The Larry Brown Final Four

“This is a nightmare for Roy Williams” — Billy Packer, 9:31 remaining in the first half with the score Kansas 33 UNC 10

“This game…is OVER” — Billy Packer, 7:31 remaining in the first half with the score Kansas 38 UNC 12

LBF4

It would take a blind person less than a nanosecond to recognize the enormous difference in quality between the N&O’s fantastic ACC Now blog and the college basketball blog of the Charlotte Observer. Therefore, typically don’t link to the Charlotte Observer’s “Above The Rim” blog because…well…it’s pretty bad and rarely offers us any value.

But, every now and then we can get surprised. Today the Charlotte Observer originated an interesting set of observations that we will share as a part of our Final Four open entry when David Scott (no surprise that it wasn’t Ken Tysiac) blogged the following:

Larry Brown sure attracted a lot of attention at the Alamodome on Friday. But there was good reason. Brown’s influence has been huge on each of the four programs at the Final Four:

— He played and was an assistant at North Carolina.

— He was coach at UCLA from 1979-81.

— He was coach at Kansas from 1983-88 and took the Jayhawks to the NCAA title in 1988.

— Memphis coach John Calipari was a Brown assistant at Kansas and with the Philadelphia 76ers.

How can we connect Larry Brown to NC State? Take a look back to this coaching search de-brief from two years ago to educate yourself.

Update 5:30pm – Maybe I spoke just a moment too soon by giving the Charlotte Observer some credit for their comments. Click here to see how the New York Times was all over the Larry Brown-angle with significant more quality and quantity. Check out this neat graphic.

Lastly, we would be SFN if we didn’t remind you of the following:

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94 Responses to The Larry Brown Final Four

  1. JeremyH 04/05/2008 at 9:33 PM #

    carolina taking over, only down 6.

  2. JeremyH 04/05/2008 at 9:51 PM #

    you guys realize if carolina doesn’t win, the chances of tyler returning are higher….and his good friends the ACC officials that could not be present this evening!

  3. Todd 04/05/2008 at 9:53 PM #

    Travel? On Handjob? Did you see his look?

    God, I’m lovin this. up 12 now!!

  4. BoKnowsNCS71 04/05/2008 at 9:54 PM #

    Back up to 12

  5. BJD95 04/05/2008 at 9:57 PM #

    Brown sitting in the Kansas section. Love it.

  6. BJD95 04/05/2008 at 9:59 PM #

    Memphis is going to beat Kansas like a rented mule.

  7. JeremyH 04/05/2008 at 10:02 PM #

    see, nobody wins when the ACC officials favor duke and carolina. it’s like they’re playing by different rules now.

  8. cowdog 04/05/2008 at 10:04 PM #

    CBS has gotta be hatin’ this.

  9. BJD95 04/05/2008 at 10:05 PM #

    No worries about Hansbrough going pro after tonight. The Jayhawks made him look silly.

  10. gumbydammit 04/05/2008 at 10:07 PM #

    Am I wrong to feel so much joy seeing Carolina get whipped? I think not.

  11. Rochester 04/05/2008 at 10:16 PM #

    Loved most of the game. Didn’t like the part where Carolina came back, though that was mostly Kansas’s fault. They didn’t seem like they knew what to do with a lead. Don’t care so much who wins now, though I’ll be rooting for Kansas.

  12. CStanley 04/05/2008 at 10:28 PM #

    I’ve been asking for a while now why people didn’t want to put Tyler higher in the draft.

    After seeing what Kansas did to him tonight…I now know why.

  13. wesley 04/05/2008 at 10:28 PM #

    It is indeed a twisted satisfaction, but satisfaction non the less. After our Wolfpack finish last in the league and see zero postseason, the Carolina Hurricanes lose to an inferior team and miss the playoffs… I will relish in this roundabout victory, because anytime the Tarheels lose… or in this case get dominated… its a wonderful feeling.

  14. MatSci94 04/05/2008 at 10:37 PM #

    I’d love to see the headline tomorrow “Kansas punches Hansboro in the Will”

  15. BoKnowsNCS71 04/05/2008 at 10:40 PM #

    No Kansas will beat Memphis

    State is batting 1000 in Final Four and National Championship games. UNX is what?????

