University of North Carolina Athletics
View From the Press Box
January 5, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2000
By Rick Brewer
Associate AD for Communications and Sports Information
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Part of North Carolina's formula for the incredible success it has enjoyed in basketball over the last four decades has been playing a tough early-season schedule in order to prepare for Atlantic Coast Conference competition.
There has been an added bonus since the expansion of the NCAA Tournament to include more than one team from each league. In the eyes of the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, the non-conference games are just as important as those in the ACC and have played a part in Carolina's amazing streak of 25 consecutive appearances in the NCAA championship field.
ut, the main reason for the difficult games of November and December has been to allow Tar Heel coaches to see how truly outstanding their teams have been and to find areas where more work needed to be done. Carolina teams have rarely gone into ACC play with a sense of false confidence. They've known their strengths, as well as their weaknesses, by the time conference play arrived.
The non-conference games have also been the place where Dean Smith and now Bill Guthridge have generally decided on a rotation of players. Roles have been set and team chemistry developed.
Unfortunately, that has not been the case this season. The schedule has been as difficult as usual with games against top-ranked Cincinnati, seventh-rated Michigan State and two other nationally-ranked teams, Indiana and Purdue. There were also games against teams which have traditionally been national powers or had success in recent years and figured to pose tough tests -- Georgetown, College of Charleston, UNLV, Miami and Louisville.
In addition, only three of the first 13 games were played at home.
ut, injuries to key players have not allowed Guthridge the freedom to experiment with his personnel and find the best units for different situations. The inability of 6-11 Kris Lang to play for any period of time without a rest and the loss of 6-10 Brian Bersticker to a broken foot forced Guthridge to play at least two players, Jason Capel and Max Owens, out of position for most of the non-conference games.
It's funny how perception can be so different from reality. Before those injuries people talked about the great size Carolina would have this season. And, indeed, with 7-0 Brendan Haywood the Tar Heels do have one of the biggest frontcourt players in the country. But, for most of the year the other starters up front have been the 6-8 Capel at power forward and the 6-5 Owens at small forward.
Just before Christmas at Louisville, television announcers opened their broadcast talking about how the game would be a battle of the Cardinals' quickness against the size of Carolina. While Haywood was the tallest player on the court by three inches, Louisville's starting lineup really had a slightly greater average in height than the Tar Heels'.
Considering the competition and the travel, it's actually surprising Carolina was able to open ACC play with only four losses.
Now with Lang scheduled to be back in the lineup on a more regular basis, the Tar Heels will have to develop that much-needed chemistry against conference competition.
"After Christmas we were able to get in a number of practices and that's been a help," says Guthridge. "I may have over-scheduled this team. Even if Kris and Brian had been available on a fulltime basis, I think the travel may have gotten to us a bit. Plus, we weren't able to practice as much as we probably should have because we were playing so often."
However, even in those post-holiday practices, coaches and the medical staff monitored Lang's work. They were trying to prevent a return of his leg injuries, but also realized he needed to get in better basketball-playing condition.
In addition to Lang and Bersticker, the Tar Heels have also been without Ronald Curry, expected to be a key performer in the backcourt. He's out for the entire season after tearing an Achilles tendon while playing football.
Certainly, Carolina is not the only school which has suffered early injuries. Among other highly-regarded teams, Michigan State and Temple have lost a key player for an extended time. But, injuries to such stars as Mateen Cleaves and Pepe Sanchez at least did not force their teams into the type of lineup changes that Guthridge has had to make.
If there has been a bright spot because of the injuries, it's been the emergence of 6-7 Julius Peppers, a red-shirt freshman from Bailey, N.C., as a contributor up front. Peppers, who won freshman All-America honors at defensive end on the football field this past fall, joined the team after the football season had concluded. He is a tremendous all-around athlete who has shown outstanding ability around the basket. He has even been able to serve as a substitute for Haywood at center because of his size, strength and excellent hands.
"I saw Julius play in high school and thought he could be a prospect then," says Guthridge. "But, I knew he would probably have a better future in football. Still, we were more than happy to have him join the team. He's not just a good athlete. He is a basketball player. He has savvy around the basket, knows how to box out and has a nice shooting touch.
"Of course, he missed our pre-season practice because of football and is behind because of that. However, he's improving every day he's on the court."
The addition and steady improvement of Peppers and the return to health by Lang have thus given Guthridge more options for a regular rotation. He just wishes he could have settled on one before the ACC season opened.
