University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: One Day, They'll Know
January 7, 2004 | Lucas
Dec. 20, 2003
By Adam Lucas
You wonder if 19- and 20-year-old kids are capable of appreciating what happened in the Smith Center on Saturday afternoon and evening.
You wonder if Carolina's players--and for that matter, Wake Forest's--understand what happened to them during a triple-overtime heart-pounder against the Demon Deacons. This was a "Yeah, but..." game. Several years from now someone will be talking about a great game they just saw, and you'll have to say, "Yeah, but do you remember that Wake-Carolina game from the 2003-04 season? Triple overtime, man. More false endings than the Lord of the Rings trilogy."
And you will immediately end the conversation, because you will be right. That's what kind of game it was. Some might prefer the 1995 Duke-Carolina game in Cameron, the 102-100 Tar Heel triumph that included Jeff Capel's halfcourt heave, but that was one very good team and one bad team playing above their heads. This was two outstanding teams playing up to every drop of their potential. Thirteen players scored in double figures. Seven players played more than 40 minutes.
You only wish that the players who provided three hours of absolute pandemonium could appreciate it. As fans, we have the luxury of pausing midgame--as you might have done when Jawad Williams slammed home a dunk to tie the score at 88 at the end of regulation, or when David Noel swatted away a Chris Paul leaner with three seconds left in the first overtime, or when Paul came back to hit two of three free throws to send the game into a second overtime, or when Carolina looked to be on the verge of breaking the game open with a "huge" four-point lead, only to have Taron Downey hit a three-pointer--and turning to our buddy and saying, "Wow, what a game."
Players and coaches don't get that luxury. For them, it's all about the next play, the next basket, the next pass. Sean May went into the Carolina locker room and told Raymond Felton that he accepted full blame for the loss.
That's May who had a double-double, notching 15 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks.
May is just 19 years old, which makes him entitled to say things like this: "I didn't play well. I didn't do anything well. Offensively, defensively, rebounding, I just didn't do anything well. I don't know why. That's two games in a row."
But it's not two games in a row. This game doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath with the Akron game six days ago. The two contests are about as disparate as Dean Smith and Rick Barnes.
Akron was an ugly, halting, painful to watch game. Wake Forest was a flowing, scintillating game that you never wanted to end--and it times it looked like it might not. Some little things went wrong. The free throw shooting wasn't great--and yes, the Heels practice free throws. Just as an example, Thursday afternoon Jackie Manuel swished 19 of 20 free throw attempts, including 16 in a row during one stretch. Sometimes the practice just doesn't translate over to the games. The Tar Heels miscommunicated on the inbounds play that led to Melvin Scott's foul of Paul on a three-point attempt. Raymond Felton had five turnovers, a couple of passes he'd like to take back.
ut if you spend any time at all thinking about those things, you're missing one of the best games of basketball you'll ever see. It's Roy Williams's job to focus on what went wrong and correct it before next Sunday's game against UNC-Wilmington. He'll do that, and there probably won't be much sleep in the Williams household tonight, even with some of the Tar Heel head coach's family in town for the holidays.
Let him worry about the mistakes, the correctable errors. Our job as fans is to marvel when we see something indescribable. As the two teams huddled around their coaches during the intermission before the second overtime, you could almost feel the Smith Center sag. The crowd was quiet, but not a bored quiet. An "I can't believe I'm seeing this" quiet. Walking out of the building, you felt like canceling any evening plans you might have had and going home and sprawling on the couch until Santa woke you up in five days.
Sometimes, after a basketball game, it will be said that the better team won. It's not entirely clear that either one of these teams is "better." You get the feeling that Carolina and Wake Forest could play an infinite number of halves, and the outcome wouldn't be more than one or two points either way.
One day, these players will appreciate that. Until then, it's our job to do it for them.
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.
