UNC Basketball History
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sringwal
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I honestly have no idea. Looking back on things, the placement of the our two best shooters, right next to each other, is odd. As a teenager, I found Dean Smith infallible (as close to God as a person could be), and it would never have occurred to me that the play's design could have been his fault. Wallace was, obviously, the easy target for my frustration.
SnoopRob
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Yeah, it looks like an interesting play.
Everyone knows we need a 3 and, if I'm seeing it right, it looks like we have McInnis, Donald Williams, Calabria, Rasheed, and Montross on the court.
I'm not sure why you'd have both Rasheed and Montross on the court in that situation. I guess you can make the case for either one of them to be there as a rebounder or as the fulcrum on what seems to be a throw inside and kick back out play, but both seems strange to me as it seems you'd rather have four shooters to maximize your chances of getting the best look in that case.
As you say, it seems weird that both Donald and Dante were near each other on the perimeter, especially when the ball got nowhere near either of them.
If I ever read anything about how that play was designed to go, I've long forgotten it. But I wouldn't mind knowing more now.
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Interestingly, despite all the talent on the team and the fact it had several players we think of as good shooters, it was one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in UNC history. The team’s 3-point shooting percentage was .330, the lowest the team had shot since the 3-point line became part of college basketball in 1986-87, and it would be the lowest percentage until the 2009-10 season.
There were only two players on the team who shot better than 35% from 3: Jeff McInnis (.415) and Derrick Phelps (.379). -And of course Phelps wasn’t in the game in the end. The guys who had the best reputations as shooters— Donald Williams and Dante Calabria— had 3-point shooting percentages of .339 and .347, respectively, that season. Jerry Stackhouse shot 10% from 3. Thus, there wasn’t much to give us hope when we were down 3 at the end of the game.
For the record, the years we had worse 3-point shooting percentages than 1994 were:
2010 - .328
2011 - .328
2016 - .327 (hard to believe that was our worst up to that point considering we reached the national championship and had Paige, Berry, and Jackson (Jackson shot under 30% that season))
2020 - .304
2021 - .318
2023 - .312
Thus far this season, it’s .323
donbosco
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#OTD in 1948 Alexander Julian was born in #ChapelHill. From his father’s Franklin St. shop to NYC and back, he’s the creator of the signature Tar Heel Argyle. Designer Alexander Julian and Carolina Style
It’s my color combo, the Carolina Blue and White. I’ve got hats and shirts and sweats, coffee mugs and scarves. It makes me glad that Guatemala, a place that I love so dearly, shares the Sky Blue with Carolina. Living nearby the Columbia University campus once quite early after arriving in the neighborhood I went into a hardware store, really a general store with a bit of everything, looking for a few small things. As I was checking out, by the register, there was an area alight with what seemed to be the right shade of blue — hats and T-Shirts mostly — and then the sign — ‘Columbia’ Blue.
Columbia is an old school - one of the nation’s first, being founded in 1754 in Manhattan. Founders and Federalist Papers authors Alexander Hamilton and John Jay attended. Carolina is an old school too — the nation’s first public state university. It was founded in 1789 (doors opened in 1795). Carolina’s most famous graduate is Michael Jordan but there are some other illustrious alums like Andy Griffith, Tom Wicker, Frank Porter Graham, Kizzmekia Corbet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Nikole Hannah-Jones…
But that blue? In Manhattan the story goes that the color comes from the regalia of the student Philolexian Society, a literary and debate club founded in 1802. The ‘society’ endures into the present and its business is secret they say. In Chapel Hill the sky blue comes to us from the Dialectic Society (Always paired with the Philanthropic Society as Di-Phi) which chose the color in 1795 as its own.
Thus, historically, despite Columbus’s predating UNC by 41 years of actual existence, the claim on the color clearly belongs to Carolina. Of course there are multiple trademark and paraphernalia claims to the exact designated hue. In my time on earth, I’ve watched Carolina Blue darken (don’t tell me that hasn’t happened), alarmingly. The official line is that we’re Pantone 542 (Pantone 542 C Color | Hex color Code #7BAFD4 information | Hsl | Rgb | Pantone). To my eye that looks to be the true, timeless blue (I think our athletics department is the guilty party in messing around with the shade - I’d point my finger most emphatically at football). Columbia’s Pantone is 292 (Pantone 292 C Color | Hex color Code #69B3E7 information | Hsl | Rgb | Pantone). Check them out at the links. The Prussian blue worn in Durham is 287 u/c (Pantone 287 C Color | Hex color Code #003087 information | Hsl | Rgb | Pantone). That Kentucky school in Lexington’s blue is, apparently, Pantone 286 (Pantone 286 C Color | Hex color Code #0033A0 information | Hsl | Rgb | Pantone).
