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Mike Helms

For WF's all-time best starting 5/6, my vote goes to the 1976-77 team....which was 20-2 at one point and reached the Elite 8 after defeating a 26-1 Arkansas team with Moncrief, Brewer & Delph:

Rod Griffin
Skip Brown
Jerry Schellenberg
Frank Johnson
Leroy McDonald
Larry Harrison

Agree. Not even close. Griffin and Brown were much better players than anyone on the Helms team.
 
It's close.

The 1980-1981 team included:

Frank Johnson as a fifth year senior (played 13 years in the NBA)
Danny Young -- played 12 years in the NBA
Mike Helms - drafted by the Rockets; played internationally
Alvis Rogers -- drafted by the Kansas City (became Sacramento) Kings - played professionally for 5 years abroad
Guy Morgan -- 2nd round draft pick of the Pacers; played one year in the NBA
Jim Johnstone -- 3rd round draft pick; played one year in the NBA
Anthony Teachey - 2nd round draft pick; played many years in Italy

That 1980-81 team was solid and deep.
 
It's close.

The 1980-1981 team included:

Frank Johnson as a fifth year senior (played 13 years in the NBA)
Danny Young -- played 12 years in the NBA
Mike Helms - drafted by the Rockets; played internationally
Alvis Rogers -- drafted by the Kansas City (became Sacramento) Kings - played professionally for 5 years abroad
Guy Morgan -- 2nd round draft pick of the Pacers; played one year in the NBA
Jim Johnstone -- 3rd round draft pick; played one year in the NBA
Anthony Teachey - 2nd round draft pick; played many years in Italy

That 1980-81 team was solid and deep.

My mistake. I thought we were talking about rating a starting five on what they did at WF. Didn't realize we were supposed to be rating them on their NBA careers.
 
Ok, let's talk about what those guys did at WF:

Frank Johnson was the ACC POY in 1981.
Danny Young and Teachey (who led the ACC in rebounding) led WF to 3 NCAA tourneys (when the field was smaller), including a Final 8 in 1984 that included an upset of the #1 team in the country DePaul.
Helms, Johnstone, Rogers and Morgan led WF to two NCAA tourneys and a final 4 in the NIT.

BTW, the 1981 team beat #1 UVA with Ralph Sampson; the 1982 team (which included all of those guys except Frank Johnson) beat #1 and eventual National Champ UNC at Carmichael (that UNC team went 32-2 that year; the loss to WF was their only home loss of the season) and as stated above the 1984 team advanced to the Elite 8 beating #1 DePaul along the way.
 
I’ll take Childress, Rutland, Banks, Peral, Duncan over anyone. With Paul, Gray, Danelius, Levy, Williams and Teague, LD, Aminu, Johnson, Chas both in the mix for second with the early 80s squads.

When in doubt, go with the lineup that has a top 25 all time player in it.
 
Ok, let's talk about what those guys did at WF:

Frank Johnson was the ACC POY in 1981.
Danny Young and Teachey (who led the ACC in rebounding) led WF to 3 NCAA tourneys (when the field was smaller), including a Final 8 in 1984 that included an upset of the #1 team in the country DePaul.
Helms, Johnstone, Rogers and Morgan led WF to two NCAA tourneys and a final 4 in the NIT.

BTW, the 1981 team beat #1 UVA with Ralph Sampson; the 1982 team (which included all of those guys except Frank Johnson) beat #1 and eventual National Champ UNC at Carmichael (that UNC team went 32-2 that year; the loss to WF was their only home loss of the season) and as stated above the 1984 team advanced to the Elite 8 beating #1 DePaul along the way.

Well, that's better than talking about NBA careers...which is irrevelant to rating starting fives at WF, IMO. Still, you strayed quite a bit from the original discussion of "starting fives" when you talk about 1984 accomplishments. Nobody from the 1981 starting five was even on the 1984 team. I do agree with you that this group was one of the best in WF history. I just think that the 1977 starting five was clearly better than the 1981 starting five.

Also, the Final Four starting five of Len Chappell, Billy Packer, Bob Woollard, Dave Wiedeman & Frank Christie was no slouch, either.
 
The reason why NBA careers are relevant is that it shows the talent on the team (or the starting five) at that time. Not sure what "the best starting fives" even mean if you can't raise how each player did in later years at WF or later years as professionals.

