On Nov. 20, 1985, Georgia Tech basketball had arrived.
On the cover of the Sports Illustrated and under the headline “Class Acts’’, the Yellow Jackets backcourt of Bruce Dalrymple and Mark Price stood beside USC great women’s player Cheryl Miller.
Tech was ranked No. 1 by SI after their incredible run earlier that year to the ACC Tournament championship.
The story began this way:
Ebony and Ivory/Live together in perfect harmony.—PAUL MCCARTNEY & STEVIE WONDER
They are the best college backcourt in America — perhaps the best to come along in more than a decade — which means, of course, that like other great guard tandems before them, Mark Price and Bruce Dalrymple of Georgia Tech share the unspoken awareness of each other’s every thought that often exists in twins.
How he wants to lead his life is none of my business,” says Price, a senior, of Dalrymple. “I don’t know everything Bruce does, and I wouldn’t want to know.”
OK, maybe not identical twins. But still, the kind of bond that you find between brothers.”
We’re about as different as any two people on this earth,” says Dalrymple, a junior, of Price. “I don’t even know why we play well together. We have absolutely nothing in common. Nothing.
The story, which was ran under the headline, “Opposite Sides of the Track’’ was a big deal for a school that the previous March made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 25 years and came within six points (a 60-54 loss to Georgetown) of going to the Final Four.
Said Dalrymple, “Boy, do I remember that cover and story. Mark and I were like one on the court. We knew each other’s moves, he knew when to get me the ball, and I knew when he needed something.’’
They were never real close off the court, as Price was from the plains of Oklahoma and Dalrymple from the streets of Harlem. But they have remained friends and Dalrymple said this week, “We took basketball to a different level there, and we gave Georgia Tech a name they built on for years to come.’’
Did they end up falling under the dreaded SI cover jinx?
Well … not really. The Jackets finished 27-7 and 11-3 in the ACC including making the finals of the conference tournament and losing 68-67 in a memorable game against Duke in Greensboro. In the NCAAs, they beat Marist and Villanova and went to the semifinals round of the Southeast Regional, losing 70-64 to LSU at The Omni. For Price, it was his senior and final season at Tech and he lead the team in scoring with a 17.4 points per game, while Dalrymple, a junior, averaged 10.8 points and five rebounds per game.
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