Duncan making up for postseason futility in college
http://www.herald-sun.com/sports/18-613936.html
By FRANK DASCENZO : The Herald-Sun
[email protected]
Jun 4, 2005 : 6:37 pm ET
You know how to recognize a marginal basketball fan?
Well, it's easy. The guy is watching an NBA playoff game and Tim Duncan is grabbing his 979th rebound and the San Antonio Spurs win again.
So, here spouts this genius, the words fluttering over a reasonably quiet room, about the fact that Tim Duncan never won an NCAA le while at Wake Forest is downright amazing. The genius repeats this, naturally.
The fact is that Duncan, one of the best players in the NBA and one of the ACC's best ever, never even played in a Final Four. Now that's somewhat amazing. But how shocking is it, considering a lot of tremendous NBA players do not own NCAA championship rings and many never played in the Final Four?
Those who were fortunate to write about and talk about Duncan during his four years at Wake Forest (1994-97) know the story about his amazing improvement. Heck, he was a swimmer from the Virgin Islands, and when then-Wake coach Dave Odom recruited him, somebody suddenly realized what a fabulous discovery Odom had made.
Odom, whose South Carolina team won the NIT this past season, has coached some pretty good players, Randolph Childress and Rodney Rodgers among them. But nobody was as good, as talented and as dominating as Duncan.
To win an NCAA le, a team has to be a team that meshes together and -- well, almost always -- has a talented point guard. Go ask Roy Williams if his North Carolina Tar Heels could have won it all without Raymond Felton.
Duncan was a beast in the ACC, especially during his final two seasons. In 128 games at Wake, he blocked an ACC-record 481 shots, 3.8 per game. Virginia's Ralph Sampson, in 132 games, blocked 462 shots and, as we all know today, was nowhere near the NBA player Duncan has become.
What often amuses me when I hear basketball geniuses is how shocked they are that a player is so outstanding in the pros, yet couldn't get his team into the Final Four.
Baseball people talk about the Cubs' futility at making it to a World Series. Maybe Duncan's problem was he that played at Wake, which hasn't reached a Final Four since 1962.
Odom might have enjoyed the luxury of coaching Duncan for four years at Wake, but the Deacons weren't the luckiest team on earth and, in fact, still are downright jinxed when it comes to getting to the Final Four. Skip Prosser's best team, in 2005, ended up being the NCAA Tournament's biggest disappointment.
In the Duncan years, Wake never won an ACC regular-season le outright. The Deacs were 12-4 in 1995, but so were UNC, Maryland and Virginia. Wake finished third in the ACC in 1994, Duncan's freshman season, second behind Georgia Tech in 1996 and second behind Duke in 1997.
A two-time ACC player of the year (1996 and '97), Duncan certainly has enjoyed more postseason success in the NBA than he did at Wake Forest -- he's a two-time NBA Finals MVP in 1999 and 2003.
The Deacons reached one regional final in his four years, losing to eventual NCAA champ Kentucky in 1996. They got to the Sweet 16 in 1995 but were ousted by Oklahoma State and were bounced in the second round in Duncan's freshman season, losing to Kansas. No doubt, the biggest disappointment came in Duncan's senior season, when Wake, a No. 3 seed, lost to No. 6 Stanford in the second round.
Duncan, the overall No. 1 choice in the 1997 NBA draft, was fabulous in Wednesday's 101-95 win over the Phoenix Suns, which got San Antonio into the finals. That 31-point, 15-rebound, three-block line by Duncan tells the tale of his consistency in an NBA career that has found him with MVP honors in 2002 and 2003.
The fact that Duncan doesn't have an NCAA championship ring isn't that big a deal, but the fact that he has led the Spurs to two of the last six NBA les -- with perhaps a third on the way -- is.
The fact that Duncan doesn't have an NCAA championship ring isn't that big a deal, but the fact that he has led the Spurs to two of the last six NBA les -- with perhaps a third on the way -- is.
The only task remaining to win the 3rd trophy is to stay healthy. No looking back at the past regrets.
Tim really wasn't wake forest's best player until his last 2 years, his first 2 years he was long and lanky but really lacked on the offensive end, I forgot who his teamate was who was wake's go to guy the first couple of years?? he was on the spurs briefly
Yeh and look at how many players that played in the ncaa finals comin into the nba havnt achieved the awards duncan has.
And then you wrote an article about it? Why?
I'm glad Tim went his full 4 years.
My thought exactly.
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