THF Countdown #16: 1988 at Tar Heel Fan

Season: 1987-88
Record: 27-7 overall, 11-3 ACC(1st place)
ACC Tournament: Lost to Duke in the finals.
NCAA Tournament: Lost to Arizona in the Elite Eight

Roster: Steve Bucknall, Pete Chilcutt, Jeff Denny, Doug Elstun, Rick Fox, Rodney Hyatt, Joe Jenkins, Jeff Lebo, Kevin Madden, David May, J.R. Reid, King Rice, Ranzino Smith, Scott Williams.

Source: UNC Media Guide

As stated previously, it is interesting that we are still this far from #1 and we are discussing UNC teams that went to the Elite Eight. The 1988 followed perhaps one of the most disappointing endings to the previous season imaginable. The 1987 team was loaded for bear, went 14-0 in the ACC and lost only twice during the regular season before losing to Syracuse in the regional final. So heading into 1988 and having Syracuse on the schedule to open things up was a chance to avenge that loss. The Heels did that despite JR Reid being suspended. That was a fairly sweet start to the season even if the game was meaningless compared to the one they lost the previous March.

That win vaulted the Heels to #1, a ranking they promptly lost with a defeat at Vanderbilt. From there the Heels played good basketball losing only three ACC games and an additional non-conference game to Temple in the Dean Dome. Temple was ranked #1 at the time. The big sticking point with this season was the fact the Heels lost three times to Duke. UNC lost by one in Chapel Hill, lost by 15 in Durham and then by four in the ACC title game.

The highlight of the NCAA Tournament, besides beating Michigan for the 2nd straight season, was putting up 123 points against Loyala-Maramount. The Heels were never really in the game against Arizona and for the four time since winning the title in 1982, UNC fell one game short of the Final Four. That drought along with the ACC Championship drought(the loss to Duke was the 3rd ACC title loss since 1982) seemed to bring an air of frustration. The Heels had put plenty of great teams on the floor since last winning in New Orleans and gone 14-0 in the ACC twice but for some reason they could not win the ACC Tournament and beyond that could not get into the Final Four. This was further exasperated by Duke’s 2nd Final Four in three years which cranked up the whispers that Duke and Mike Krzyzewski were starting to pass Dean Smith and UNC by. This would really reach a fevered pitch by 1993 after Duke had won back-to-back national championshps. UNC began setting the world right a year later and following that with more Final Four appearances.

I wonder what life would have been like in 1988 if message boards and blogs were thriving like they are now. Six years and counting since the last ACC and NCAA titles would probably have the worst elements of the fan base feeling extremely restless. Granted no one would be stupid enough to call for Dean’s job but the pressure Duke was exerting with the string of failures in regional championship games undoubtedly would have pushed some folks to a breaking point. Which is to say, the 1989 ACC title win over Duke could not have come soon enough.

Countdown So Far

17. 1985
18. 2006
19. 2001
20. 1992
21. 1996
22. 1999
23. 2000
24. 2004
25. 1990
26. 2003
27. 2002

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9 Responses to “THF Countdown #16: 1988”

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1 Wilf
Jul 17th, 2008 at 8:34 am

The loss to Temple was such a disappointment.

I remember listening to the Loyola-Maramount game. Seems they were #1 in scoring that year?
2 Tar Heel Fan
Jul 17th, 2008 at 9:06 am

LMU had Paul Westhead as head coach and he installed the “run and gun” offense which would even make Roy Williams dizzy. In 1990 LMU went to LSU and lost 148-141 in OT. They averaged 122 ppg that season.
3 oneal
Jul 17th, 2008 at 9:13 am

The game to start the season was played on a Saturday, which was the last football game against Dook. My dad and I went to the football game, about froze, and listened to the 2nd half of the basketball game on the ride back home. If I remember correctly, Pete Chilcutt had a tip in to either win or force overtime, and I also remember seeing folks in the cars beside us (obviously also listening to the game) clapping, etc. when Chilcutt’s shot went in. That was a good memory, because I remember not many people giving the Heels a chance with Reid sitting. Wasn’t someone else sitting for that one? Maybe Bucknall?
4 Tar Heel Fan
Jul 17th, 2008 at 9:23 am

From the media guide:

UNC 96, Syracuse 93 (OT)
November 21, 1987

Undermanned Carolina faced top-ranked Syracuse in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic and the Orange led by 14 with 15:39 to play. Carolina
stormed back and sent the game into overtime when freshman Pete Chilcutt hit a turnaround jumper at the horn to tie the game at 85.
5 DownAtTheHeel
Jul 17th, 2008 at 11:00 am

It’s funny the few things I seem to remember about an entire season. In this case, it was the Loyola-Marymount game. In the run-up to that one, I distinctly recall hearing reading and hearing commentary to the effect that the game was passing Dean Smith by. Note that this isn’t to say that Dook was passing him by, as mentioned in the main article above, but THE GAME OF BASKETBALL was passing Dean Smith by! And it was going to be Paul Westhead’s innovative, non-stop running offense that would prove this against UNC’s senile, plodding, 1988 squad in the NCAA tourney. Of course that made it all the sweeter when the game took place. From the media guide: “March 19, 1988: Carolina shoots a school record 79.0 percent from the floor (49 of 62) in 123-97 rout over Loyola Marymount in NCAA Tournament second round.” And to top it all off, how was it that Dean’s outmoded team managed this “upset”? Why, we ran the young Lions out of the gym, that’s how. Now THAT’s a game I wish I had on tape!
6 DeanForever
Jul 17th, 2008 at 11:33 am

Nobody leaves Dean in the dust. Nobody.
7 DeanForever
Jul 17th, 2008 at 11:49 am

I can still picture playing games of H-O-R-S-E at the neighbor’s house (at our place, if the ball dropped and rolled, it went down a hill), and playing two-on-two. One day, in the summer of 1988, we were all pretending to be our favorite superstars (I was always Larry Bird) as we played. Everyone wanted to be Michael, and then the other names flew: Wilkins, Barkley, Ewing, Magic, and…J.R. Reid!!! My friend Brad chose J.R. Reid!!! From then on (that summer), J.R. became as big a name as Jordan in our neighborhood pickup games. Back then we thought Duke was a school in New Jersey…wait…isn’t that where most of the Cameron Crazies come from? The ones who can’t get into Princeton?
8 HeelYeah
Jul 17th, 2008 at 11:54 am

DF, Dook is in NJ. You didn’t know? In fact, they are in their own little world…
9 DeanForever
Jul 17th, 2008 at 11:58 am

HY-

But I’ve heard stories of this erect, ivory tower that basks in the pale Durham sun…they say a rat dwells there. They say you need security clearance to enter. They say he tickles his own fancies by playing with the remote control blind switches, randomly allowing the sunlight to enter-but never for too long. For the rat, you see, can only stand so much of the sunlight. They say it hurts his ego.