Carolina celebrated two anniversaries on Saturday, the 1957 and '82 National Championship teams. The likes of Lennie Rosenbluth, Michael Jordan and Dean Smith among others were in attendance. The game, which was over at halftime, pitted the Tar Heels against the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest. Carolina won by 37, 104-67. The fans stuck around to see the greats from the Tar Heel past and to see if the Heels would score 100 points. If they reach that mark Tar Heel fans get a special deal on biscuits at Bojangles.
What has happened in Winston-Salem? Have the powers that be taken all the money they used to put in basketball and put into the football program? Do they not understand that if it were not for the basketball team that there would be no football team. One good year on the grid iron doesn't seem to warrant the new football school argument.
I think the answer is blaring from head coach Skip Prosser's desk across the famed field hockey field. The answer of course is Skip happened. He entered riding the wave that Dave Odom had created and ran with it. He had some solid recruiting classes to rely on and even landed a prize recruit himslef by the name of Chris Paul.
A blind man could have seen that Paul was going to leave early. Anyone in their right mind would take instant financial security over the stress and rigorous curriculum that is Wake Forest. The only man that apparently didn't see this happening, Skip. Maybe he bought into the hype that Paul said he wasn't going anywhere, and maybe even a little bit of that lands on Paul's shoulders. However, a guy like Ishmael Smith is about a year or two late.
When you lose a guy like Paul you expect to take a step or two back. But, to go from top-3 in the conference to the Demon Doormats means that there were about 15-20 steps taken backward.
Prosser's game management has been exposed over the past two years. His great recruiting classes seemed to cover that up for a little while. However, his last two squads have been out worked, out classed, out performed and out talented. Their last 2 records are case and point of that.
Maybe it is time for those powers that be that are still fat and happy from their Orange Bowl appearance to take a look at their crown jewel, the basketball program. Bones McKinney is probably spinning like fishing reel in his grave at the sight of what has been going on in Winston-Salem. I'm not even sure if McKinney knew there was a football team at Wake Forest.
Should Prosser get one more year? Yes, probably. But, there had been no heat applied to that seat of his. He just stands there sipping from his Gatorade cup that he leaves conveinently placed on teh scorer's table to ensure he gets that check in the mail. Maybe if he had some heat to deal with, then the small private school could be more like their Durham counterpart, successful. With Coach K in Durham, Roy Williams in Chapel Hill and now Sidney Lowe in Raleigh the margin for error for the Demon Deacon basketball program is the slimmest it has been since the days of Everett Case, Frank McGuire and Vic Bubas.
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