It is a relief to discover our Pantone number so removed from those others - especially the ones, dook and UK, that tend to append Royal to their description. That sort of adjective would be entirely inappropriate for “the University of the People” after all. That the school in Durham actually adapted their standard from a palate titled “Prussian Blue” seems perfect.
That old question, “If God’s not a Tar Heel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue?” can still be posed for sure. The fortunes of Carolina have been volatile of late - the Alma Mater has wandered a bit and a Board of Governors are in charge that appear dedicated to leveling rather that rising up. Academics are under siege from an anti-intellectual right-wing, though truth-be-told, that assault is age old, particularly in the case of Carolina and its fitful relationship with many in the state’s historic ruling class (not all though - UNC has, thankfully, done its job in changing lives — and minds — on occasion). Sports teams also seem bound for the wilderness at times, but then there too the bar is set mighty high.
That color - and the shirts and banners and the campus, the stone walls, the Old Well, and the Bell Tower - and here I show my age with my nostalgia for days bygone - are very dear to me. “I’m a Tar Heel bred..,” and y'all know how the rest of it goes. Thanks are due to Alexander Julian for making it classy and timeless. Lux Libertas. Happy Birthday Alex!!
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Man, I hear ya.
#OTD in 1948 Alexander Julian was born in #ChapelHill. From his father’s Franklin St. shop to NYC and back, he’s the creator of the signature Tar Heel Argyle. Designer Alexander Julian and Carolina Style
It’s my color combo, the Carolina Blue and White. I’ve got hats and shirts and sweats, coffee mugs and scarves. It makes me glad that Guatemala, a place that I love so dearly, shares the Sky Blue with Carolina. Living nearby the Columbia University campus once quite early after arriving in the neighborhood I went into a hardware store, really a general store with a bit of everything, looking for a few small things. As I was checking out, by the register, there was an area alight with what seemed to be the right shade of blue — hats and T-Shirts mostly — and then the sign — ‘Columbia’ Blue.
Columbia is an old school - one of the nation’s first, being founded in 1754 in Manhattan. Founders and Federalist Papers authors Alexander Hamilton and John Jay attended. Carolina is an old school too — the nation’s first public state university. It was founded in 1789 (doors opened in 1795). Carolina’s most famous graduate is Michael Jordan but there are some other illustrious alums like Andy Griffith, Tom Wicker, Frank Porter Graham, Kizzmekia Corbet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Nikole Hannah-Jones…
But that blue? In Manhattan the story goes that the color comes from the regalia of the student Philolexian Society, a literary and debate club founded in 1802. The ‘society’ endures into the present and its business is secret they say. In Chapel Hill the sky blue comes to us from the Dialectic Society (Always paired with the Philanthropic Society as Di-Phi) which chose the color in 1795 as its own.
Thus, historically, despite Columbus’s predating UNC by 41 years of actual existence, the claim on the color clearly belongs to Carolina. Of course there are multiple trademark and paraphernalia claims to the exact designated hue. In my time on earth, I’ve watched Carolina Blue darken (don’t tell me that hasn’t happened), alarmingly. The official line is that we’re Pantone 542 (Pantone 542 C Color | Hex color Code #7BAFD4 information | Hsl | Rgb | Pantone). To my eye that looks to be the true, timeless blue (I think our athletics department is the guilty party in messing around with the shade - I’d point my finger most emphatically at football). Columbia’s Pantone is 292 (Pantone 292 C Color | Hex color Code #69B3E7 information | Hsl | Rgb | Pantone). Check them out at the links. The Prussian blue worn in Durham is 287 u/c (Pantone 287 C Color | Hex color Code #003087 information | Hsl | Rgb | Pantone). That Kentucky school in Lexington’s blue is, apparently, Pantone 286 (Pantone 286 C Color | Hex color Code #0033A0 information | Hsl | Rgb | Pantone).
