University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag March 16
March 16, 2004 | Men's Basketball
March 16, 2004
By Adam Lucas
It's the first-ever NCAA Tournament edition of the Mailbag. We promise that this edition is completely free of the words "bracketology," "upset special," and "sleeper."
The Tar Heels depart for Denver Tuesday evening after practice. We'll have regular updates from the Mile High City (more on that later) as soon as the plane lands, so keep checking back.
While watching the UNC/Ga Tech game on Friday, one of the commentators quoted Roy Williams as saying that he didn't like the ACC tournament. Was this takin out of context, or am I missing something here? I can't imagine Coach Williams saying something like that.
Brandyn Shoemaker, MD
If you've ever wondered why coaches and players can be gun-shy with the press, this is a good example. One quote out of a 45-minute press conference can be highlighted, examined, obsessed over, and before you know it you've created a small tempest.
For the record, here's what happened. Roy Williams met with the media last Wednesday. At that time, he was asked his thoughts on the ACC Tournament. Here's how he responded:
"How we play this week can really help us. Yes, we are going to the NCAA Tournament, and you don't have to be a nuclear scientist to figure that out. But I don't want to go to Greensboro and go through the motions. The phrase I used is, 'Since we have to go play, let's play our absolute best.' Let's go up there prepared to stay three days and be willing to make the sacrifices to win the whole dadgum thing. Do I love the tournament? No, I don't love the tournament at all. In some ways it's a huge cocktail party for four or five days. The way people put so much weight on the NCAA Tournament, this is just something we do between the regular season and the NCAA Tournament. But I'm trying to get the kids to understand how extremely important it can be to our club."
That doesn't sound like someone who doesn't like the Tournament. But later in the press conference, the way the comment would take shape was already becoming clear. One reporter asked him, "You mentioned not really liking the ACC Tournament all that much. Can you elaborate on that?" He never said that. In fact, he said it was extremely (his emphasis) important. What Carolina fans--and reporters--are slowly learning is that Roy Williams says exactly what he thinks, and he uses exactly the words he wants to use. That's why it's very dangerous to insert words into his mouth.
First, you have to look at the Tournament like a coach. Your very job security depends on beating some very good teams. You do that for three months, and then all of a sudden you have to go do it again in a span of three days or else everyone says you blew it. In the semifinals and finals, you have less than 24 hours to prepare for a top-25 team. If you make it to the finals, you've multiplied by three the chance of a crucial injury that could leave your team without a key player for the NCAA Tournament, which is when most observers determine the success of a season (imagine how differently you'd feel about this year with a first-round loss versus a Final Four run). Remember, once the NCAA field was expanded Dean Smith himself was long quoted as preferring the regular season championship over the tournament championship, and only began to emphasize the ACC Tournament after grumbling from fans in the late 1980s that Carolina wasn't winning it enough. For most of the folks reading this column, basketball is simply a pleasant diversion, which makes the ACC Tournament the king of pleasant diversions. All the above-listed drama makes the weekend very entertaining. But for Roy Williams and his staff, basketball is a job. It's a job he loves, and he's one of the lucky few who gets to do what he enjoys, but he feels about it the same way you feel about your day job--there is stress, there is pressure, and although you might have a job people envy, you know that it's not as easy as outsiders think.
Some have even tried to assign the blame for Friday's loss to Georgia Tech to Williams's pregame comments. He probably wishes it was that simple, and how does that explain the other nine losses this year? He didn't say he didn't love the Duke game, didn't say he didn't love playing at Florida State, didn't say he didn't love playing at Kentucky. In fact, he said earlier this season that playing big-time games such as the one at Kentucky is something he enjoys very much. So how did the Heels lose? After all, if you follow the logic of the past few days, once he said he loved it Carolina should have gone out and blown away the opposition. A more likely explanation is this: the games are decided on the court. If the Tar Heels had held Tech under 50 percent shooting in the first half, if one more Carolina shot goes in, if Jarrett Jack's shot rims out, if the Heels play better defense on the last possession, then everyone is talking about how Roy Williams is a master motivator who knew exactly which buttons to push with his team. And the truth is his comment still wouldn't have been any more relevant to the game than it was with the loss.
You didn't ask, Brandyn, but as long as we're on the subject of urban legends, let's address the altitude factor. As soon as the pairings were announced, some fans and observers immediately said, "Oh no, it's Denver, we'll have to deal with the altitude." That's true, and Air Force does have an advantage because they deal with it every day. But to hear some people talk, the Heels might want to consider playing in oxygen masks. A point of fact: Carolina has played seven NCAA Tournament games at what might be considered an unusual altitude. They've won all seven, including a win over Utah in Ogden, Utah, in 1986 in what essentially amounted to a road game and another win over Utah in 1981 in Salt Lake City. One of the most famous games in Carolina's postseason history, the 1988 racehorse victory over Loyola Marymount, was played in Salt Lake City. What does that tell us? It tells us that if the ball goes in the basket, if a team plays good defense, then the air doesn't matter. And Roy Williams knows a little something about altitude. He took his Kansas teams into Boulder, Colorado, to face CU 15 times as coach of the Jayhawks. The only time he lost was in 1991. Maybe the air was thinner that year.
With 1.4 seconds left in the Ga. Tech game at the ACC tourney, why didn't the Heels call timeout? Has this been addressed because come tourney time there are going to be several nailbiters and the way the Heels have played this year it would be nice to be on the other end for once.
Dustin Powell, Greensboro, NC
Roy Williams has a simple rule that when the clock is under seven seconds, he wants his teams to call timeout to set the last play. Clearly, against Tech the clock was under seven. So why didn't anyone call timeout? Actually, at least two people were trying to call timeout. Roy Williams was on the sideline signaling for a timeout, and the first thing Sean May did upon grabbing the ball and going behind the endline was to make his hands into a "T" formation. For whatever reason, the officials didn't grant either Williams's or May's request.
As a pre-season player of the year selection in the ACC and yet being
selected on the 3rd team All-ACC squad, do you think that Raymond
Felton has 'under-achieved' this year? If so, wouldn't you say that
his defensive skills (in particular, stopping penetration of opposing
PG's) would be the area that needs most improvement?
Dr. Brent Shelton, Lexington, KY
First, you have to define by whose expectations he underachieved. In the eyes of sportswriters, who vote on the preseason Player of the Year award and the All-ACC teams, it's probably fair to say he underachieved. Did they necessarily have all the information they needed to make a fair judgment? Probably not, but that's a topic for another day.
Personally, I disagree that stopping penetration is the area that needs the most improvement. Late in the season, Roy Williams said (and we all know what Williams says has an immediate impact on the team) Felton was the best on-the-ball defender on the Carolina roster. Where he could turn himself from a good point guard into a great point guard over the offseason is by improving his decision-making. He has all the physical tools. But once he learns that the left-handed bounce passes through traffic aren't as good an idea as they were three or four years ago, he's going to be very tough to stop. Felton goes into the NCAA Tournament with 94 turnovers, and at least a quarter of those were avoidable. If he shaves that quarter off his stats next year and refines his shot, Carolina will be very hard to beat in 2004-05. If that happens, he'll be right back among the leading candidates for ACC Player of the Year. It's worth remembering that before his junior season, Duke's Chris Duhon was the preseason Player of the Year and endured, by his standards, a tough season. He bounced back to make first-team All-ACC this season, and there's no reason to believe Felton won't follow the same formula.
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 Tar Heel Monthly, will answer your questions on personnel, strategy, opponents and anything on your mind about the Tar Heels other than recruiting specifics. You can email your questions to Adam--please make sure to include your first and last names and hometown.
