Best N.C. boys basketball teams ever: Page and Dudley make the cut

from Langston Wertz Jr. at www.charlotteobserver.com and Click Here for more info on his list…..

1. West Charlotte, 1999: All-American Jason Parker is one of the best players ever from this state, winning back to back Associated Press player of the year awards. This team was seriously deep, with Division I college talent coming deep off the bench and two future college stars — Justin Gray (Wake Forest) and Curtis Withers (Charlotte 49ers — had to stay on jayvee. Withers was voted one of the Observer’s top players of the Sweet 16 era this week.

2. South Mecklenburg, 1972: Sabres coach Dave Price was born on Christmas Day 1929 and grew up wanting to be a football coach. His Sabres teams dominated the ’70s, winning titles in 1970, 71, 72 and 76. In 1969, the Sabres won Price his first conference championship and the team lost in the playoffs to Greensboro Smith and future NBA and North Carolina star Bob McAdoo. In 1970, Bobby Jones developed into the state’s best player and the Sabres (26-2) beat Wilmington Hoggard 59-58 for the state title. But in 1971 and ’72, the Sabres lost one game, in 1971 to Hickory. The ’72 team went unbeaten (26-0) and that’s the best of the three.

3. Winston-Salem Reynolds, 2001: The school has won five state titles including three in a row from 2000-2002. I think the 2001 team was the best of the bunch. The team finished 28-3, led by Charlotte 49ers recruit Mitchell Baldwin. In 2001, Baldwin was runner-up to Raleigh Broughton’s Shavlik Randolph for N.C. Associated Press player of the year. Reynolds beat Raleigh Leesville Road 94-73 in the state final.

4. Greensboro Page, 1983: Led by All-American Danny Manning, the team rolled to a 73-55 win over Goldsboro in the state final. Manning moved with his family to Kansas before his senior year of high school and eventually played at Kansas, where his father, Ed, later became an assistant for the Jayhawks. Ed Manning played for four NBA and two ABA teams. In 1983, Danny Manning averaged 18.9 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for a 26-0 team that also featured NFL star Haywood Jeffries.

5. North Mecklenburg (31-1), 4A, 2005: Led by junior All-American Jamie Skeen, a top 15 player from the past 25 years, the Vikings held 17 opponents to 50 points or less and finished with a 20-game win streak and a No. 15 national ranking. After starting out No. 1 in the Sweet 16 in 2004 and 2005, the Vikings – who won by an average of 23 points – finally brought home the school’s first Sweet 16 and state championship.

6. Wilmington New Hanover, 1962: The last of three straight state championship teams beat Rocky Mount 42-40 in the 1962 state finals. The previous two teams, coached by the legendary Leon Brogden(Brogden’s grandson Adam is currently on the Grimsley Whirlies 2009-2010 team), won by 12 (66-54 over Myers Park in 1961) and 34. New Hanover absolutely dominated the state in the ’60s. The team lost to Ashley in the 1967 state finals and beat West CHarlotte 61-58 in the ’68 championship round.

7. West Charlotte, 1966: The team, which wasn’t yet in the N.C. High School Athletic Association, finished 19-1 and won a state title for legendary coach Charles McCullough. Center C.J. Montgomery, a 6-6 center, led a talented Lions team, along with Daryl Cherry, who some believe was the best high school football, basketball and baseball player in Charlotte — all in that same year.

8. Greensboro Dudley, 1996: Led by N.C. Associated Press state player of the year Vincent Whitt, who averaged 21 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, the Panthers (29-2) beat Richmond Senior 76-68 in overtime. Dudley rallied from 9 points down in the fourth quarter. Whitt, who played at Clemson, was joined on the team by future North Carolina center Brendan Haywood and sophomore Braxton Williams, who scored 24 in the championship final and was named most outstanding player of the final. Haywood led the state in 1996 with 186 blocks.

13 thoughts on “Best N.C. boys basketball teams ever: Page and Dudley make the cut

  1. Nice post!

    P.S.- BIG QUESTION: Is there gonna be any information posted on the HUGE Dudley-Kinston game Saturday night in Chapel Hill?

  2. didn’t the page team also have mack jones who played at ncstate and then for the dallas cowboys? didn’t whitt end up leaving clemson and his life has really been a disaster except for hs basketball?

  3. David Duke, Vincent Whitt transferred to South Carolina State University and led the Bulldogs to an NCAA tournament appearance. I would not consider his life a disaster because he is not on television making millions having his life controlled by Massa David Stern.

  4. Vincent Whitt ended the 06′ season averaging 21 ppg in Germany. An athlete that gets better with age Whitt has transcended his game to an inside/out game. Very athletic. Likes to dunk in the traffic. Quite decent from the free throw line. All-around player who excels in an up-tempo game; very effective on the offensive glass … has great potential as a scorer, especially in transition.

  5. Why are they playing the Dudley-Kinston game in Chapel Hill????? Is it because of the Reggie Bullock and PJ Hairston factor and the fact that they are heading to Chapel Hill, which is a good thing for both of them, but why not play the game in Greensboro for a change?????

    Dudley and Kinston seemed to have always met in the past in Greenville at East Carolina and that is right in Kinston’s back yard……It was regional action and neither team has any control over that and I understand that…..

    But, this game needs to be in Greensboro, a real high school basketball town….

    Will it be in the Dean Dome and is it prior to another game or is it a one game set????? Will the North Carolina Tar Heels play afterwards??????That would seem like an unfair advantage for their recruiting…….

    We will be talking about this game and all of the others later in the week and Smith meets Page again on Tuesday and Northwest Guilford goes to High Point Central as the conference games get rolling again…..

  6. No mention of teams from the Eastern part of the state? What about the teams the late great Coach Harvey Reid assemble at Wilson Fike. His teams gave you 32 minutes of “Hell”! John McNeil was one of the best High School players ever in NC.

    Kinston teams?

    Come on son!

  7. This was more about best teams and not best coaches….I met him a few years ago over at Dudley and he was a great man/coach, but his teams were not better than the ones above….

    They only mentioned eight and these are the great eight…..

  8. The Page team also had Mike Foster at PG. He had D1 offers and played college ball at S. Carolina. Prolly best HS team I’ve seen in this state.

  9. The best team Dudley ever had was the 1991 team. Ranked 16th nationally at the end of the year. Lost to West Charlotte in the state semis. 2 D-1 B-ball players, 1 D-1 Football Player, 1 Oakland A’s farm pitcher. They were better than any of Dudley’s state champ. teams. They beat teams by an average of 30ppg I believe and held most opponents under 60 pts.

  10. The Dudley ’96 state title team was ranked 11th nationally in the USA Today prep poll.

  11. There is no doubt one of the best teams in NC history is the 1978 & 1979 Washington NC Pam Pack led by Dominique Wilkins and Alvis Rogers. The team amssed as 56 game winning streak and 2 AAA state championships. This was one of the most dominating teams in the history of NCHSAA.

  12. Nice research, except the best team ever isn’t mentioned here – 1961 Greensboro Dudley (NCHSAC state champion). Three players you might’ve heard of: Curly Neal (Harlem Globetrotters point guard), Sweet Lou Hudson), and Charlies Sanders (who ended in the NFL Hall of Fame). Hall of Fame coach Bill Furcron said the other two starters were even better.

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