The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 02, 1979, Page Page 5, Image 5
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By Mark Platte
Gamacock Staff Wrtter
The man whom NBA star
Mitch Kupchak of the
Washington Bullets refers
to as 4'one of the best, if not
the best coaches in the
nation, maybe the world"
deserves such a compliment.
He deserves it because he
has coached the college
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either in first or second
place in the Atlantic Coast
Conference, ACC,
basketball division in each
of the past 13 seasons. In
1968, his team earned a
place in the NCAA finals
against UCLA before
losing, 78-55.
IN 1967 and 1969, his
squad finished in fourth
place overall in the NCAA
tournament. In 1972, they
finished third overall. 1973
saw his nprfprt 97-0 rpcmlar
season team bow out early
in the playoffs. In 1977, his
team once again made the
finals before losing 67-59
against Marquette. In 1978,
Penn narrowly defeated his
injury-hampered team, 7271
in the NCAA playoffs.
He is the legendary Dean
Smith, known as 4'Mr.
Basketball" at the
University of North
Carolina, where he has
coached for the past 16
years. Kupchak, along with
Phil Ford, Walter Davis,
Charlie Scott, Bobby Jones,
Dudley Bradley and Mike
O'Koren are just a few of
tne superstars who Jiave
played under the 48-yearold
genius of Chapel Hill.
'It's none of my bu
South Carolina woulc
into a conference i/i
basketball conference
At the Mitch Kupchak
basketball camp at C.W.
Post College in Brookville,
New York, Smith spoke Lo
the youngsters about
teamwork, attitude and
stressed, "When your
assists are better than your
turnovers, vou're heeomine
a basketball player."
When a member of the
camp asked the 1976 U.S.A.
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coach about his famous
four-corners offense, Smith
became partially defensive,
obviously used to the
criticism of this sometimes
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painstaking strategy
watched by basketball fans
who demand scoring and
offense action.
4'THE four-corners offense
gets entirely too much
attention." Smith noted
"We averaged 86 points a
game over the last 10 years
and all everyone talks about
is the four-corners."
Smith admitted that the
acquisition of Phil Ford to
USC made the four-corners
"unfair" and added, "Ford
wouldn't lose the ball so the
coaches in our league
started saying that the only
way they can beat us is by
not playing basketball/'
Although he doesn't
advocate the use of the fourcorners
by junior high or
high schools, Smith exnlained
the strategy which
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was used in one of the DukeUNC
games of last season.
"It takes two teams to
hold the ball any time,'' he
cited. "In the Duke game
(in which the Tarheels
trailed at halftime 7-0 after
holding the ball allowing
Duke to win, 41-40), I
thought they'd chase us and
I was shocked they didn't.
In the end, they won, so he
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was right. But I thought
being at their place, I
assumed they would and
should chase us but it
turned out that they were
running."
"Of course" Smith
boasts, "we did beat them
six days later when it really
counted (for the ACC
championship)."
siness, but / think that
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fhich will be a great
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IN SPEAKING of the
ACC, Smith assessed the
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power 01 ine cumereiice
which had its strongest
teams eliminated early in
last season's NCAA tournament.
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tournament) just a one
game thing. Like if you
have a mini-series such as
the pros have: I like our
chances against Penn; I
like Duke's chances against
St John's " Smith dwided
"As far as the others,
Clemson did beat Kentucky
and nobody looks at that. So
lith 'on*
I think that's been overly
done because I think we do
have some great teams and
this year will be no exception."
"Virginia's got to be top
five in the country's preseason
picks.They've got all
their starters back plus
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vrtaipn; aampson, smitn
analyzed. "Duke has got
four of their starters back.
We have four starters back
and we ended up number
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poll. Clemson's also going
to be tough so I can't see
any of those seven who
aren't going to be strong. I
don't know enough about
Georgia Tech yet."
Smith's opinion of his own
team takes into consideration
the loss of key
seniors. Smith realizes that
with the loss of Bradley,
Ged Doughton and Randy
Wheeler, UNC will be losing
leadership qualities but he
expects to have a good
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including high-scoring
Mike O'Koren.
WITH THE possibility of
the USC basketball team
joining the Metro-7 conference,
Smith was asked
his opinion of such a merger
for USC.
"It's none of mv business.
but I think that ? South
Carolina would be foolish
not to get into a conference
which will be a great
basketball conference,"
Smith offered. "That way,
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e of the
you can build up some
rivalries and certainly
Columbia is Metro, so
they're sticking with that.
Of course, if they let West
Virginia in, they'll be losing
that Metro business but I
really think it's got to help
South Carolina. Obviously, I
think Coach McGuire
wishes they were in the ACC
and too bad that all happened
in 1971, but I don't
think the ACC will possibly
expand."
Smith's relationship with
McGuire is a close one both
on and off the court. It is a
friendship which Smith
relates with pride.
"I WORKED for Frank
McGuire for three years (at
UNC). We've been together
dii cciu^ anicc uic acdauii
ended. He's one of the
greatest to ever coach the
game," Smith said. ''He's
so smart; he's a great
bench coach and he gives
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just have the greatest
respect for him. He's meant
a lot to me as a friend and
as a coach. That's why I
never count them (USC)
out, especially a key game
on the road. He's amazing
getting his team ready to
play on the road."
Although many USC fans
were disaoDointed in the
basketball team's record
and McGuire's strategy,
which won a championship
for UNC in 1957, Smith
offered a different per
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spective: ''It (McGuire's
strategy) was good enough
then (1957). It's unfortunate.
I remember
South Carolina before coach
McGuire came. They'd be
erecting statues to be 1512,"
Smith contrasted.
"Since he's been there, he's
been able to attract some
people that any other coach
couldn't have attracted. I'm
talking about the Owenses
ana tne Joyces and tnose
kind of people."
SMITH'S coaching
talents have led to job offers
in the NBA. Although Smith
will not mention names, he
reveals, "Each year, I
could say fortunately or
unfortunately, somebody
calls and in fact, one of
them this year was through
Coach McGuire. Of course,
he could go to that sort of
position anytime but he
likps C!nlnmhifl anH Smith
Carolina and I personally
love Chapel Hill and college
coaching, working with
young men. So I've never
gone as far as the interview
either as a general
manager and coach or as a
general manager, period."
UNC is lucky that Dean
Smith loves his current
position or he would have
brought his 30 plus victories
to another team. At the
Mitch Kupchak basketball
uamp, uie Kty wuru was
"Tarheel." It may be a key
word for a long, long time.
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