January 30, 2025
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96% of Life’s quandaries can be explained in the lyrics to Puff The Magic Dragon (or the script for Lonesome Dove). “Dragons live forever, but not so little boys” ….… and, apparently …
… not so College Basketball Dynasties.
Return with me to those halcyon days of The late 60s … 70s … 80s … 90s … early 00s in Big Time College Basketball.
Back then …. If you were a 5-Star “Diaper Dandy” the collection of ballcaps you had in that gym bag to pull out announcing “I’m going to ….” absolutely positively included the following ….. “Carolina” – Kentucky – UCLA – Indiana – Kansas. In the mid 80s, a dark blue one with a “D” on it was permanently added.
They were The Enduring Dynasties with the sacred arenas / shrines … when their legendary head coaches appeared at a 5-star’s front door they did not have to introduce themself. Their handful of rings was enough …
Yes … There were the occasional short-lived “dynasties” with a lowercase “d” …. UNLV – Arizona – Florida – Syracuse – Michigan – UConn – Georgetown and wherever Rick Pitino was coaching in a particular year … but The Big Five endured through those five decades … sort of.
Most of you reading this can name their HoF coaches … star players … and some anecdote about their teams.
As much as many of you HATE’em for whatever real or mythical reason(s) … The University of North Carolina Tar Heels are absolutely a fixture on EVERY short list of College Basketball Dynasties of the past 50+ years. Due in large part to the rare coincidence of back-to-back (sort of) HoF coaches – St. Dean and Ol’ Roy for 98% of those decades. BL, what about “Matt”? “Matt Who?
Compare that to Indiana …. the Bobby Knight years and then ……. ???. … to UCLA … John Wooden’s incredible run and then …. ???? Yes, a couple of random NCs but hardly a “Dynasty”. Kentucky … still “a Dynasty” but there were Eddie Sutton and Tubby Smith hiccups along the way. Kansas … certainly still “a Dynasty” under Bill Self’s multi-decades as HC. And … of course … Coach K’s 41 years as HC at Duke and his 1129 Ws and umpteen NCs almost redefine “Dynasty” likely never to be equaled with the radical changes in College Basketball.
The point of the above history lesson is that Basketball Dynasties Are Not an Institutional Birthright …Not a Guarantee as Indiana and UCLA loyalists keep being reminded … OUCH! Is another of those Big Five Dynasties about to be so humbled ?
Are “The Lower Levelers” in The Dean Dome and UNCCH loyalists of all ages perched on the ledge… staring horrifyingly into The Abyss of Basketball Mediocrity? Say it ain’t so Neil Fingleton ….
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Are UNC’s three HoF coaches going to be “it”. Yes, THREE … his name was Frank McGuire and his 1957 team started it all 68 years ago.
To say “Hubert’s” seat is hot is an understatement. Is it “fair” that that can be the case? When fans’ braggin’ rights and fragile egos are imperiled, “fair” is not a consideration.
“Hubert’s” several years’ as UNC HMBBC has had more ups & downs than a Six Flags’ roller coaster. I believe I am on record that his remarkable late-season run to the Final Four in Year One could be the worst thing to have happened. It set fans’ hopes way too high that The Dynasty was secure. It ain’t!
I follow “recruiting” about as closely as I follow the Mumbai Cricket League. But apparently Hubert finished 2nd this past year in recruiting 3 or 4 5-star “big men” … leaving him with a “Billy Arthur” line-up of “not very big” guys. “Second” in recruiting is “first loser”.
One must assume UNC’s NIL “war chest” was/is insufficient to entice today’s “blue-chippers”. As I have predicted for several years.
18 year old “one&done phenoms” who do not recognize a single “jersey in the rafters” except, of course, #23 MJ. Lennie …. Billy …. Larry …. Charlie …. PHIL …. Walter …. Antwan … Vince … James … Tyler … ??? – huh?
“Coach, all them jerseys with whozit names might mean something to somebody … but nuthin’ to me. How Much You Gonna Pay Me?” ….
All the pearl-clutching by lower-levelers at the sacrilege of the above reality “don’t mean squat” in 2025.
OK … maybe “Michael” IS gonna give Hubert a blank check to “go buy’em” but that will get old real fast.
Maybe UNC’s latest self-appointed Admiral of The Flagship – Trustee Extraordinaire John P. Preyer – is already extending mega-million $$$ offers to Red Auerbach – Phil Jackson – Pat Riley – Steve Kerr – John Wooden and Gregg Popovich? $20,000,000 / year AND his own parking space on Franklin Street … Ya never know … this loonie is “on a roll”.
All I ask is PLEASE do not call Larry “I didn’t do nuthin’ wrong this time either” Brown.
I suspect … with zero inside info … that Hubert some how survives this year … makes some key staff changes … and is given a heavier NIL war chest to play with. But … maybe not… “Being on the hot seat” makes recruiting a lot tougher even though most 5-stars only care about one year.
I cannot name a single current UNC player except the “Davis” kid who, it seems, has been around Chapel Hill longer than Jim Heavner, Art Chansky and “The Well”.
Whatever fate awaits Hubert Davis … his UNC coaching resume will always have one item that those three UNC HoFers can NEVER match.
Hubert Davis beat Coach K in his final game in Cameron Indoor …. PERIOD!
Wonder if Dean’s 8,000,000,000 Chinese care about any of this? Probably not.
