Tourney of Champs: `91 vs `82

It’s once again time to get back to the (computer generated) hardwoods and get going with the third game of week two in the Tourney of Champs. In this game we will see two teams from the Dean Smith era going at it, with the 1991 (1-0) team being hosted by the national championship squad from 1982 (0-1). I am not sure where this one is going to go, but if I have to make a prediction (which I do), I will go with the `82 squad to win this one in a squeaker. Why? Mostly because I just think the talent on that team, with Worthy, Perkins and Jordan, is just going to be too much for their counterparts. Of course, as we have seen plenty of times in this tournament already, talent and records from their seasons do not much matter.

But I know that my opinion does not matter, it’s what Johnny Carolina and Ben Heel say that counts, so let’s get right to their opinions:

Well, we are all in agreement, as we believe that the 1982 team is going to win this game. Not sure if that is good or bad news for that team, but that’s the way it goes in this tourney. Now that we have all voted it is time for the game to take place. And here is the first half of it:

So far, so good, as the national champions from `82 are up by seven points. However, as we have seen in this tournament, a single digit lead is nothing to be too confortable with. Yes, I believe the 1982 squad is the stronger one and should hold off the 1991 team, but we won’t know until the game is over. Which means it would be best to let the second half proceed:

No come back in this game, just the dominance from a team stacked with lots and lots of talent. Now both of these teams are 1 and 1 and can have a good shot to be in the top half once the playoff part of the tournament begins. But for that there is plenty of time, for now here is the box score from the game:

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