2003 Top 50 List: No
Dan Collins List: No
Dennis Wuycik was a two-time first team All-ACC selection who received some consideration for ACC Player of the Year in 1971 (won by John Roche) and 1972 (won by Barry Parkhill). The 1972 Tar Heels were ranked in the Top 5 all season and made the Final Four behind the play of Wuycik, Bob McAdoo, George Karl, Bill Chamberlain, and Bobby Jones.
Wuycik suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opening round of the 1971 ACC Tournament. UNC and South Carolina had been the top two teams in the conference all season, and the Gamecocks took home their first (and last) ACC Tournament title, beating the shorthanded Tar Heels 52-51 in the final. Despite Wuycik’s absence, UNC went on to win the NIT championship (and hung a banner for it, I’m sure).
True Shooting Percentage is an advanced, unofficial statistic that measures a player’s shooting efficiency, considering two-point FGs, three-point FGs, and free throws in its calculation. It is intended to be a better measure of shooting efficiency than just FG%, 3-Pt. FG%, or FT% alone. Anyway, with the caveat that my data set is incomplete, Wuycik has one of the highest True Shooting Percentages in ACC history at 65.3%. The only player I was able to find with a higher mark is Carlos Boozer at 66.5%. All that to say, when Wuycik shot the ball, it went in the basket most of the time.
We know that UNC has always emphasized getting the ball inside and that there is a long list of excellent UNC big men. But the record under Dean Smith is truly amazing. In Smith’s 36-year career, the Tar Heels had a big man (forward or center) voted first or second team All-ACC all but four years, and one of those was Smith’s first, so we’ll give him a pass on that one. Here is the list:
- 1962: no one
- 1963: Billy Cunningham
- 1964: Cunningham
- 1965: Cunningham, Bob Lewis
- 1966: Lewis, Larry Miller
- 1967: Lewis, Miller
- 1968: Miller, Rusty Clark
- 1969: Bill Bunting
- 1970: no one (Wuycik was on the team but did not make All-ACC)
- 1971: Wuycik
- 1972: Wuycik, Bill Chamberlain, Bob McAdoo
- 1973: Bobby Jones
- 1974: Jones
- 1975: Mitch Kupchak
- 1976: Kupchak, Walter Davis
- 1977: Davis, Tommy LaGarde
- 1978: Mike O’Koren
- 1979: O’Koren
- 1980: O’Koren
- 1981: James Worthy
- 1982: Worthy, Sam Perkins
- 1983: Perkins
- 1984: Perkins
- 1985: Brad Daugherty
- 1986: Daugherty
- 1987: Joe Wolf, J.R. Reid
- 1988: J.R. Reid
- 1989: Kevin Madden
- 1990: no one (Rick Fox made third team)
- 1991: Rick Fox
- 1992: no one (George Lynch made third team)
- 1993: Eric Montross, George Lynch
- 1994: Montross
- 1995: Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace
- 1996: Antawn Jamison
- 1997: Jamison
Even in 1970/1990/1992, they had good big men on the roster who were All-ACC in other years. Maybe I’m cheating a little bit with a couple of these guys; Bob Lewis and Rick Fox were listed as forwards but were more midrange or perimeter players. But those quibbles aside, this is an amazing run. It speak to Dean’s incredible ability to recruit and develop players at a consistently high level to fit the style he wanted to play.