You Can Be a Great Coach, but You Have to Have Players

The North Carolina basketball team crept back into the Associated Press’ top 25 (No. 24) this week, but at 7-4 the Tar Heels are off to one of their worst starts ever under Coach Dean Smith.

CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer says: “Dean lost the bulk of his recruiting staff when Roy Williams (Kansas) and Ed Fogler (Wichita State, then Vanderbilt) moved to head coaching jobs. They were the guys with their tentacles out there checking on and getting to know kids.

“There was a time when Carolina could mass-recruit five guys each year and it was deep in good ballplayers. Lately, it’s been more of a case where they went out and got the guy they needed, be it a James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith or Brad Daugherty.

“This way they could assure a lot of playing time for their stars, and it only hurt them when they had an injury to a key guy. The last couple of years, they’ve missed on the handpicked guy.”

Trivia time: On Dec. 28, 1944, who became the first player to score eight points in an NHL game?

The ol’ boy network: Few introductions will be necessary when Arkansas and Tennessee play in the Cotton Bowl Monday.

--Tennessee Coach Johnny Majors was an assistant under Frank Broyles at Arkansas for four years in the mid-1960s.

--Arkansas Coach Ken Hatfield was coached by Majors during that time, and Hatfield coached for three years under Doug Dickey at Tennessee before moving with Dickey to Florida, where he was on Dickey’s staff for seven years.

--Hatfield now works for Broyles, the athletic director at Arkansas.

--Majors works for Dickey, the athletic director at Tennessee.

--Dickey once coached at Arkansas.

Add bowls: Notre Dame middle linebacker Ned Bolcar, who will play his last collegiate game Monday night in the Orange Bowl, says: “It’s going to be weird on Saturday afternoons watching the games on television and saying, ‘I used to be out there, and the crowd would be cheering.’ I stand on the sidelines once in a while and say, ‘Holy smokes, this is great.’ ”

Last add bowls: Alabama’s Lamonde Russell, one of the Sugar Bowl participants who toured Bourbon Street in New Orleans, said: “You couldn’t really tell if some of those people were men or women. If you wanted to talk to a girl, you sometimes had to ask if she was a girl. And even then, you didn’t always know.”

Finding a bright spot: Cal State Dominguez Hills had a 33-21 halftime lead over Grand Canyon College, but Grand Canyon won, 107-78. “I was pleased with our showing in the first half,” Dominguez Hills Coach Dave Yanai said.

Trivia answer: The Montreal Canadiens’ Maurice Richard.

Quotebook: Charles Barkley, on recent dissension among the Philadelphia 76ers: “Harmony isn’t important. The only thing that matters is winning and getting paid.”