University of North Carolina Athletics
LUCAS: Manuel Ready for Senior Season
May 3, 2004 | Men's Basketball
May 3, 2004
By Adam Lucas, Tar Heel Monthly
Last summer, Jackie Manuel was adamant that his teammates remain committed to working out every day.
"We haven't earned any days off," he told them one day when someone proposed skipping one of the usual pickup sessions.
He went out and backed up those words during the 2003-04 season, making a remarkable turnaround from a sometimes sporadic, shaky player as a freshman and sophomore to the glue of the team as a junior. Manuel didn't start, and he didn't do something else-he didn't complain.
"Buying in" became a catchphrase in the first year of the Roy Williams era. Some players struggled to subvert their personal goals for the good of the team, but Williams identified Manuel from the outset of the season as the player who most understood the way their new coach wanted the team to play. He singled him out throughout the season, which could occasionally be hard for Manuel's teammates to hear.
ut the rising senior says none of them ever told him they resented the praise he was getting.
"No one came up to me and said anything," he says. "I just wanted a second chance to start over, so I was willing to do anything."
He's too polite to admit to being perplexed at why buying in didn't seem to come as easily for his teammates. But Carolina's head coach knows it was a difficult situation.
"I think he had a hard time understanding it because he had the most difficult thing to buy into," Roy Williams says. "I didn't ask anybody else not to shoot the ball, so no one was more affected than he was. In some ways it may have made him a little mad."
If he was mad, he channeled the anger well. His remodeled offensive game featured less three-pointers and more high-percentage shots around the basket. He finished the season shooting 56 percent from the field and cut his turnovers per game from 2.5 to 0.9.
ut the most tangible example of his improvement can be found directly outside the Carolina locker room, where a Damion Grant-sized blue-and-white sign has been posted. The sole purpose of the board is to list the defensive award winners for every game of the 2003-04 season. Manuel's name is next to 16 of those games, easily making him the team's most decorated defender.
He says he's not thinking about the fact that he has just one year remaining for the Tar Heels. But as he prepares for his senior season, he's discovered an extra source of motivation.
"Playing in the NCAA Tournament builds something inside of you," Manuel says. "It makes you want to work even harder in the offseason."
He has a close relationship with his parents, who moved from Florida to North Carolina for his first two seasons but have since returned to the Sunshine State, but will be spending most of his time in Chapel Hill this summer. Manuel plans to attend both sessions of summer school, going to class by day and playing in the regular pickup games populated by both current players and former Tar Heels at night.
Just don't suggest to him that making the NCAA Tournament might have finally earned his teammates a few days off.
"No way," he says. "No days off. Win a national championship, then we can talk about days off."
SUMMER FOCUS: "I'm going to work on getting stronger, on becoming more consistent with my outside shot, and on my ball-handling."
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.
