Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
Another reason why social media can be so debatable.
Since the collapse of daily newspapers and the advent of social media, there are bloggers of all ages and knowledge levels. And Facebook groups about popular subjects are ever-growing. Such as Carolina and ACC basketball.
One such group is College Basketball Classic, and this particular thread was started by a Eugene Powell, who must be very young and not much of a historian because he left maybe the greatest player off the All-time ACC team.
The obvious names are bounced around, like David Thompson, Christian Laettner, Len Bias and Charlie Scott, although after N.C. State’s Thompson, the two-time national player of the year and Duke’s Laettner, who went to four straight Final Fours and won two national championships, it gets tougher.
Doesn’t Phil Ford, perhaps the best point guard in ACC history get any love? He won five assorted ACC titles and took the Tar Heels to the Final Four with a bum elbow. Sure, Bobby Hurley did three-fourths of what Laettner did, and both were equally hated around the league. And certainly Tyler Hansbrough, UNC’s all-time leading scorer, ACC and national Player of the Year in 2008 and NCAA champ in ’09.
James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Michael Jordan are in Powell’s digital discussion, but all three went on to be better pros than great collegians. Ralph Sampson, the three-time ACC and national Player of the Year, reached the 1981 Final Four before losing to Worthy, Perkins and Al Wood’s 39 points.
Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan is also in the debate, but despite winning two ACC POY awards and leading the nation in rebounding as a senior (1997) he reached the same number of Final Fours (zero) as Maryland’s Bias, who is remembered as much for his tragic death.
How Powell included Virginia’s Jeff Lamp in there is beyond me. Maybe he’s a Wahoo-Wa! Was he just throwing stuff up on the wall to see if it sticks?
The gaping omission in this thread is perhaps the greatest player in ACC annals, Lennie Rosenbluth, who led the ACC in scoring as a junior, was two-time ACCPOY and took the Tar Heels to the fabled undefeated 1957 season (32-0), which culminated with beating Michigan State and Jumpin’ Johnny Green in the national semifinals and Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in the championship game, both wins in triple overtime and in Kansas City.
Rosie was also National Player of the Year as a senior, led the league in scoring as a junior and his team all three of his varsity seasons. He averaged a career 27 points and 10 rebounds.
Sure, Powell, his thread and I left off other notable players, but the truly great ones that made the ACC legendary in hoops aren’t that hard to pick.
Featured image via Associated Press
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines