Two basketball giants died this week. So, obviously, I have some links related to them, plus one about another fading giant of the sport.
To begin, two different views of Dean Smith. The first is a profile on Smith by Gary Smith for Inside Sports magazine from 1982. Or just before he won his first national title. It’s funny to look back and think a coach like Smith, or Coach K before 1991, could have so much success and still be seen as a failure by some because they didn’t win the last game of the season.
Gary Smith always found an angle to write about his subjects that other writers missed. As with most of his work, this is amazing.
The Relentless Scrimmage In Dean Smith
For a post-humous perspective, it’s no surprise that no one wrote better about Dean this week than Joe Posnanski.
On the complete opposite side of the coaching spectrum was Jerry Tarkanian. Where Dean’s teams were buttoned-down and often joyless, Tark’s UNLV squads were audacious and brash, paving the way for Michigan’s Fab 5 and the hip-hop culture of the 90s. They dunked, pressed, and woofed while kicking your ass.
Dan Wetzel offers a fantastic look back on The Shark’s life, full of gut-busting anecdotes.
Jerry Tarkanian: A true rebel if ever there was one
Bobby Knight is still alive. But the basketball genius, who seemed light years ahead of his contemporaries from 1975–87, is long gone.
Jeremy Collins, who grew up a Knight and Indiana fan, takes a look at where Knight is today and how he got there.
The General Who Never Was: Requiem For Bobby Knight
One last college hoops link. Again, it is one about perspective. While Duke has had some early flameouts in the NCAA tournament recently, you never hear people wondering, “Why can’t Coach K win in March anymore?” In fact, a lot of people would assume that Coach K has been the most successful coach over the past decade.
Wrong. By one measurement the best coach in the game over the past decade is a man who, for some reason, suffers more for his team’s early losses than Coach K does.
Coach K isn’t college basketball’s best coach over the past 10 years
Finally, the SNL 40 special is this weekend. Just in time, the show has launched an app that allows you to filter through the entire history of the show to watch many of your favorite sketches and commercial parodies. It’s pretty awesome.
Live from your phone, it’s … SNL’s addictive 40th anniversary app