University of North Carolina Athletics
Cedars History Report: The Ones Who Left
August 9, 2002 | General
May 1, 2002
Welcome to the CEDARS of CHAPEL HILL History Report
etween 1970 -- when this Tar Heel fan started watching and listening to Carolina basketball -- and April of 2001, only about two dozen players left the UNC basketball family before their "senior day." This number includes players who transferred to other schools, jumped early to the NBA, were ruled ineligible or just quit playing basketball. In contrast, as most basketball followers are well aware, there were a whopping six players who decided to cut their UNC basketball careers short prior to, during, or after the 2001-2002 season.
The recent run of transfers from the UNC basketball program brings to mind other players who have left Carolina early. For the average longtime follower of Carolina basketball, it is not hard to recall all or most of the players who have transferred out of the program. As a big fan of Carolina basketball, I remember these guys because I always wondered how someone could voluntarily leave the Tar Heel program, with all it has had to offer.
The first UNC player that I remember transferring to another school was a guy named James Smith. Smith had the unfortunate luck of starting out with the UNC team during the first season that freshmen were eligible to play college basketball. Smith was part of a six-player class that included Walter Davis, Tom LaGarde and John Kuester. The UNC team had an unbelievable 20 members that year, so playing time was scarce. I liked James Smith because he had wild hair that flew all over the place when he was on the court, but he only managed to play in a few games, and he transferred away at the end of the year.
After the 1976 season, two more freshmen, Loren Lutz and Keith Valentine, elected to pack it in. Neither of this pair received any meaningful playing time during their one Carolina season; Valentine was best remembered for having the same last name as Kansas All-American Darnell Valentine.
The next year (1976-77) saw the transfer of UNC freshman Steve Krafcisin. Krafcisin found himself in a strange situation at Carolina. When senior center Tom Lagarde suffered a knee injury late in the regular season, Krafcisin, along with Rich Yonaker and Jeff Wolf, was called on to fill the starting center position on a team that was contending for the national championship. By the end of the season, Krafcisin had seen his third of the minutes decrease enough that he decided to take his tall, wide body elsewhere, rather than compete with two other six-10 guys for playing time during the next three years. He moved on to Iowa University.
After the 1982-83 season Carolina had two sophomores who transferred. They were center John Brownlee and point guard Lynwood Robinson, neither of whom saw much playing time as Tar Heels. Robinson had arrived as one of the top point guard prospects in the country, but he was slowed by a knee injury. He moved on to Appalachain State, where he enjoyed a successful collegiate career.
rownlee was from Texas. I sometimes wondered why these guys came to Chapel Hill from so far away, only to leave the next year.
Freshman forward Matt Brust left the program in 1985. Brust, the younger brother of former UNC player Chris Brust, transferred to St. John's, where he averaged in double figures during as a junior and as a senior.
After the 1991 season both Kenny Harris, a two year letterman for Carolina, and Clifford Rozier, a freshman, transferred out. Harris ended up at Virginia Commonwealth, where he averaged 16 points and 6 assists as a senior. Rozier transferred to Louisville and became a first-team All-American and two-time Metro Conference player of the year.
The next UNC player to transfer was Larry Davis, a shooting guard who had put in time behind Donald Williams for two years, averaging 2.2 points per game. After the 1994 season, Davis decided to take his talents to the University of South Carolina, where he developed into an exciting offensive performer for coach Eddie Folgler.
In 1997, shooting guard Ryan Sullivan transferred away from Carolina. Sullivan was never able to fill the shoes of his older brother Patrick. There have also been several players who left the program early for reasons other than a transfer.
My first "early departure" experience came at the hands of Robert McAdoo. McAdoo actually gave Carolina fans a jolt when he left and when he arrived. McAdoo was the only transfer that Dean Smith accepted during his first three decades as a head coach. Because he transferred to UNC at a time when freshmen weren't eligible to play, Carolina fans didn't have the usual cushion of a year of freshman ball to get accustomed to Big Mac's presence on campus. So, we just looked up in the fall of 1971, and he was there.
I remember playing a pickup game on the Tysingers' basketball court on Caswell Road and hearing David Murray say "MacK-uh-DOO!!" as if some new fruit had been invented. And that was before anyone had actually seen the guy play.
McAdoo slipped into town, skyed for some rebounds, made a few jumpers and marvelous put backs and helped carry Carolina to the Final Four. Then at the end of his one season McAdoo grabbed his hardware and went "hardship" -- declaring for the NBA draft as a junior. Of course, we forgave him, since he was the league's rookie of the year at Buffalo the next season and then went on to be the NBA's scoring leader a couple of times.
Carolina's bad luck holding onto the big men continued into the next year. During the 1972-73 season, a gifted sophomore post player named Donald Washington took the court for Carolina. During the seven games Washington played in as a Tar Heel, he averaged 12.3 points and 4.4 rebounds. He missed most of that season with injuries, and he never played for Carolina again after 1973-- reportedly because of academic troubles.
One of the more mysterious disappearances in the program's history was that of guard Ray Harrison. Harrison was an important player on UNC's teams in 1972 and 1973, but he did not return for his senior season. Harrison averaged 6.8 points per game during his two seasons.
The most recent early departure came just prior to the 1999-2000 season when post player Vasco Evtimov, still with two years of college eligibility remaining, left to play professionally in Europe. A physical big man who never seemed at ease within the Carolina system, Evtimov averaged 3.4 rebounds for Carolina in limited playing time, but was often out of control on the court.
The other players who left Carolina early prior to 2001 -- James Worthy, Michael Jordan, JR Reid, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Jeff McGinnis, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison -- all have proven correct in assessing themselves NBA ready. And for the most part, they had the fans' blessings upon leaving.
What immediately jumps out at me is that none of the players who transferred from Carolina during the past 30 years had been given the opportunity for playing time that the departing Adam Boone and Brian Morrison had during the most recent season. Among previous early departures, only Ray Harrison ever had as much on the court responsibility for the UNC program as Boone or Morrison.
I take this as an indication that things are different now.
Add to these transfers the the choices made by probable starters Julius Peppers and Ronald Curry not to play hoops this year, and Joseph Forte's decision to head for the NBA after last season, and Carolina fans have a full scale head-scratcher on their hands.
Simply put, there is no precedent to rival this season's voluntary exodus of players from the UNC basketball team. Some of this year's departures had well-documented motivation. Neil Fingleton did not seem to fit into the team's future. Julius Peppers needed to prepare for the football draft. Forte chased the dollars.
oone, however, would have been Carolina's most experienced player returning for the 2002-03 season. Boone's playing time may have decreased slightly in the coming season, but his significance to the team would probably have increased. For the first time in memory, the Carolina basketball program will not return an experienced on-court leader next season.
It may be difficult for UNC fans to forget the loss of Boone. Boone was a hard working player who had developed into an on-court leader, and his absence will leave a gap. The same can be said to a certain degree of Morrison. Younger players need to have juniors and seniors to model their work habits and off the court demeanor after.
Maybe it should also have an impact on how UNC fans view the UNC program.
