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. highstick 04/06/2008 at 7:44 AM #

    Carolina Born and Carolina Bread anyone??? I didn’t even watch a minute of it and didn’t check for the score. I was afraid I’d jynx Kansas. I went to bed, slept and waited until about 3 o’clock to turn the TV back on and check the score. Tyler was about to cry in his interview and I slept very good the rest of the night!

    Gotta check out IC and see what the excuse is!!!

    Dorothy, Todo, and the Wizard have defeated the Wicked Witch of Chapel Hill!

  2. Wulfpack 04/06/2008 at 7:47 AM #

    “Brown sitting in the Kansas section”

    That was interesting. But he was caught on camera cheering for the Heels. He’s an odd one. Obviously an outstanding coach, but the way he will just get up and leave a program/franchise really gets to me. I am going to go out on a limb and say he will be coaching the Knicks or Bobcats next season.

  3. highonlowe 04/06/2008 at 7:58 AM #

    ^To me, it wasn’t clear who he was pulling for when they cut to him there in the last few minutes. He was either motioning for UNC to push it up the floor on offense, or, for Kansas to get back on defense.

  4. Texpack 04/06/2008 at 8:12 AM #

    After watching Memphis last weekend in person and again tonight, you have to say they’re the favorite. KU will hopefully be able to repeat their performance from last night, because they’re going to need it to win.

  5. BladenWolf 04/06/2008 at 8:18 AM #

    I watched the game last night and could not believe how UNX got completely thrashed in the first half. The speed, the defensive effort, the crashing of the boards, and the match-ups were delightful to watch.
    The game exemplified (to me) how UNX gets the calls during ACC play, but when it comes down to crunch time and playing a great out-of-conference team with different officiating, they get their asses handed to them.
    With all those Mickey D All-Americans the local media gush over, one would think they would have administered the total ass-whippin’ last night in lieu of recieving the ultimate bitch-slap.
    I was in pure heaven- dare I say “Kansas blue” heaven.
    If the Jayhwaks don’t run out of gas Monday night, it should be a very interesting ballgame.

  6. cowdog 04/06/2008 at 8:29 AM #

    Have ya’ll read Tudor this morning?

    Some fun, quite an enjoyable read.

    Sounds a tad personal, though and may reveal what most of us have suspected ( known ) for a good long time.

  7. smile102 04/06/2008 at 8:40 AM #

    “Back to the hole that is. To figure out, once more, just how exactly they became THE most overrated team in college basketball.”

    36-3, ACC reg and tourney champs, Final 4, POY. Thousands of votes by knowledgeable sports people thru-out the year as a #1. Your opinion doesn’t wash w/ the facts.

    SFN: If they were #1 all year…and failed to even advance to the National Championship game…I’d say that there is definitely a factual case to be made that they were obviously over-rated. OBVIOUSLY they are NOT #1. Therefore, they were over-rated.

  8. BJD95 04/06/2008 at 9:05 AM #

    Based on what I know about Brown from both NC State and UNC sources…he was definitely pulling for Kansas. He hates Baddour, and his opinion of Roy isn’t much better.

  9. Wulfpack 04/06/2008 at 9:11 AM #

    I was at a recent Bobcats game and Brown had a Tar Heel lapel on his blazer.

  10. Dr. BadgerPack 04/06/2008 at 9:29 AM #

    I must admit I forgot to tune in to the post game interviews. Can anyone tell me if Tyler was listening well? He listened so well after Georgetown last year… I was wondering if perhaps he built upon that performance.

    I know, I’m terrible.

  11. heavy 04/06/2008 at 10:04 AM #

    Dr. BP – I actually wanted to see the Danny Green dance…did I miss it?

  12. wolfman 04/06/2008 at 10:16 AM #

    Does anybody here but me remember Larry Brown flirting with the Cleveland Cavaliers front office position while his Detroit Pistons were in the NBA finals, only to lose the finals and end up taking the same job at the NY Knicks? His bungling of the Olympics? Or his recruiting violations at Kansas? Brown is a whiner and a vagabond who has absolutely no loyalties, much like many of his Carolina brethren. There’s a good little piece on his shenanigans over on carolinasucks.com. It outrages me to know he had anything whatsoever to do with our coaching search, or even might have been involved.

  13. redfred2 04/06/2008 at 10:20 AM #

    Larry Brown???!!! If there is anything that embodies what is wrong with all of sports these days, especially on the professional level, it’s a jump ship mentality like that of Larry Brown. No loyalty, all about WHAT’S NEXT, the money, and not at all about what ANY program stands for, that is Larry Brown. Plug him in, watch him work for a brief while, then watch him scurry off to the next venue before the really hard work starts, which is maintaining. He is basically the walking, talking, equivalent of a “rent-a-coach”.