If you want to limit the discussions to accomplishments of "starting fives" at WF in light of the team's accomplishments, then the discussion is an easy one:

Best team 1962: 1st in regular season, ACC title and Final 4

Second best teams 1961 and 1996: ACC title; Elite 8

4th best team: 1995 (1st regular season, ACC title, Sweet 16 - a loss in that round because Randolph Childress was sick)

Honorable mentions: 1977 (Elite 8), 1984 (Elite 8), 2003 (1st in regular season)
 
For WF's all-time best starting 5/6, my vote goes to the 1976-77 team....which was 20-2 at one point and reached the Elite 8 after defeating a 26-1 Arkansas team with Moncrief, Brewer & Delph:

Rod Griffin
Skip Brown
Jerry Schellenberg
Frank Johnson
Leroy McDonald
Larry Harrison

Agree with exception of Harrison. He was pretty bad. I recall him getting called for charging in the NCAA's while running back up the court. He was jogging back to play D and was looking every which way but forward. Ran right over someone without handling the ball.
 
I’ll take Childress, Rutland, Banks, Peral, Duncan over anyone. With Paul, Gray, Danelius, Levy, Williams and Teague, LD, Aminu, Johnson, Chas both in the mix for second with the early 80s squads.

When in doubt, go with the lineup that has a top 25 all time player in it.


Ricky Peral sucked and scooter was very average. Rutland not the same post ACL. Thst team had real holes which is why it never made it to elite 8.
 
Agree. Not even close. Griffin and Brown were much better players than anyone on the Helms team.

Helms better than schwllwnberg, rogers better than mcdonald, and Johnstone considerably better than Hairston. There was no weak link in 1981 team. All studs.
 
Ricky Peral sucked and scooter was very average. Rutland not the same post ACL. Thst team had real holes which is why it never made it to elite 8.

Thankfully Rutland’s ACL was intact in 95. That lineup also had the most clutch player in Wake history and the greatest Power Forward of all time.

If you had to pick a starting five to put in a time machine and win you one basketball game, I can’t see how you don’t pick one with Tim Duncan on it.
 
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.
 
Ok, let's talk about what those guys did at WF:

Frank Johnson was the ACC POY in 1981.
Danny Young and Teachey (who led the ACC in rebounding) led WF to 3 NCAA tourneys (when the field was smaller), including a Final 8 in 1984 that included an upset of the #1 team in the country DePaul.
Helms, Johnstone, Rogers and Morgan led WF to two NCAA tourneys and a final 4 in the NIT.

BTW, the 1981 team beat #1 UVA with Ralph Sampson; the 1982 team (which included all of those guys except Frank Johnson) beat #1 and eventual National Champ UNC at Carmichael (that UNC team went 32-2 that year; the loss to WF was their only home loss of the season) and as stated above the 1984 team advanced to the Elite 8 beating #1 DePaul along the way.

This is not quite correct:
Ralph Sampson was ACC POY in 1981.
Young and Teachey were role players on the 1981 team.
DePaul was not the #1 team in the country in 1984. There were the #1 seed in the Midwest Region in the NCAA Tourney.
Helms, Johnstone, and Morgan were not on the final 4 team for the NIT. They had graduated. Rogers was on that team as he missed the previous year with an injury.
 
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.

This is basketball, not a cross country meet.

And The Stanford game was 97, not 95.
 
Believe that was the team that beat the snot out of UNC in Chapel Hill. It was something like 60-32 at the half. Helms couldn't miss that night.

I was at that game. A really fun night from start to finish in Carmichael, if there ever was one. On the way in, we were right behind a couple of arrogant Carolina fans, who were talking about how it would be over by halftime. Well, it certainly was, but not the way they imagined.
 
THE BENCH MATTERS IN CROSS COUNTRY TOO

Hahaha indeed it does. Just pointing out that unlike in cross country, basketball is not a sport where a starting 5 that is solid across the board is necessarily better than a starting 5 with a couple of holes and one or two transcendent players. In fact, the latter is typically preferable.
 
Did anyone ever mention how Helms died?

Most of the talk seems to center around the greatest starting lineup in WF history and/or cross country.

RIP Mike and condolences to his family
 
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