University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: The Shoes You're Wearing
January 7, 2004 | Lucas
Jan. 3, 2004
By Adam Lucas
LEXINGTON-Maybe you got a new pair of shoes for Christmas.
Maybe they're wingtips for work, or maybe some leather kicks you're going to wear out on the town. No matter what kind they are, though, they've all got one common characteristic: you really like them, can't wait to get them worn in, but right now when you wear them they just don't feel quite right.
After Saturday's disappointing 61-56 loss at Kentucky, Roy Williams and his 2003-04 Tar Heels are the living embodiment of that example.
They look good and are made of the highest-quality parts. You get the feeling that once they get broken in, they're going to be a lot of fun. But right now, they're still tripping over themselves.
There's very little question that Carolina had better individual players than the Wildcats. Line them up in a series of one-on-one contests, and the light blue would emerge ahead. The problem, unfortunately, was that these Heels too often on Saturday tried to turn the game into exactly that--one-on-one showcases, and that's something that isn't going to win many games or please their head coach.
It wasn't hard to sense that something was amiss almost from the time the Rupp Arena lights went out for pregame introductions, illuminating the blue flashing earrings of hundreds of female Wildcat fans as they pulsated in the complete darkness. Carolina came out flatter than J.R. Reid's freshma haircut, giving up quick turnovers and offensive rebounds and prompting Roy Williams to yank several starters before the first television timeout and then, as he considered the situation more fully, remove the remaining starters for an all-new squad.
The makeshift lineup didn't immediately succeed, as Reyshawn Terry promptly fell flat with the ball for the team's sixth turnover in four minutes, but they eventually provided the energy the Heels seemed to need.
"I love those kids," Williams said. "There's not a single one of those kids that was highly recruited. What they did was they tried to pay attention to detail."
Something that, by implication, had been missing in the game's opening minutes. The starters returned with a vengeance, eventually moving out to a 28-20 halftime lead that caused UK to be booed off the floor by their home fans (who by the end of the game had reversed field and serenaded their head coach with a chant of "Tubby, Tubby"). There was still the sense, however, that something wasn't quite right. A couple of starters remained listless, and Williams seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time stalking up and down the sideline searching for someone--anyone--to insert into the game to provide some energy. Jawad Williams played just 25 minutes, Rashad McCants 21, Sean May 27, and Raymond Felton 33, all significantly below their season averages. Williams and May remain slightly banged up, but most of the quartet's bench time
The Wildcats barely made a quarter of their field goals in the opening half and, as expected, that trend didn't continue in the second stanza. Of course, their task was made significantly easier by some questionable Tar Heel defense that resulted in, at one point, three straight layups.
"We weren't playing well on the defensive end of the floor," Williams said. "I think we've worked on covering the screen on the ball more than anyone in America. We didn't guard it very well. I made some adjustments one time and drew a spot on the clipboard where I wanted somebody to be and it caused a groove in the clipboard. Then we go out and go in the wrong spot."
Gerald Fitch ultimately tossed in an improbable three-pointer that was the dagger, but the Heels had already missed some opportunities--including three straight possessions under four minutes when they couldn't cut into a four-point Kentucky lead--that would wind up costing them the game. Kentucky lost just twice during the 2003 calendar year, a timeframe during which these Tar Heels suffered 14 defeats. Saturday, it wasn't hard to tell which squad was used to winning and which was accustomed to losing.
Before the season, the new Tar Heel head coach was fond of saying, "Ol' Roy ain't that good." Some Carolina fans scoffed, but it's apparent now that what the coach realized that some others didn't was that although he may be a brilliant tactical coach, it takes significantly longer to coach the mental side of a team than it does the physical part. He can give them the strategies that will win games, but it's not until they believe that they will work that this team will achieve their potential.
What happened in Rupp Arena is likely to be a shaping event for this year's team. Everyone, from the most highly-touted starter right down to the last man on the bench, now realizes that they're going to have to play basketball the Roy Williams way or they're not going to play. They're not going to have to make all their shots, be the most athletic or dominant players on the floor. They're just going to have to give constant effort.
And only then will this team truly begin to fit comfortably.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
