University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Just Some Friends Playing Ball
January 12, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2005
By Adam Lucas
Look, something needs to be said about Rashad McCants's demeanor. Hopefully the national media will make a big story about this. After all, we all know how interesting McCants is. Rashad frowns! Rashad shrugged his shoulders! Rashad didn't smile after missing that shot! Rashad has something written on his shoes!
Now I'm not saying he's a bad teammate. But, come on, do you really want a guy on your team who says this:
"Today when I was going to pregame meal I just wanted to see my teammates, just because I love to see them. Everybody was so hyped for the game and it made us more juiced up to bury them. We love to be around each other. Practices are so live and enjoyable. You feel something really special with this team."
That's what McCants said after scoring "just" 12 points, and yet it might have been his most complete game of the season. He didn't score much, but he didn't have to.
It was fun to watch him play--and fun to watch him make one of the blocks of the year, a ladder-climbing rejection when he shrugged off the fact that he had four fouls and sent back an unsuspecting Yellow Jacket shot--but more fun to watch him on the Carolina bench. He's a popular target for the cameras when he's not on the floor because he's so expressive. But they only seem to catch him when he has a towel over his head or has that cringe-inducing stare.
They might have missed it Wednesday night as he watched his Tar Heels romp to a 91-69 win over the eighth-ranked team in the country. He had four fouls, which sent him to the bench with 16:35 to play in the second half. And then he turned into the world's most athletic cheerleader, pogoing around and waving his towel while his teammates proceeded to put the game away.
There is the suspicion that this can't last forever, that Carolina can't expect to shoot 41.2 percent from the field, commit 19 turnovers, and whip a team that played in the national championship game last year. But these Heels know something they hadn't realized previously.
"Good chemistry creates big wins," Melvin Scott said. "You see the success and you want to play together. When you're winning, everybody is happy. That's one thing I didn't understand. When you're winning everybody gets the praise."
And so it was, as there was plenty of praise for everyone. Jawad Williams: a solid 18 points. Sean May: a double-double. Jackie Manuel: five offensive rebounds. Raymond Felton: controlled the game and outplayed Jarrett Jack, even if the stats didn't show it. Marvin Williams: 10 years from now we'll marvel that this team was so talented that Marvin Williams--the Marvin Williams--came off the bench. David Noel: another night of solid defense and a quiet seven points. Quentin Thomas: made the most unheralded but important contribution of the night, turning a 25-18 Carolina lead into a 35-20 advantage during three minutes of action in the first half. Melvin Scott: two assists and two steals, plus a recalibrating target on his shot.
Cheering them all on, almost looking like a guy who belonged more in the risers than on the court, was McCants. By the time the game was well in hand, though, he and his buddies on the bench did have one down moment.
Picture it: Jesse Holley, his first game suiting up, wide open in the frontcourt for an easy slam dunk...and he takes off one step too soon and has to lay it up instead of jam it.
Unfortunately for Holley, his path back up the court took him right by the Tar Heel bench, where his teammates--who have to hear him talk almost constantly--were almost doubled over in laughter. Jawad Williams looked like he couldn't breathe. Scott was right on top of Holley, mimicking the soft way he'd dropped the ball in the hoop.
"I'm going to hear about that the rest of this year," Holley said sadly, shaking his head.
They looked like a bunch of college kids having fun. They looked like teammates. And they looked like, well, just some friends playing ball. At a level of play that just happens to be among the very best in the nation.
"I don't think I've ever had this much fun playing basketball," McCants said.
Which might be why it's so much fun to watch it.
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.
