2003 Top 50 List: No
Dan Collins List: No
George Karl was a three-year starter at point guard from 1971-1973. Karl, Virginia’s Barry Parkhill, and Duke’s Gary Melchionni were the best players in the ACC class of 1973. 1972 was the Bob McAdoo year when the Tar Heels won the ACC regular season, ACC tournament, and made the Final Four. But McAdoo, Dennis Wuycik, and Bill Chamberlain all departed, leaving Karl and Bobby Jones as the only experienced returning players in 1973. Karl stepped up his play, averaging 17 points and 6 assists and leading the Tar Heels to a second place ACC finish and as high as #3 in the AP poll. Karl finished third in All-ACC balloting behind David Thompson and Tom Burleson and ahead of other notables such as Jones, Parkhill, Tom McMillen, and Len Elmore. By reputation, Karl was a scrapping, hustling, defending, dive-for-loose-balls, do-everything floor leader who earned his nickname The Kamikaze Kid. I never saw him play, but he seems like the kind of player that your fans loved but other teams’ fans probably hated.
“Is George Karl really a Grade A, 100 per cent pure hot dog? Lord knows, he looks like one on the court, racing around on those oak-stump legs with his socks pulled down and his sandy hair flying, diving for a steal, crashing into backboard supports, flying into the stands, raising clenched fists, dancing backwards on defense with his hands on his hips in what appears to be a taunting, Ali-like invitation to try to beat him.” – Ron Green, The Charlotte News, Feb 9, 1973
Reading Dean Smith’s autobiography, one thing that really struck me was how much he loved the 1971 team that won the NIT. For him, it seemed to be the team that epitomized what Carolina basketball was about – playing smart, hard, and together in a selfless way. Charlie Scott had graduated the year before, and the Tar Heels were expected to be down. Instead, behind Dennis Wuycik, Bill Chamberlain, Lee Dedmon, and Karl, they won the ACC regular season, lost a heartbreaker to South Carolina in the ACC Tournament final, and ran through the NIT.
Karl’s last ACC Tournament in 1973 was an interesting one. Remember, at this time, only the ACC Tournament champion advanced to the NCAA Tournament. #1 seed NC State was on probation and ineligible for the postseason, but they were still playing in the ACC Tournament. So assuming the Wolfpack made it to the final (they did), the team that faced them would advance to the NCAAs, win or lose. UNC and Maryland were far and away the best teams after the Wolfpack, and everyone expected them to meet in the semifinals to determine who would advance. But last place Wake Forest, whom the Tar Heels had twice beaten handily in the regular season, upset UNC 54-52 in overtime in the first round, due in part to a critical late-game mistake by Karl. About halfway through the overtime with the score tied at 52, UNC went into the four corners, intending to hold for the last shot. But Karl took (and missed) the shot too soon, leaving Wake just enough time to go down and score the winning basket. It was one of only two times in Dean Smith‘s 36-year career that the Tar Heels would lose an opening round ACC Tournament game as a one or a two seed (the other was in 1970).
If you were making out an UNC all-time greats 1st/2nd/3rd team by position, who would the guards be? OK, first team is pretty easy, Ford and Jordan. Second team is Charlie Scott and probably Kenny Smith. Who’s on third team? I say Joseph Forte and George Karl. Other possibilities: Tommy Kearns, Larry Brown, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson, Ed Cota, Marcus Paige, Joel Berry II. (Bob Lewis, Larry Miller, Jerry Stackhouse, and Vince Carter are considered forwards.)