    His “pull for the winner”, unc upbringing was definitely apparent last night, but seriously, why would anyone on here care what that guy thinks, about anything?

  14. BoKnowsNCS71 04/06/2008 at 10:31 AM #

    I wondered if Danny Green was dancing before the game. That dance before the first Duke game was cute. Reminded me of Butters on South Park during the You Got Served dance off. (wish I could post that picture here).

  15. RBCRowdy 04/06/2008 at 10:37 AM #

    Relative newcomer Memphis mauls Final Four veteran UCLA. Kansas then crushes mighty North Carolina … twice.
    ~~Gene Wojciechowski

  16. Rochester 04/06/2008 at 10:54 AM #

    Larry Brown is the biggest whore in the history of basketball.

  17. haze 04/06/2008 at 11:06 AM #

    UNC was a very good team this year but they hit a buzz saw with KU last night. Wow. That was awesome.

    Still, if Memphis isn’t favored tomorrow, I’d be stunned. CDR is Julius Hodge with more size and a much better shot. Rose is a MAN-child at PG. The center is a rebounding beast, Taggart & Dozier are super role players. Anderson is a stopper and no offensive slouch. They are big and tough and they will run. Should be a FUN game to watch, I just don’t think KU can put up enough points.

  18. Jamie 04/06/2008 at 11:11 AM #

    When Packer said game over in the first half, I was reminded of the Wolfpack’s first half performance in Chapel Hill this year. The only thing that would have made it sweeter last night, is if the Kansas crowd had cheered Carowhina’s first goal out of their first half drought…..

  19. heavy 04/06/2008 at 11:11 AM #

    Great analogy BoKnows…I was thinking in terms of Elaine on Seinfeld. I just love the dance because having someone act that spastically with a UNX uniform on and then shown nationally is hilarious. To me, this is up there w/ Maddog Madsen’s dance. The best part is that its not even a set up… they’re doing it to themselves!!!!

  20. Dogbreath 04/06/2008 at 11:23 AM #

    I remarked during player intros that UNC looked extremely tight and stoic, which was out of character for this year’s team. They got the roof blown off in the first 5 minutes of the game, and it was very clear that their pregame demeanor established the wrong tone.

  21. BoKnowsNCS71 04/06/2008 at 11:32 AM #

    If you want some enjoyment, look at some other blogs. The TH faithful are writhing like worms in the hot sun. Rather than sucking up and accepting their loss, they throw out derisive references to Dook, State and the rest of the ACC cause we aren’t in their “class”.

    Bottom line to me is that until there is tough competition within the ACC by more than 2 teams, until the time that 6 teams go into the NCAAT each year (and go deep) then being the toughest dog on the block is meaningless — if you are still just a poodle.

    But with Carolina sucking all the recruiting air out from the rest of the ACC, good kids from NC will opt to go outside the ACC.

  22. wolfpack n da house 04/06/2008 at 11:42 AM #

    speaking of recruiting in state i would guess we have probably lost our shot at John Wall. My bet is he winds up in Memphis where it actually looks fun to play basketball.

  23. Rochester 04/06/2008 at 11:43 AM #

    But with Carolina sucking all the recruiting air out from the rest of the ACC, good kids from NC will opt to go outside the ACC.

    Somehow I suspect that if we, or any other ACC school, had offered Eric Maynor (VCU) or Stephen Curry (Davidson) a scholarship they would have accepted. That would be quite an upgrade over our current backcourt.

  24. redfred2 04/06/2008 at 11:54 AM #

    I hate ’em, but even I was frustrated and wondering why Roy didn’t call a time out early on, at least to set his players straight. Once I saw KU’s initial defensive intensity and the energy that they were exerting from the gitgo, I told my wife that I would have tried to slow it down at the very beginning, after KU went up 11-5.

    I guess Roy was in shock and just couldn’t believe that there was another team out there who could run the pants off of his tar heels.

    I don’t really care, but I’d rather see Kansas win the nat’l championship now. Coach Caligula and his Tigers definitely have enough ego to survive a loss and carry on.

  25. turfpack 04/06/2008 at 11:58 AM #

    Coming home from another college visit where my son will be playing football-great!
    Then watching UNX getting their asses handed to them-Even greater!
    Even better watching the UNX fans and Tylerwalksflops crying-PRICELESS!!!!!!!
    HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!

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