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Mike Helms

Why the Deac Not said:
RC just loves to be wrong...Duncan was a CENTER in college so nice try. Rutland was a spot up shooter off the bench and didn't even start in '95 (Braswell). Love Scooter Banks but he was a defensive & dunk specialist. Two VERY special players on that team but '95 was hardly the best starting 5 in Wake history. 2009 was better talent wise across the board but they shit the bed down the stretch big time because, OH! whatta ya know?! They didn't know how to play defense, unlike the Odom-coached teams of the mid-90's. Yet you downplay Odom's coaching and the importance of defense on these boards ad nauseam.

Sorry to hear about Mike Helms, very sad...had no idea he had such a checkered post-college life.
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mgtfy.com/?q=Greatest+power+forward+of+all+time

I’m well aware he played center in college (he actually played mostly Center in the NBA too). Just using a common moniker.
 
Why the Deac Not said:
RC just loves to be wrong...Duncan was a CENTER in college so nice try. Rutland was a spot up shooter off the bench and didn't even start in '95 (Braswell). Love Scooter Banks but he was a defensive & dunk specialist. Two VERY special players on that team but '95 was hardly the best starting 5 in Wake history. 2009 was better talent wise across the board but they shit the bed down the stretch big time because, OH! whatta ya know?! They didn't know how to play defense, unlike the Odom-coached teams of the mid-90's. Yet you downplay Odom's coaching and the importance of defense on these boards ad nauseam.

Sorry to hear about Mike Helms, very sad...had no idea he had such a checkered post-college life.
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Wow. So much more wrong with this post than I originally thought.

1. Defense is equally as important as offense, I’ve never said otherwise.

2. Odom was a great defensive coach for some of his tenure. Discovering arguably the greatest defensive big man on a small Caribbean island is just as much within the purview of a college coach’s responsibilities as developing the pack-line defense.

3. The 2009 team had a top 25 defense.
 
RChildress107 said:
Wow. So much more wrong with this post than I originally thought.

2. Odom was a great defensive coach for some of his tenure. Discovering arguably the greatest defensive big man on a small Caribbean island is just as much within the purview of a college coach’s responsibilities as developing the pack-line defense.
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His average defensive ranking even without Duncan is still better than any of the coaches since Carl Tacy. Hell you could average the best defensive seasons of Staak, Skip, Dino, Bz & Manning and they still would fall short of Odom WITHOUT Duncan. Nice try.
 
Why the Deac Not said:
His average defensive ranking even without Duncan is still better than any of the coaches since Carl Tacy. Hell you could average the best defensive seasons of Staak, Skip, Dino, Bz & Manning and they still would fall short of Odom WITHOUT Duncan. Nice try.
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Link? I’d be surprised if that’s true when compared to Dino.
 
RChildress107 said:
Link? I’d be surprised if that’s true when compared to Dino.
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I didn't say the average of just Dino's seasons, but pretty sure he wasn't that much better than Odom's non-Duncan years...I can't remember from my spreadsheet but you can look it up. Just use BB reference.com and see where we ranked relative to the other 350 CBB teams in defensive PPG allowed. Close enough. This shit ain't rocket science even though you kenpom nerds try to make it out to be.
 
Why the Deac Not said:
I didn't say the average of just Dino's seasons, but pretty sure he wasn't that much better than Odom's non-Duncan years...I can't remember from my spreadsheet but you can look it up. Just use BB reference.com and see where we ranked relative to the other 350 CBB teams in defensive PPG allowed. Close enough. This shit ain't rocket science even though you kenpom nerds try to make it out to be.
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Actually, I was giving Dino way too much credit in my mind...it's not even close. 78.75th vs 217.3rd. Yikes.
 
WFU1977 said:
I love Duncan and Randolph too but that team had some holes. Easy to double Tim because Scooter and Peral were not real threats. I missed the Stanford game that year as I was on a plane but as I recall Tim was manhandled and we had no answer. My point is which team had the best 5 man starting five man for man? For whatever reason, Odom could not surround Duncan with great players in the front court. We had a failed attempt at Twin Towers with the guy (Woods?) who left for AZ after one year.