It is a relief to discover our Pantone number so removed from those others - especially the ones, dook and UK, that tend to append Royal to their description. That sort of adjective would be entirely inappropriate for “the University of the People” after all. That the school in Durham actually adapted their standard from a palate titled “Prussian Blue” seems perfect.
That old question, “If God’s not a Tar Heel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue?” can still be posed for sure. The fortunes of Carolina have been volatile of late - the Alma Mater has wandered a bit and a Board of Governors are in charge that appear dedicated to leveling rather that rising up. Academics are under siege from an anti-intellectual right-wing, though truth-be-told, that assault is age old, particularly in the case of Carolina and its fitful relationship with many in the state’s historic ruling class (not all though - UNC has, thankfully, done its job in changing lives — and minds — on occasion). Sports teams also seem bound for the wilderness at times, but then there too the bar is set mighty high.
That color - and the shirts and banners and the campus, the stone walls, the Old Well, and the Bell Tower - and here I show my age with my nostalgia for days bygone - are very dear to me. “I’m a Tar Heel bred..,” and y'all know how the rest of it goes. Thanks are due to Alexander Julian for making it classy and timeless. Lux Libertas. Happy Birthday Alex!!
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1. Maya Blue? Link: Maya blue - Wikipedia
2. In re Michael Jordan: IIRC, for several years the Geography Department widely publicized that it's graduates had the highest average starting salary of any four year degree in the entire University of North Carolina System. And it a footnote stated that one graduate, Michael Jordan, had a disproportionate impact on the average starting salary for the period used.
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As I recall there was a Grandson of the Rand Mcnally map fortune also in that class
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A faded memory of a sort of "ball don't lie" game before Rasheed got around to trade marketing it.
Recollections?
superrific
Legend of ZZL
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To me, it looks like Montross fucked up. I have no idea why he was flashing to the ball, but anyway, it seems to me that his job was to down screen on McInnis' man. Ball goes to Sheed, Montross screens McInnis' man off the ball, Sheed passes to McInnis, who can either shoot or throw it to Donald Williams circling up top off Dante's cross screen.
You can see when Sheed catches the ball, he's looking right at the wing. He's expecting McInnis to be there to receive the pass. Instead, Montross sort of screened nobody, and then he went to screen Sheed's guy and the play was busted. Sheed made the right play, IMO. It was a very high IQ play. There are 5 seconds left, and he's holding the ball in no man's land. He's not a guard; there are players all around him with quick hands; and there could be defenders coming from Sheed's backside to slap the ball. So instead of a turnover, Sheed got a decent three point shot away. Obviously not the shot we wanted, but probably the best option after Montross fucked up.
There was one TO left. Maybe Sheed could have called it, but that's a big ask for a freshman in that situation.
As for Montross, the only thing I can think was that he was confused by the personnel. Maybe he was expecting Donald to enter the ball, so he could down screen for the best shooter. When he saw it was McInnis, maybe he figured that Donald would be coming around a back screen and head for the corner behind Sheed?
It's also possible that Donald wasn't in the right place.
But that play was not Sheed's fault, and I don't think it was executed remotely how it was drawn up.
Centerpiece
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Don't recall the game specifically as I was living in Arkansas at the time and that game certainly wasn't telecast - and there was no write up about it in the Little Rock papers... But I do recall that team and it's one of my all time favorite squads. That team, plus the '77 team and the '82 teams have to be my faves... with several other teams coming in close for 4th place ('81; '92 team; '93 team; '95 team; '97 team; '05; '08; '09; '16; '17... just to name a few)
Recollections?
donbosco
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Yeah...that was one of my favorite teams as well. Pretty thrilled years later when Dennis Wuycik started dropping by a bar where I was tending to have a pint and talk hoops and politics (he was pretty far left). I haven't seen him now in probably 20 years though.
fsclark1
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It was initially called The Poop Sheet, then later the ACC/Area Sports Journal. I actually wrote a couple of articles for it back in the early 90's.
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Yep. Poop sheet. Memory cells ain't what they used to be.
Centerpiece
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Too many hits on the Reddi Whip cans in the grocery store eh? Robitussin for a couple bucks a bottle, party all night. I know you Rider, drivin that train...
