This week on TSL Sports Talk, A Tribe Called Quests Phife Dawg joined us to talk about legendary Dean Smiths great legacy. Check out the highlights below.
On Dean Smith:
“I like the way he represented loyalty, not just through basketball, but he made sure his players were successful, even if they didnt make the NBA. And we already know how many kids he put in the NBA. I just like the way he is similar to John Thompson in how he sheltered his players, he cared for his players, and shunned them from the media, so to speak. Thats how Dean Smith was.”
Why Dean Smith & UNC appealed to East coast, inner-city kids:
“I grew up in New York, so where I grew up, it was all about the Big East conference. Once everybody found out who Patrick Ewing was, I think the basketball world was taken by storm. Then you had Calhoun up at UConn and you had Rick Pitino up at Providence and Boeheim at Syracuse, so it was difficult for people to even acknowledge who the Tarheels were. But North Carolina got so much TV time back in the day that once the James Worthys and the Sam Perkins came into play and started to circulated a little more and of course Dean Smith took them to a bunch of Final Fours, but couldnt win the big one- and once Michael Jordon hit the shot heard around the world, the recruiting became easier, the coloreds became more popular. I think thats how they kind of catered to DC and beyond I think thats how they became popular and was able to reel some kids from the Northeast down to Chapel Hill.”
Listen to the full interview above to hear more on Phifes tribute to Dean Smith.
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