  16. FireAndIce2007 04/05/2008 at 10:51 PM #

    Actually, NCSU is 2 out of 3 in the Final Four. We lost in the semifinals to CCNY in 1950. UNC has been in the Final Four 17 times and has won the whole thing 4 times.

  17. newt 04/05/2008 at 10:52 PM #

    “Dude – did you see PsychoT take a backhanded swing at Aldrich?” – Yes. Even my wife the UNC grad saw that, but no mention on TV of course.

    More fun was watching Brown urging Kansas to get back on D late in the game. No question for whom he was rooting.

  18. SaccoV 04/05/2008 at 11:04 PM #

    I can find nothing sweeter on (thereabouts) the 25th anniversary of our greatest athletic moment than UNC getting punched in the face in the Final Four. Credit to the Holes for coming back, but all the sweeter for me that they got close and got squashed like a bug. Thank you Kansas. Go Bill Self and the Jayhawks on Monday!!

  19. gcpack 04/05/2008 at 11:10 PM #

    Does anyone think I can find Kansas tee shirts in the Raleigh area tomorrow? It would be fun to wear a nice Kansas red tee shirt with blue lettering around town tomorrow.

    LMAO

  20. Sweet jumper 04/05/2008 at 11:12 PM #

    Rick J–Larry Brown did take the Davidson job when Terry Holland went to UVA. He stayed one month. He left in the summer when Carl Scheer called and offered him the head coaching job of the Carolina Cougars/Denver Nuggets. That move took Davidson down quickly. Lefty and Terry had the program on solid ground, and when Larry deserted us, Bo Brickles took us down fast over the next 2 years. Then Dave Pritchett(Lefty’s top assisstant at Maryland) came but he took a leave of absence after one year for health reasons and left after 2 years. Then Eddie Biedenbach came from State but did not accomplish much in 3 years. Every player in Terry Holland’s last recruiting class transferred to other D-1 schools and did well except John Gerdy. Gerdy stayed and became Davidson’s all-time leading scorer and and an All-American in his senior year. He was my freshman hall counsellor, and he was a great basketball player, an excellent student and a good person, much like Stephen Curry, only bigger(6’5″ shooting guard with unlimited range). Thanks to Bob McKillop for his dedication and hard work to reestablish what Lefty started.

  21. newt 04/05/2008 at 11:12 PM #

    Another interesting note is that Bill Self was the beginning of the end for Matt Doherty at UNC. His Illinois team demolished Matt Doherty’s second year team early in the year, before people realized that UNC sucked. I think UNC was actually highly ranked at the time. After that game, the wheels fell off and Doherty was eventually fired after the next year. I think Doherty might have lost his players that game. It looked a lot like the opening minutes of tonight’s game. So Self played some role in creating the opening at his dream job in Kansas.

  22. beowolf 04/05/2008 at 11:31 PM #

    NC State is 5-1 in the Final Four and has the best winning percentage in Final Fours of any team that has made multiple trips. The only loss came in four overtimes.

    That’s another one of those facts about NC State’s history that the current leadership would just as soon you not know. Set your sights lower, and lazy leaders can just stay as they are.

  23. Ismael 04/05/2008 at 11:42 PM #

    im gonna pull for memphis, calimari and all, just cuz i picked them in my bracket.

    not only did the ‘Holes lose, but they got butch-slapped…and in the words of that sage Roy T. Williams: “i couldn’t give a shit about Carolina”.

  24. FireAndIce2007 04/05/2008 at 11:43 PM #

    “NC State is 5-1 in the Final Four and has the best winning percentage in Final Fours of any team that has made multiple trips”

    UConn is 4-0 in 2 Final Four appearances.

  25. Pack92 04/06/2008 at 7:01 AM #

    Here we go tarheels, here we go!

    Back to the hole that is. To figure out, once more, just how exactly they became THE most overrated team in college basketball. Put a little thought into that Stuart Scott.

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