league. Dean Smith had nothing to do with that. Michael Jordan was driven, to an almost manic-level. Dean Smith had nothing to do with that.

    Had Jordan come to NC State, he would still have been Jordan. Had he gone to Dook, to Wake, to Georgetown, to UK….anywhere…he would have still be Jordan.

    I give Dean Smith a lot of credit for a million different things. But he doesn’t get credit for making Michael Jordan a great player. If Michael Jordan wants to see the person responsible for that, all he needs is to look in a mirror.

  17. noah 06/14/2007 at 4:02 PM #

    My favorite players from Carolina were Kenny Smith and Brad Daugherty. My least favorite Carolina players were Brendan Haywood and Brian Bersticker. And Kris Lang. And Matt Doherty.

    And Steve Hale. And Steve Bucknall.

    And Jeff Lebo.

    And Jeff Denny.

    And JR Reid. And Scott Williams. And Kevin Madden. And King Rice. And Steve Bucknall. And Rick Fox.

    And Kris Lang. And did I mention Kris Lang? I didn’t like Kris Lang. Nor did I like Kris Lang.

    And I didn’t like Jimmy Braddock.

    Favorite Georgia Tech player….probably Mark Price. Hated Craig Neal.
    Favorite Dookie….Dawkins. Hated Ferry and Laettner.
    Favorite Terp…I liked Walt Williams a lot. From the 80s, probably Adrian Branch. Hated Chuckie Driessel.
    Favorite Cav….I didn’t really like any of them. Hated Terry Holland.
    Favorite Tiger…Mike Eppely. 🙂 Hated Dale Davis.
    Favorte Wake…Delaney Rudd. Hated Bogues. Most frustrating player ever.

  18. ncsslim 06/14/2007 at 4:40 PM #

    Noah, surely you hated that redheaded, slight shouldered, tough-guy-wannabee, total prick Rich Yonaker? Also, you forgot Dudley Bradley. Jesus, man……….

  19. RabidWolf 06/14/2007 at 5:20 PM #

    And Kris Lang. And did I mention Kris Lang? I didn’t like Kris Lang. Nor did I like Kris Lang.

    NOBODY but Kris Lang liked Kris Lang….WTF was up with the haircut he had anyway….Anybody notice how he was exposed as the piece of shit he was after Haywood left??

  20. noah 06/14/2007 at 8:17 PM #

    I don’t remember Rich Yonaker. When was he in Chapel Hill?

    Dudley Bradley…I don’t hate him. I don’t think I ever heard my dad curse so much as he did when Bradley made that steal. But I don’t hate him.

    Kris Lang’s daddy was the invisible comic on the Gong Show. He just had more pride than Kris.

  21. CaptainCraptacular 06/14/2007 at 8:57 PM #

    Rich Yonaker, late 70s. Looked like he belonged on the old TV show Sigmund and the Sea Monster.

    My big sis went to Carolina, and had me rooting for the heels when I was young. I was about 9 or 10 and was with my sis and brother-in-law in Chapel Hill when we stopped for Ice Cream somewhere and Rich Yonaker was in the place. They tried to get me to ask him for an autograph, but I was too shy (have never been into the autograph thing anyway). They got one for me, but I can’t remember what happened to it. Probably stuffed away in a box in my parents house somewhere, not that I care too much for Rich Yonaker’s autograph. Makes me laugh just thinking about it. Glad I converted to the good side.

  22. bTHEredterror 06/14/2007 at 10:16 PM #

    And Joe Friggin Wolfe. And Henrik Rodl. And Calabria. And Okalaja. And Salvad/tore.
    Faves from elsewhere: Rodney Rogers from Wake, Dawkins from Dook, Bias, Salley, Grayson Marshall, and Stith.

  23. packfanstk 06/14/2007 at 10:31 PM #

    Check out (if you haven’t already) my youtube page with some highlights from 1985 and 1986.

    http://www.youtube.com/packfanstk

    One of the clips is CA Dillon announcing the starting lineups for our 1985 game against the Holes, which I think is the best State/Carolina game ever played. Both teams played like gangbusters, and the score was tied with two minutes to go; then Nate McMillan and (especially) Spud Webb went bonkers and we won by 9.

    The best team from the 1980s to not reach the Final Four was NOT any of the ones from the 1985 trio, nor Carolina’s 1984 team. It was Wake Forest’s 1981 squad. They drubbed NC State by 30 in the Big Four semis, and led the Holes by 25 in the second half of the championship game before scrub time. The 12-point final margin was merciful. Wake thrashed Carolina every which way that night. Read from this blurb about Wake Coach Carl Tacy:

    Carl Tacy: Tacy fielded his best Wake Forest team in his ninth season (1981)—his fourth Big Four Championship squad and a pre-season Final Four favorite with Virginia and North Carolina. This team featured one of the best starting fives in ACC history: Frank Johnson, Mike Helms, Guy Morgan, Alvis Rogers, and Jim Johnstone. Their end-season collapse remains one of the ACC’s biggest mysteries. Wake Forest climbed to the #3 spot in the AP poll in January, and on February 14 were 20-2 and ranked 7th. The Deacons then went 2-5 to end the season, their last three losses (the season finale, an ACC Semifinal game, and an NCAA Round of 32 game) coming by a combined total margin of five points. Wake Forest’s 1981 team is largely forgotten–a shame because it was no doubt one of the best teams in league history (along with 1970 USC, 1973 NC State,1974 Maryland, 1987 UNC-CH, 2000 Duke) to not make the Final Four.

  24. BillyTheKid 06/15/2007 at 7:24 AM #

    Noah, I met Brad Daugherty in the summer of 82. It was at a Basketball camp at Southern Durham High School (the same High School that Curtis Hunter went to, THE very first next MJ). I think he was only 16 at the time. He was very nice to me, a smarta$$ 13 year old who wanted to know why he wasn’t going to Duke. He sat and talked to 2 or 3 of us for about 15 mins. that day. Yes, I was a die hard Duke fan (see all the love for Danny Meagher) until I got to State College and all that changed so fast. I was showing my oldest son (he’s a big UNC fan) the Daugherty autograph just this week. It’s sighed in pencil on the back of a score card for the summer camp. I know, I know, how could I let my first born like the holes (his mother, my ex is a NCSU grad too)? That kid loves to F^&# with me. He’s a Red Sox fan and makes fun of the Grateful Dead. What are you going to do?!?!?

  25. BillyTheKid 06/15/2007 at 8:34 AM #

    packfanstk, great youtube!! Thank you so much for that. I love youtube, I’m sure “The Man” is going to kill it sooner or later.

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