Just chatted briefly by phone with Jim Calhoun, who was profoundly influenced by Dean Smith over the years.

Here's some of what Calhoun had to say about Smith, who passed away Saturday evening at age 83:

"He showed me the difference between a team and a program. A team is one year, a program -- in his case, the University of North Carolina -- continues to go on forever. He's just a special guy. To the outside world, he was about Carolina, but he was a great ambassador, much involved with civil rights. People who competed against him understood you were going against a very special guy."

"The world benefitted from what he did with Carolina basketball. He was a great gentleman, one of those clear icons."

(Early in Calhoun's tenure as head coach at Northeastern, he and his staff went to Chapel Hill to see how Smith ran his program)

"We were watching their program, the way they do business -- Eddie Fogler, Roy Williams, Bill Guthridge and, of course, Dean. The way they interacted with the program, altering things -- running, pressing, especially running -- but just the way their program was handled. It was pretty special."

(on joining, even surpassing, Smith in the college basketball record books)

"My dad said you're known by the company you keep. When my name was beside (Smith's) -- Dean Smith was great, great company."