2003 Top 50 List: No
Dan Collins List: Yes
J.R. Reid is one of the first ACC players I really remember. His freshman year was 1987, and I was 12 years old. I’d like to say I remember players from the early and mid-1980s, but I really don’t. If I look back at, say, 1986 – do I really remember Len Bias, Mark Price, Johnny Dawkins, and Brad Daugherty? If I’m honest with myself, I have to say I don’t. I have images of them in my head, but those images are from reading about them and hearing about them after their careers. I can’t really call to mind specific plays or games, or how they moved around the court.
But I actually remember J.R. Reid. He was, let’s face it, the enemy. As a State fan, my period of maximum intense hatred of Carolina was probably 1987 – 1992 or so. Looking back on his career now, 30 years removed from the intensity of a teenager’s hatred of Carolina, I think that I, and perhaps history, judged him too harshly. I had mentally put him in the category of a troublemaker and a bust. But that’s not a fair characterization of his career. He burst onto the scene in 1987 as one of the nation’s top freshmen. He ran away with ACC Rookie of the Year and missed by a hair (one point in the voting) making first team All-ACC. That Carolina team was the best team in the country but ended up losing to NC State 68-67 in a classic ACC Tournament final, then lost in a regional final to a Syracuse team that featured Sherman Douglas, Derrick Coleman, and Rony Seikaly. No shame there.
Then in 1988, Reid was even better. He finished second to Danny Ferry in ACC POY balloting and was named first team All-American by the AP. At the time, he was only the fourth sophomore in ACC history to make first team, and the first three were David Thompson, Ralph Sampson, and Michael Jordan. So you can understand the hype. The Tar Heels had a similar disappointing finish, losing again in the ACC Tournament final, this time to Duke, and losing again in the regional final, this time to Steve Kerr/Sean Elliott/Tom Tolbert Arizona.
So what happened to Reid in 1989? He went from first team All-American to not even making second team All-ACC. This is where, in my mind, I had him labeled as a player who regressed, probably got lazy, didn’t work hard. But that’s not what happened at all. Reid broke his foot playing for the Olympic team in Seoul and missed the first eight games of the season recovering. When he came back, his playing time was somewhat limited for a while, and he didn’t start some games. But when he played, he was just as good. On a per minute basis, he was every bit as good in 1989. He shot 61% from the floor and averaged 16 points per game in only 26 minutes per game. The Tar Heels won the ACC Tournament and went on to lose to eventual champion Michigan in the Sweet 16, in a game where they got shot down by Glen Rice, like every other team did in that tournament. In his last collegiate game, Reid had 26 points on 12-for-18 shooting.
It is strange that Dean Smith limited his minutes and sometimes didn’t start him. I’m not sure what to make of that. Perhaps he was a poor defensive player?
As far as being a troublemaker, there were a couple of incidents, but nothing egregious. Reid and Steve Bucknall were suspended for the opener in 1987-88 for getting into a bar fight. Then Reid was suspended for the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1989 for missing curfew. He turned pro after his junior year, but it was an amicable split, with Dean Smith, as he typically did, investigating Reid’s draft status and advising him. He went on to have a serviceable NBA career, and is now on King Rice’s staff at Monmouth as an assistant coach.
So I’m revising my opinion of J.R. Reid. As far as I can tell, he was an excellent player whose career accomplishments were curtailed by an injury and by his entirely reasonable decision to turn pro.
Reid was also at the center of an infamous controversy that started when some oh-so-clever Duke students decided to make a sign that said “J.R. Can’t Read”. It was mean-spirited, and anyone would have been miffed, but this was the kind of thing that really bothered Dean Smith because of the racist undertones, and he wouldn’t let it go. So he announced to the press that the combined SAT scores of Reid and Scott Williams were higher than the combined SAT scores of Danny Ferry and Christian Laettner. This was classic Dean – a 100% planned and calculated statement, defending his players, weaving in the social justice angle, getting in a dig at the opposing team’s stars, but maintaining deniability. He used combined SAT scores to defend himself from the accusation that he was exposing any single player’s score. Mike Krzyzewski, as you might expect, didn’t give a damn about that nuance, and the whole situation led to some bad blood between the coaches and the teams.
While looking at Reid’s career, I was struck by how tough the Tar Heels’ NCAA Tournament draws were during those years. Specifically, from 1986-1990, it was brutal. In all five of those years, the team that beat them went on to the Final Four; twice they lost to the eventual champion.
1986: After being ranked #1 for most of the season, UNC stumbled at the end, losing four out of their last five, and was penalized with a #3 seed. They lost to eventual champion Louisville (the Pervis Ellison year) in the Sweet 16.
1987: This was the aforementioned regional final loss to Sherman Douglas/Rony Seikaly/Derrick Coleman Syracuse. The Orange lost to Indiana on the Keith Smart shot in the final.
1988: This was the aforementioned regional final loss to Steve Kerr/Sean Elliott/Tom Tolbert Arizona. That team went 35-3.
1989: This was the Michigan game referred to earlier. The Glen Rice/Rumeal Robinson team that won the national championship.
1990: This Carolina team wasn’t very good, but they upset #1 seed Oklahoma in the second round. They were rewarded with a game against “40 Minutes of Hell” Arkansas, who went on to the Final Four.
The next year, in 1991, the Tar Heels finally got some luck. In the regionals, they drew #12 seed Eastern Michigan and #10 seed Temple – and they made the Final Four. Sometimes it’s not how you play, it’s who you play.