University of North Carolina Athletics
Current And Former Tar Heels Shine At Basketball Camp
June 13, 2002 | Men's Basketball
June 12, 2002
By Adam Lucas
TarHeelBlue.com
One of Wednesday's best basketball matchups didn't take place in the NBA Finals at the Meadowlands.
It took place on the floor of the Smith Center, where as a treat for participants in Carolina's basketball camp, current players squared off against former players in the annual camp counselors' game.
A large number of former players representing nearly every era in Tar Heel basketball are in town to work the camp, including Bill Chamberlain, Dante Calabria, Ged Doughton, Max Owens, Curtis Hunter, Octavus Barnes, Bill Chambers, Jim Hudock, Michael Brooker, Rodney Hyatt, Clyde Lynn, Kevin Madden, Warren Martin, David Neal, York Larese, Brad Daugherty, Vasco Evtimov, Charles Scott, and Ed Geth. Makhtar Ndiaye and Shammond Williams also participated in Wednesday's game, but are not working the camp, and Eric Montross, Hubert Davis, and Kenny Smith will be in Chapel Hill later this summer for their own individual basketball camps.
Williams, still the deadeye shooter that he was when he wore Carolina blue, clinched Wednesday's game for the former players-played in a first-team-to-80-wins format-by draining a three-pointer for the final points in the 80-75 victory. His game-winner came only after Ndiaye, the unofficial acting coach of the alums, attempted to insert himself into the game for the winning shot. He had previously been in the starting lineup but removed himself after one possession while claiming that there was "not enough passing." His replacement, Brian Bersticker, immediately scored on a slam dunk while Ndiaye enjoyed the festivities from the comfort of a courtside chair.
"There were too many ball hogs out there for me," a smiling Ndiaye said. "We were just goofing around."
"Nah, he couldn't shoot then and he can't shoot now," Dante Calabria interjected with a wink.
Not everybody was goofing around, though. Some of the afternoon's highlights were a Shammond Williams versus Melvin Scott matchup at one guard position, a more explosive Jackie Manuel eliciting several "oooh's" from the campers, and Scott completing an off-the-backboard alley-oop pass to Jawad Williams that rivaled the near-hookup between Ed Cota and Vince Carter against Duke in 1998 and had interested observer Julius Peppers oohing and aahing.
Scott acquitted himself well against Williams, a four-year pro who averaged 4.4 points per game this year for the NBA's Seattle Sonics.
"I just tried to keep him in front of me," the rising sophomore said. "He's tough, but I'm not going to back down. I'm out there trying to get better. That's how all Carolina teams got better, because they play against the old guys in the summer."
While they might have resisted the label "old guys," the former players in attendance clearly seemed to be enjoying their return to the old stomping grounds. Brooker, who recently accepted a graduate assistant coaching job under former Tar Heel Jeff Lebo at Tennessee-Chattanooga, became perhaps the first player in counselor game history to play while wearing old-school Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars. Another three-point specialist, Calabria, who is rehabbing an injured ankle that required surgery in January, watched the game from the sidelines while icing his ankle. The former Tar Heel sharpshooter plans to work out for the Jazz and Lakers this fall.
He won't be back to shooting until later this summer, however, which limited him to being an interested observer in both Wednesday's games and the nightly pickup games involving counselors and current players.
"It's been good to see the guys out playing every night," Calabria said. "There was a bit of a transition period here. It's a change, but it wasn't a change. All the guys feel real good about it. We're still Carolina."
The player who perhaps personifies Carolina more than any other is Williams, who went from a lightly-recruited unknown to a key member of the 1998 Final Four team. The South Carolina native lives in Chapel Hill in the summer and has been getting to know Matt Doherty and the rest of the coaching staff.
"I've had a lot of contact with them, just from being around in the summer," he said. "I've enjoyed getting to know them. They're doing a great job and are getting things together so that everything will work out for us."
