How can there be a discussion of the greatest ncaa basketball team that does not include the 82 tar heels?

Question

Let's see Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Matt Doherty and Jimmy Black. Not sure how any team can beat that.

Answer 1

Well, you're right. They're in the discussion, but they're hardly a slam dunk choice as best team. A few things to consider:

1) They didn't go undefeated (32-2). Some other teams "in the discussion" went undefeated.
2) They were hardly a dominant champion. In those days 1 seeds had a first round bye so you didn't get the 1v.16 slaughter. Nevertheless, they only won their five tournament games by an average of 4 1/2 points a game, never winning a game by more than 10 points. The greatest college team ever would, at least, blow out the 8 seed don't you think?
3) Michael Jordan was a freshman averaging 14 per. This is probably the most important point. When we hear the names Jordan, Worthy, Perkins we think of them as pros, forgetting the fact that in 1982 they were college kids who were still learning how to play the game. By '92 Jordan was the best player in the world, in '82 he was a promising prospect. You have to judge the team on what they were then and not on what they, as individuals, would later accomplish.

By way of contrast the 1972 UCLA Bruins did go undefeated (30-0), they did dominate the field, winning their tourney games by an average of 18 points and their regular season games by an average of 30. This 30 point margin of victory is a record that still stands. The core of this team had another undefeated title run the next year en route to an 88 game winning streak. This is also a record that still stands.

As I said, the '82 Tar Heels deserve to be discussed and they might have beaten the '72 Bruins, but they certainly would have been underdogs.

Answer 2

Spaceboy is right.

That team was lead primarily by Worthy and Perkins...Worthy was really the best player in the country that year. Jordan was just another freshman (but a good one though... Dean Smith normally didn't start freshman right off the bat in the opening game, but Jordan did start as a freshman that year).

As for Jimmy Black and Matt Doherty, they were just along for the ride. I don't know why you even bothered mentioning them.

Worthy was the dominant player in the NCAA tournament as well, and was MVP of the final four. Jordan was the 3rd best player on the Tar Heels that year (after that, was a big drop off).

Any one of the Alcindor or Walton-led UCLA teams would have destroyed the Tar Heels... Alcindor and Walton were so good in college that it was like having 3 All Americans on your team. Plus, UCLA had some other All Americans besides their two great centers.

Also, it's true that the Tar Heels were not a dominant team in the tournament that year... They were somewhat fortunate to win the title, as Georgetown had a chance to win it on a final shot, when Fred Brown went blank and passed the ball right to Worthy on their final possession. I did think the Tar Heels were a better team that year though...it's too bad for Georgetown that they never got the opportunity to take a final shot...would have been interesting... both freshman Ewing and senior Eric "Sleepy" Floyd played a great final game.

Still, a 63-62 win is hardly dominating.

Worthy and Perkins were incredible that year. Jordan was good, but was just another good freshman. No one was predicting great things for Jordan during that season. You know the old saying... "Dean Smith was the ONLY person who could hold Jordan to under 20 points"... that was true, because of the way NC played.

Answer 3

The Fab 5 became the nickname for a 1991 college of Michigan men's basketball crew recruitment class it extremely is seen by technique of a few to be "the mind-blowing class ever recruited."[a million] the category consisted of Detroit natives Chris Webber and Jalen Rose, Chicago community Juwan Howard, and Texas intense college basketball stars Jimmy King and Ray Jackson.[2] in the beginning, merely 3 of the novices began for the 1991–ninety 2 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball crew. even nonetheless all of them performed at the same time as the season opened on December 2, 1991 antagonistic to the college of Detroit, they did not all play jointly until eventually December 7 antagonistic to jap Michigan and did not initiate usually until eventually February 9, 1992. In that first recreation starting up jointly as a familiar unit, the 5 novices scored all the crew's factors antagonistic to Notre Dame.[3][4] They began as a unit in all yet between the final video games for the season.[5] They reached the 1992 and 1993 NCAA men's branch I Basketball Championship video games as both novices and sophomores, at the same time as starting up a blended 304 of a available 350 guy-video games

Answer 4

How about that UNLV team that only lost one game in 1990 and blew out Duke by 30 in the Championship Game..

Larry Johnson, Stacy Augmon, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt.

Answer 5

How can there be a discussion without mentioning the Tar Heels in general? LOVE them.

Answer 6

how about the UCLA teams in the 60s? they won 10 championships in 12 years.