King was overrated coming out of High School. Not his fault, but he had a really tough time at UNC. To this day he is so thankful that Dean Smith and the coaching staff never gave up on him. You won't find a prouder Tar Heel. His teammates loved him, he was a great defensive player and always got under Bobby Hurley's skin.
Are you talking about the thread or Larry Who and the "where are they now" Twins?
I didn't defend the twins more than I said I didn't think their play on the court was that bad. They wanted to play more so they left. How they went about leaving was messed up, but nothing on the court was that bad.
Off teh court reasoning is the only reason to say anythiung like this. If a guy fails to live up tp potentuial, but was a good teammate and citizen, we should say no more after his eligibility is up.
The only thing Rasheed Wallace disrupted was the opposing team. Force him into that lineup? Sheed didn't get enough playing time his Freshman year. Reese should have redshirted that year like Pat Sullivan did. Think about that. I mean really think about that. Reese started 1993 with some health issues. If I remember correctly, it was asthma. He missed the first part of that season. Reese sits out in 1993/1994 and perhaps UNC cuts down the nets in 1994 and 1995.
Funny you say that because Henson is one of my top 5 favorite players of all time. Thing is Henson spent his freshman year trying to play small forward. Once he moved to his natural position of power forward we all saw the real John Henson.
We had a senior led team coming off a NC. We lost Lynch and Rodl along with Wenstrom and Cherry but had Stackhouse coming in. Sullivan gets to play his senior season. I'm not looking at who was a cancer or who I detested - those guys have been covered ad nauseum, I'm looking at who might have cost us a shot at a NC. Wallace was a huge talent but he absolutely disrupted the flow of that team. I would have loved to have him show up the next year but in '93 it was subtraction by addition.
I see what you're saying THBB.
I can only assume you mean as head coach, because on the court, Matt was a good team player. Not flashy, and he didn't fill up the box score with stats, but I liked the guy as a player. As a coach... well, he was thrust into a situation that he was not prepared for, IMO. Certainly he could've handled things ALOT better, but he did leave us with some great anti-dook material, so I thank him for that.
Nobody was happier than I was when Wallace committed but I think you nailed the problem. Watching them play that year it didn't look like Dean ever got a good rotation nailed down. Wallace and Stackhouse both "demanded" playing time just by virtue of their status as high-school recruits. It was, IMO, the beginning of the end for college b-ball as it had always existed and the end for Coach Smith.
LOL...you should have seen the threads about some of these guys while they were here. And Matt shot himself in the foot when he took over. He alienated nearly everybody in his attempt for a fresh start. I'm pretty sure even he would admit that he handled things poorly.
