University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag Dec. 28
December 28, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2004
By Adam Lucas
Welcome to the final 2004 edition of the Carolina Basketball Mailbag. We've got an assortment of topics this week and plenty of reader participation, due primarily to the fact that the more reader participation we have, the less work we have to do, and the crack Mailbag staff spent most of their weekend trying to put together a Radio Flyer red wagon (with cupholders) and other assorted products, most of which had something to do with Elmo--and no, Elmo is not a class of 2008 post recruit.
Last week, we asked for suggestions regarding the upcoming space shortage in the rafters of the Smith Center. We got input from several different countries (seriously, we really did). Jim Dwiggins of Charlotte was the first reader to suggest placing some banners in the concourse to free up some space inside the arena. At some point, Jim, we agree that more creative use needs to be made of the concourse area. Deciding which banners to place outside would be the tricky part--do you start with NIT banners? If so, that seems to do a disservice to teams that played in that tournament when only one team from each conference made the NCAA Tournament.
Patrick from Charlotte suggested making the banners smaller and even included a snide, "Hellooooo, make them smaller." Patrick from Charlotte also volunteered to pay to replace all the banners and personally rehang them. Oh, wait, no he didn't. (Sorry Patrick, you know we have to fight sarcasm with sarcasm.)
Brian Klaff from Toronto, a frequent Mailbag contributor from the Great White North, suggested removing the least impressive banners as space is needed and moving them to the concourse. The problem is running into a situation where that's subjective--is a first-round NCAA loss in the modern era less impressive than an NIT Final Four in the 70s?
The most important factor in reorganizing the banners, from our perspective, is to maintain the feeling of being surrounded by banners when you enter the Smith Center court. That's a piece of the atmosphere frequently mentioned by recruits and opponents, and it's something that needs to be preserved. For that reason, consolidating all the NCAA banners onto one large NCAA banner isn't something we'd favor.
By the way, Mark Fry of Carthage mentioned something we're strongly in favor of--making the retired jerseys blue and leaving the other jerseys white. If our inbox is any indication, the current all-white scheme is the source of much confusion. Turning the retired jerseys blue would be a great way to make them stand out.
Before we get to this week's questions, we wanted to provide some quick updates on the most frequently asked-about former Tar Heels. They are as follows:
Ed Cota and Shammond Williams: Both Tar Heels are playing in Russia. Cota is with Dynamo St. Petersburg and Williams plays for UNICS Kazan. The two teams will play each other on Jan. 22 in St. Petersburg--that's St. Petersburg, Russia, not St. Petersburg, Florida.
If our Russian is anywhere close to right, we'd say Cota is averaging 12.1 points per game and shooting 45% from the field for Dynamo. Williams is averaging 14.7 points per contest.
If our Russian is wrong, well, blame it on Rocky IV.
Joseph Forte: The two-year Tar Heel great joined the NBDL's Asheville Altitude on Dec. 14. Since then, he's played in three games and is averaging 2.7 points per game.
Justin Bohlander: In case you missed it in the inaugural Mailbag of this season, he left the team this summer and will concentrate on academics during his remaining years in Chapel Hill.
I was wondering why we don't see many quotes from Raymond Felton? I
see May, Noel, McCants, and Manuel used a lot. Does Coach Williams choose
who talks to the media?
Brian McNeill, Indianapolis, IN
Although Brian is from perhaps our least favorite Carolina-related place on earth--the mere mention of the word Indianapolis still causes the shakes and puts visions of 1991, 1997, and 2000 in our head--we thought this was a good opportunity to explain a bit of postgame procedure.
After a home game, the media are herded into the Smith Center press room, where the head coaches of both teams--usually with the winning coach going first--provide an opening statement and then answer 5-10 minutes worth of questions from the press. During that time, the Tar Heel players are showering. After they get dressed, they leave the Carolina locker room and go into the adjacent players' lounge, where any media who want to get player quotes are waiting. Except in certain instances, there are no one-on-one postgame interviews, which is why you'll frequently see the same quote in several different stories.
As for Felton, he's not as quotable as, say, David Noel or Sean May. Both those players are almost always in demand after games because of their habit of providing juicy soundbites. But because he's almost always an integral part of each Carolina game, he almost always spends at least a few minutes answering questions. Choosing which quote goes into a story is usually just a matter of picking the words that are most illustrative of a writer's point.
I was just wondering where Roy Williams stood in overall wins all time.
Jesse White, Orono, Maine
Roy Williams currently has 446 victories in 15-plus seasons as a head coach. His 79.6% winning percentage entering this season was the best among all active coaches. Entering this season, he was averaging--yes, averaging--29 victories per season.
My wife and I were listening to the post-game show while driving home after a recent game in the Dean Dome. At one of the breaks we heard Woody extol the virtues of the "Official Porkskin" of the Tar Heels. Until then, I had been unaware that the Tar Heels had an "Official Porkskin." But I was very pleased to learn that we did and, upon reflection, was amazed that we'd been able to go for so long without one. My question: Do you know if any other ACC teams have an "Official Porkskin"?
Jim Phillips, Greensboro, NC
Here at the UNC Basketball Mailbag, we like to tackle the really tough questions. Yes, for those wondering, upon request we can provide actual proof that this is a real question. And quite honestly, we can't think of a better way to wrap up 2004 than with something to do with porkskin.
However, Jim, we've got to quibble with you. The porkskin in question is, in reality, not the "Official" porksin. It's the "Preferred" porkskin. There is, of course, a huge difference. Any official porkskin would probably have to be licensed by the NCAA, a lengthy process which could potentially damage the rich flavor.
We put our crack research team to work tracking down the porkskin choices of other ACC teams. As usual, the Tar Heels are unique. They're the only team with a preferred porkskin.
Adam Lucas will answer your questions about the Carolina men's basketball program this season in an exclusive column published each Tuesday on TarHeelBlue.com. Lucas, editor of previous Mailbags--please make sure to include your first and last names and hometown.
