re: LSU v. Indiana 1981 Final Four

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What???????? You are way off here dipshit.

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Did you read any of the previous threads.... especially from the beginning? The dude is making fun of himself. Lighten up Fransisco.

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This game was the "unmasking " of Dale Brown as a coach. It was the worst coached game I've ever seen for somebody I was pulling for .It was pitiful , leading to one of the top ten quotes in basketball .

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I was there. Agree completely. Have the lead, Isiah Thomas on the bench with three fouls and we freeze the ball for the last 3 or 4 minutes of the first half.

I agree that it showed that Brown was not in the same class of coaches as Knight, Crum, and Smith but I watched the 1981 championship game a few days ago and Indiana did roughly the same thing to North Carolina. Dean Smith-coached team with a better front line. Even game at half then IU goes on a run at the beginning of the second half and wins comfortably.

North Carolina won the championship the following season. Of course, they did add Michael Jordan that year but I digress.

The last victory of the season - the Elite 8 victory over Wichita State was on YouTube at one point but I can't find it now. I would love to watch that game again.

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North Carolina won the championship the following season. Of course, they did add Michael Jordan that year but I digress.

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probably the best collection of talent and clutch play in the high stakes games UNC ever produced of Dean's 2 title teams

hypo: would replacing an All-American senior in Al Wood with freshman Jordan (or any UNC version of Jordan) in 81 have made a difference? People forget that Jordan's last two seasons at UNC with arguably better talent (still Perkins, Brad Daugherty, Doherty, Kenny Smith) each ended in pre-Final Four losses to inferior opponents on paper (lost to 10-loss Georgia in the Elite 8 in 83, lost to an Indiana team who would then lose to a Sampson-less Virginia squad in the Sweet 16 in 84), as awesome and great and legendary as MJ is, I think people overrate his college career big-time to the point they believe he's the greatest college player of all-time (which is clearly incorrect). A lot of it is attributed to Dean Smith's slowdown and team-oriented coaching (as great as Dean is, he's incredibly overrated, should've won more than 2 titles at UNC) however Jordan was playing with Jimmy Black, Worthy, Brad Daugherty, Doherty, Kenny Smith, Perkins, that's almost an amateur olympic starting rotation. when one plays with that talent, they don't need to score 30 a game, I think it's a mixture of Michael developing as a competitor and Dean's coaching style that explains just one title during that period.

Hard to say regarding substituting a senior Al Wood for FR MJ but if it is "any UNC MJ", I think I take MJ. I think Dean Smith's coaching style had a lot to do with holding back MJ.

There was a great game in the mid-eighties between LSU and UNC at Chapel Hill. It became an MJ vs. Jerry Reynolds scoring duel. I can't find the full game but someone uploaded highlights of both MJ and Reynolds that day. This MJ looks like the NBA version. I think Dean Smith told MJ at halftime to do whatever he wanted to do.

LINK

It's amazing how well LSU played against this UNC team which was a roster of NBA all stars - MJ, Perkins, Daugherty, and Kenny Smith. Even though it was a loss, it was a great game.

Dale was a good recruiter and an outstanding motivator with teams that did not have as much talent. For years, he could not land the big center in an era when having a true center was crucial. That kept LSU from being consistently elite after 1981.

The ‘86 team had a lot of talent but an academic suspsension to Nikita Wilson and the chicken pox took its toll on that team in the regular season. Brown did a great job rallying them. The ‘87 team wasn’t that great talent wise, but he did another great job with motivation.

Then he got two centers (Shaq and Stanley Roberts) and couldn’t get that team to mesh. He was not a good bench coach. There’s a reason he never beat Smith/Knight/Crum.

I was there. It was in The Meadowlands. We lost 47-43. Jordan was terrible. Steffond Johnson got in early foul trouble for us. One of the worst offensive performances by 2 teams i have ever seen.

The refs did call the foul at the end. Irvin went to the line and missed the one and one. We had a one point lead when he was fouled. 90% ft shooter. We still had a chance to win the game but couldn't get the last shot off in time. Nikita missed it anyway.