1965-74 era
Michael Jordan
SEE RELATED:
ACC
still
North Carolina
Duke
First team\
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PG Phil Ford, North Carolina (18.6 points, 6.1 assists, 52.7 FG shooting)\
SG Michael Jordan, North Carolina (17.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 54.0 FG shooting)\
F Len Bias, Maryland (16.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 53.6 FG shooting)\
F/C Sam Perkins, North Carolina (15.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 57.6 FG shooting)\
C Ralph Sampson, Virginia (16.9 points, 11.4 rebounds, 56.8 FG shooting)\
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Second team\
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PG John Lucas, Maryland (18.3 points, 4.7 assists, 52.5 FG shooting)\
SG Johnny Dawkins, Duke (19.0 points, 4.2 assists, 50.8 FG shooting)\
F Walter Davis, North Carolina (15.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 53.1 FG shooting)\
F James Worthy, North Carolina (14.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, 54.1 FG shooting)\
C Mike Gminski, Duke (19.0 points, 10.2 rebounds, 53.1 FG shooting)\
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Third team\
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PG Mark Price, Georgia Tech (17.4 points, 4.0 assists, 85 FT shooting)\
SG Jeff Lamp, Virginia (18.8 points, 49.2 FG shooting, 84.9 FT shooting)\
F Rod Griffin, Wake Forest (18.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 55.2 FG shooting)\
F Buck Williams, Maryland (13.6 points, 10.9 rebounds 61.5 FG shooting)\
C Brad Daugherty, North Carolina (14.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 62.0 FG shooting)\
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Coach: Dean Smith, North Carolina (five ACC titles, three Final Fours, one national title)
The first team is self-explanatory.\
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Ralph Sampson, Phil Ford and Michael Jordan would likely make the all-time first team. Sam Perkins was a two-time consensus All-American but the second-best player on his team behind Jordan. Len Bias could play, too.\
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An All-American in basketball and tennis, John Lucas leads the second team.\
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Johnny Dawkins was Mike Krzyzewski’s first great player. He helped Coach K to his first Final Four, the beginning of Duke’s reign as the best program of the last 20 years.\
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At the forward spots, it’s James Worthy and Walter Davis of North Carolina.\
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Mike Gminski was a great player, now a pretty good color analyst.\
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The point guard on the third team is Mark Price, who made Georgia Tech basketball relevant.\
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The anti-Hansbrough, Brad Daugherty was 16 years old when he started at center and 20 when he was the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.\
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The last three spots were close ones. Jeff Lamp edged Jim Spanarkel, Rod Griffin edged Albert King and Buck Williams knocked out Mitch Kupchak.\
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Dean Smith of North Carolina was the easy pick as the era’s most successful coach.\
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But his coaching acumen often received mixed reviews.\
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By 1982, Smith had advanced to seven Final Fours and finally won a national title. He was the best at producing fundamentally sound players and NBA players —- Ford, Jordan, Worthy, Davis, Daugherty, Kupchak, Kenny Smith, Mike O’Koren, Al Wood and Dudley Bradley just from the era at hand.\
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However, his in-game decisions raised questions.\
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Was he outcoached by Al McGuire of Marquette in the 1977 national title game?\
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Did he take great talent and produce just very good results?\
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Did he overcoach, taking great, athletic players and too often playing slow-down ball?\
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In the 1982 ACC final, he beat Virginia 47-45. That game, which featured Worthy, Jordan, Perkins and Sampson, was the No. 1 impetus in the NCAA adopting the shot clock. \
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Jim Valvano deserves honorable mention for 1983, when he introduced not the term but the idea of March Madness.
Patrick Stevens
