Lucas: Board Work

By Adam Lucas

Carolina won the national championship last year largely because of its offensive rebounding.

The Tar Heels led the country in offensive rebound percentage, and had two of the best players in the country in that category in Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks—and another, Tony Bradley, who would have led the country in that category if he played enough minutes to qualify.

But with the graduation of Meeks and Hicks and the early departure of Bradley, it seemed logical to assume Carolina would no longer be able to dominate the boards in 2018. Indeed, they no longer lead the country in offensive rebound percentage—they've plummeted all the way to fourth in America.

That seems almost impossible. How do you lead the country in a particular category, lose your three best players at that particular skill, replace them with three raw freshmen, and experience almost no dropoff? In fact, Carolina actually leads America in rebound margin, with a stout +12.2 and is second in total rebounds per game.

"It's not a secret formula," said Sterling Manley. "It's how Coach instills it and how much effort he puts into it and having us do it. Every time, go to the boards. You're constantly hearing it, so you start doing it."

Hitting the boards isn't just expected of the big men. A fairly incredible nine different Tar Heels have grabbed at least a half-dozen rebounds in a single game this year. That includes both members of the starting backcourt, 6-foot-4 Kenny Williams and 6-foot-0 Joel Berry. On Saturday against Georgia Tech, Berry had eight, which was a nice complement to Luke Maye's 11 boards and Theo Pinson's career-high tying 10 rebounds. Three different Tar Heels had more rebounds in the game than any one Yellow Jacket.

"I'll box out one guy, and then another one will come flying right after from the side," Tech center Ben Lammers told the Atlanta newspaper. "It's one of those things that's hard to do. It's hard to box out a guy you don't see coming."

While most outsiders still think of Carolina as a program whose primary emphasis is a breakneck pace, there's also been a progression in the team's rebounding success. Carolina has been in the top five in the country in offensive rebound percentage each of the last four seasons after appearing in the top five in that category just once (2008) in Williams' first 11 seasons back in Chapel Hill.

No other team has been in the top five each of the last four seasons. But the teams that dot the list recently include those you would think of with a physical, bruising pedigree—programs like Michigan State, West Virginia, Baylor and Cincinnati.

Carolina might have that reputation among opposing coaches who have to gameplan for the Tar Heels, but the general public isn't quite on board yet.

"We're not really known for just pounding guys on the boards, not the way that a Michigan State or a team like that might be," Manley said. "Teams still fall asleep on us. And when they fall asleep, we go to the boards."

As Carolina prepares for a road game at Virginia Tech tonight, Williams believes his club—currently rebounding 41.4 percent of its misses in ACC play, the best mark in the conference—can get better.

"Except for two games all year, we're still not offensively rebounding the way I would like," he said after the win over the Jackets. "It's a huge emphasis for us, and usually you do pretty well with the things you emphasize most."

Players Mentioned

Tony Bradley

Isaiah Hicks

Sterling Manley

Luke Maye

Kennedy Meeks

Theo Pinson

Kenny Williams

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