I was in a debate with a Carolina friend of mine about Knight and Dean Smith and my point was Dean Smith is very overrated in terms of all-time elite status. He went to 11 Final Fours and won twice which is really good but look what he had every year...
Starting with IU beating Carolina in 81 (I know he coached well before the), here are the list of how many McDonald All Americans he had on each team...
80-81: 6
81-82: 6
82-83: 7
83-84: 9
84-85: 6
85-86: 8
86-87: 8
87-88: 7
88-89: 7
89-90: 6
90-91: 8
91-92: 6
92-93: 6
93-94: 8
94-95: 5
95-96: 4
96-97: 5
I am in no way saying Smith was not a great coach but we are splitting hairs when talking about the elite of the elite and a don't think Dean stacks up given the wealth of talent he had.
My final point against Dean: How do you lose with Jordan as your star??? The best player in Jordan's last game was a 6-2 freshman shooting guard from New Castle. Takes a pretty damn good coach to win that game.
Elite recruiter, very good actual coach. He is Calipari in a different era.
No agenda, just a fun discussion I had and thought other basketball fans might want to weigh in. Maybe my stance is wrong.
I certainly wouldn't mind IU having a run like Dean had at UNC though.
Starting with IU beating Carolina in 81 (I know he coached well before the), here are the list of how many McDonald All Americans he had on each team...
80-81: 6
81-82: 6
82-83: 7
83-84: 9
84-85: 6
85-86: 8
86-87: 8
87-88: 7
88-89: 7
89-90: 6
90-91: 8
91-92: 6
92-93: 6
93-94: 8
94-95: 5
95-96: 4
96-97: 5
I am in no way saying Smith was not a great coach but we are splitting hairs when talking about the elite of the elite and a don't think Dean stacks up given the wealth of talent he had.
My final point against Dean: How do you lose with Jordan as your star??? The best player in Jordan's last game was a 6-2 freshman shooting guard from New Castle. Takes a pretty damn good coach to win that game.
Elite recruiter, very good actual coach. He is Calipari in a different era.
No agenda, just a fun discussion I had and thought other basketball fans might want to weigh in. Maybe my stance is wrong.
I certainly wouldn't mind IU having a run like Dean had at UNC though.
