University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Jackie's Back
November 28, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2004
By Adam Lucas
Jackie Manuel perched on the side of a pool table in the Carolina players' lounge, looking just a little bit like a sphinx.
The media gathered around him, eager to hear his wisdom. Surely he had some nugget, some morsel that would explain how the Tar Heels were able to walk off a nearly 12-hour plane trip just 48 hours ago and proceed to turn in their most complete performance of the season.
Jackie would know the answer. After all, this was the player who famously "bought in" last year earlier than anyone, the guy who understood Roy Williams faster than any of his teammates. If he could understand ol' Roy, surely he'd be able to prescribe the magic elixir that makes cross-country jet travel virtually irrelevant.
So, Jackie, what was it? What did you do to prepare for this game? A magic potion, a Hawaiian chant, what could it have been?
"Video games," he said.
Uh, what?
"Yeah, I played video games for about three hours before the game," Manuel said. "Just to keep my mind clear and not think about anything else."
So there's the secret. As long as the Tar Heels have a PlayStation2 (the game currently in the console is fitting--EA Sports March Madness 2005) handy, they're close to unstoppable.
That's how it looked after Sunday night's 97-65 dismantling of Southern Cal. For the first time all year, Manuel looked more like the Jackie Manuel of last year and less like the pressing offensive player who struggled to find his rhythm in Maui. He shot 5-for-16 on the West Coast trip, and it wasn't just the shots he missed that were most disturbing, but the ones he chose to take. They weren't Jackie Manuel shots, weren't the kind that just seem to present themselves in the flow of the offense. Those were the kind of shots he took last year, and they're the kind he took against the Trojans on his way to a season-high 14 points.
Credit the change to a post-Maui chat with the head coach. "He told me he felt like I was pressing, and I felt that way too," Manuel said. "He said he just needs me to play like I did last year and I think so too. I'm going into the rest of the season not thinking about anything else."
Many of the senior's buckets came on passes from Raymond Felton, who once again controlled the game with a minimum of scoring. The junior from Latta now has 37 assists over his past four games against just 11 turnovers, and he did it Sunday night with a thickly wrapped left hand that made him look like Rocky Balboa just before he puts on the gloves.
Roy Williams pushed Felton throughout last year to ignite the offense, to distribute the ball and make his teammates better. That's what he's doing now, and the Heels are discovering something Williams probably already knew--that style of basketball is contagious.
On one memorable four-on-zero fast break at the end of the first half, it almost seemed like every Tar Heel was loathe to shoot the ball, but it ended with a sweet Felton lob to Jawad Williams, who slammed through the first of his two rim-shaking dunks. The other, a one-handed catch-and-pump off another Felton pass, was of the variety that becomes a staple on end-of-season highlight videos.
"In an up and down game we're going to share the ball and be unselfish," Roy Williams said.
Last year, he might have said, "I'd like for us to share the ball." This year, they do it.
"You see guys out there passing the ball to each other and it makes other people want to pass the ball," Manuel said. "It feels good to pass to one of my teammates and see them score."
Almost as good as a nice, relaxing video game.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. His book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about the book, click here.
