University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Run Byron, Run
October 28, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 28, 2004
by Adam Lucas, Tar Heel Monthly
Almost anywhere he goes in the Smith Center, Byron Sanders hears his head coach's voice ringing in his ears. He hears it in the weight room. Hears it in the locker room. Hears it -- especially hears it -- when he's on the hardwood.
And what does he hear?
"Run, Byron, run," Sanders says with a laugh. "Every time I'm playing, even if it's just pickup, I hear that in my head."
It's an admonition every Tar Heel has grown used to from Roy Williams over the past year, but it's especially true for the Carolina big men. Their job description is simple: defend the post, grab the rebound, fire the outlet pass to start the break, run the floor, and finish on the other end.
When you're carrying 230 pounds on a 6-foot-9 frame, it's not always easy to be light afoot. Sanders's goal over the summer was to improve his conditioning and enable himself to be more effective in Williams's uptempo style. He's still not going to outdash Raymond Felton anytime soon, but the extra work he's put in with new strength and conditioning coach Jonas Sahratian has been beneficial.
"When we met before the summer, Coach Williams told me to work on running the floor and finishing, but mainly running the floor," Sanders says. "It's a conditioning thing. I have to be able to run basket-to-basket on every possession, and I think I have improved there."
His ability to finish is secondary to his conditioning because the junior from Gulfport, Miss., knows he won't be counted on to provide buckets this season. He took just 11 shots throughout last season, and this year's Tar Heels will feature even more scorers. Sanders devoted some of his offseason to his post moves -- he says he's trying to refine a jump hook and his spin to the baseline -- but is more likely to earn playing time as a rebounder, screener, and defender.
For that reason, he was a willing pupil when former Heel Brendan Haywood stopped by Chapel Hill on several occasions this summer. The seven-footer was a dominant force in virtually any pickup game in which he participated, but Sanders benefited from having to defend him.
"Standing your ground is tough against him," he says. "But it helps out a lot. And when he was on defense, it makes you think twice under the basket before you go up with it. He's like Shaq compared to us."
The Tar Heels don't need Sanders to be Shaq -- or even Haywood -- this season. He'll come off the bench to provide spot minutes, spelling Sean May, Jawad Williams or Marvin Williams in the post. Last season, he averaged one rebound for every 4.5 minutes played, a figure better than that of Jawad Williams and only slightly behind that of David Noel. If he can get closer to Sean May's average of one board per 2.9 minutes played, he's likely to earn more playing time.
That's a scenario that seems just fine with the affable Sanders.
"Coach Williams talks about the little things every day in practice," he says. "That's what we need, diving on the floor, all-out play. Whatever he wants me to do, I'll do."
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.
