Late Dean Smith bequeaths former players with $200 dinners in will: Report

When former North Carolina coach Dean Smith died last month at the age of 83, he left behind more than a basketball legacy deeper than just Xs and Os. Smith was the first coach at North Carolina, and among the first in the segregated South, to offer a scholarship to a black athlete and his humble "Carolina Way" became the standard of the school he cared so much for. 

And now, as per the late coach's pre-arranged instructions in his will, Smith is showing his gratitude by mailing out $200 checks to each of the varsity lettermen he coached over 36 years with one last instruction: "Enjoy a dinner out."

The letter to former UNC guard Dante Calabria, reads:

 “Each Player was important and special to Coach Smith and when he prepared his estate plan, Coach wanted to reach out to each of his letterman. Accordingly, Coach wanted each letterman to be sent a two hundred dollar ($200.00) check with the message 'enjoy a dinner [out] compliments of Coach Dean Smith.'”

Coach Smith willed his trust to send a $200 check to each his former players following his passing. #DeanSmith pic.twitter.com/NyiBhU9taQ
— Jim Dempsey (@ChestPassDemps) March 26, 2015

USA Today confirmed the letter’s authenticity with accountant Tim Breedlove, who said that the letter was sent to about 180 of Smith’s former players.

Smith actually coached 184 players between 1961 and 1997 bringing the total cost of his posthumous gesture to about $36,800.

But no bean-counter will ever put a price on his memory. 

Dion Waiters' Breakaway Dunk Brings Down Madison Square Garden House

Syracuse's Dion Waiters' tremendous open court breakaway dunk was the exclamation point on a 95-70 rout of St. John's at Madison Square Garden Saturday afternoon.

Waiters followed up one crowd-pleasing Orange dunk after another by stuffing the ball through the rim with his right hand over his head while the St. John's defenders could only watch and admire.

The sophomore guard then glared at the roaring crowd of 19,979 before heading back on defense as his teammates rejoiced.

The Red Storm were manhandled all afternoon on their supposed home court.  The Garden stands seemed to have been flooded by orange and anyone in red seemed shell shocked during the Syracuse onslaught.

 After Waiters powerful slam gave 'Cuse a 70-46 lead, cheers of "Let's Go Orange" filled the arena with 9:16 left in the game.

Second-ranked Syracuse (23-1, 10-1) was just too physical for the younger,  undermanned and smaller St. John's (10-13, 4-7) team.

The win gave Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim his 879th win tying him with Dean Smith on the all-time victories list.

The Red Storm got off to a 5-0 lead and hung tough with the much bigger Orangemen but couldn't keep up with the deeper and taller visitors.

Syracuse took control of the game with about eight minutes to go and lead by as much as 59-31 after a dunk by seven-footer Fab Melo with 13 minutes remaining in the Big East match-up.

Melo—back from a three-game academic suspension— finished the game with a career high 14 points.

The home-town Johnnies fans are probably saying " 'Cuse me Waiters, there seems to be some fly in my hoop."