In any case, very sad to hear of Mike Helms' passing.
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Bring up some good points. We were so damn close in 95 and 96 (Rutland absolutely on fire, then blows out knee, we still make final 8 with Larue at PG).

94 - Tree Owens was a very solid 15/7 or 16/8 per game PF. Very good.

95 - Banks was terrific at both ends, but did lack jump shot; just sheer athleticism and effort - loved Banks.

96 - The fun begins at PF. Stringfellow, Antonio Jackson, and we finally settle on no offense ever, but decent rebounding as well as good defense Sean Allen. I recall the home game vs. Utah or Oklahoma where Antonio Jackson made a sweet, NBA style spin move on offense, and either scored or got fouled. Next possession Odom jerked him out of the game for poor defensive rotation (my man Dave Odom). I was thinking "yeah, AJ is our real answer, but not with Odom as HC."

97 - Sean Allen the glaring weakness at PF as Peral wants no part of PF and the paint, and he has added weight/muscle and is not a quick SF penetrator nor quick SF wing defender. The twin towers was a farce. Stanford exposed all that, and some.
 
coredeac said:
Agree. I would add Len Bias. I vividly recall Bias whipping a very good UNC team in Chapel Hill essentially by himself. It was a man among boys.

Not sure the issues with Thompson in the NBA. I've read several articles on the topic. As for college... I would say easily one of the top 10 players in ACC history. And, I would add our very own Tim Duncan to that top 10 list who ALSO had a magnificent NBA career.
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Thompson was not just top 10 in ACC history, he was top 1. Top 10 in NCAA history. Substance and knee issues derailed his NBA career, when healthy he was an ABA/NBA all star and at one point was the highest paid player in team sports history.
 
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Bill George said:
In college David Thompson averaged 26.8 ppg; Bias 16.4; and Jordan 17.7

Thompson is by far the best college basketball player I have ever seen.

Bias was great.

Jordan is the best professional player I have ever seen.
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This.



Skip Brown was the best guard in his day among many good ACC guards.

I thought Rutland was on the road to greatness when he blew out his knee.
 
What a depressing thread. Helms was slightly before my time but I remember AJ well. Both these guys were way too young.

I cannot find an obit for Helms, but did find a few interesting articles about his efforts to get back on his feet after prison. Thanks for the link to the UAB article on AJ. His death got a brief mention in the WFU magazine the year he died (found it online), but I totally missed it at the time.

RIP.
 
SC DEAC said:
ComplacentDeac's post made me think of Antonio Jackson for the first time in a long while so I googled to see how his career ended up at UAB. Turns out he died at age 39. Man, that sucks.

https://uabsports.com/news/2014/10/...l_Player_Antonio_A_J_Jackson_Passes_Away.aspx
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You actually posted on this thread. But so did I and I didn't remember until you posted.
[h=1]RIP Antonio ("AJ") Jackson[/h]
SC DEAC said:
I remember reading way way back that Tim Duncan had more trouble guarding Antonio Jackson in practice then anybody he played in the ACC. That might have just been Odom speak but still a nice quote about AJ.
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I remember when Helms was jailed. I was an undergrad.

Someone wrote an article in the Old Gold and Black opinion section sort of criticizing or challenging Wake fans/students who were happy to cheer for him when he played but maybe not so caring for him in the midst of his troubles.

I know that chaplain Ed Christman sent a note of appreciation to the writer of that piece.


Just something I remember from then.
 
ConnorEl said:
I remember when Helms was jailed. I was an undergrad.

Someone wrote an article in the Old Gold and Black opinion section sort of criticizing or challenging Wake fans/students who were happy to cheer for him when he played but maybe not so caring for him in the midst of his troubles.

I know that chaplain Ed Christman sent a note of appreciation to the writer of that piece.


Just something I remember from then.
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Any concrete confirmation on this. I have seen no obits anywhere.
 
jimjenkdeac said:
Any concrete confirmation on this. I have seen no obits anywhere.
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I haven't been able to find any either. I got if from a Deacon facebook group, a couple of people on there confirmed it, but it'd be nice to find an obit.
 
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