University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tar Heels Off Radar in Preseason
November 17, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2005
By Adam Lucas
Roy Williams spoke to the media for exactly 19 minutes and 24 seconds Thursday afternoon. It wasn't until almost that final 1,164th second that he provided perhaps the best assessment of Carolina's potential 2005-06 fortunes.
"Little smaller crowd than last year," he said, surveying the half-full press room. "You guys aren't very confident. Before the first game last year every single chair in the place was taken."
He was right, of course. There was a buzz about the Tar Heels before the start of the 2004-05 season. Media outlets from across the country wanted a piece of Carolina. They were the preseason number-3 team in the country in the coaches' poll, and Rashad McCants adorned the cover of Sports Illustrated's preseason basketball issue.
This year Carolina wasn't ranked in the preseason, the first time that's happened to a defending champion since the 1988-89 squad, which was breaking in a rookie head coach by the name of Roy Williams. The team did appear on a short ESPN segment Tuesday, but the cover of that same preseason basketball magazine that pictured McCants last year began arriving in mailboxes Thursday with a photo of a certain team 8 miles down the road from Chapel Hill.
For at least two more weeks--Gardner-Webb presents a more formidable test than most casual fans think, but a major barometer will come in the road trip to hostile Rupp Arena on Dec. 3--there will be more questions than answers about this particular squad. Even their head coach wasn't sure how to answer some of them on Thursday.
So, Coach, who do you think is going to start?
"As long as you add, `think,' Reyshawn, David, Tyler, Marcus, and..."
A pause as the third estate leaned forward in their chairs.
"...Bobby.
"But understand I said `think.' Quentin's foot is still bothering him a little bit so we're trying to go a little easier on it."
OK, so we've got the likely Tar Heel starters. Let's get even more adventurous and try to project the rotation. Williams was asked if he thought the Heels might go nine deep.
"Who would that be?" he asked.
The five starters, plus Thomas, Byron Sanders, Danny Green, and Wes Miller coming off the bench.
"Oh yeah, those nine guys will play," the head coach said.
In a structured rotation?
"I'm not going to say that," he said. "It was easy to say that with Marvin, Jawad, and Sean. I'm not going to say that with this group. That's the one thing you have to understand with this young team. Sometimes the stars and moon will be aligned and the biorhythms will be good and the girlfriend will talk nice to them on the phone before they come to the gym."
So, Carolina goes into Saturday with an unpredictable starting lineup and a less-than-concrete rotation. They've already done something amazing, however. They've gotten defense-minded Roy Williams to spend a lot of time pondering offense.
This is an unusual development. Remember, this is the man whose press conferences are usually peppered with, "We've got to guard somebody." When he named his possible starters, there was not a mention of any of them having earned the position due to solid defensive play in practice. In fact, there wasn't mention of defense at all--not one single time--in 19 minutes and 24 seconds.
Rest assured he's spent plenty of time discussing the topic with his team. But as he peers into the future of this squad, Williams sees some troubling offensive concerns.
"One of our biggest weaknesses is a proven scorer," he said. "A guy who can make shots when he is guarded. We had that last year...We don't have anybody on this club who has proven they can make shots when they are guarded."
That's the Tar Heels in a capsule. Very little experience. Very little offense. An injury to the incumbent point guard (although Thomas will play Saturday night). An uncertain bench. And very little buzz.
And yet, there is that smile from their head coach. He has talked about this squad's intelligent approach to the game, has said he recognizes that game nights will be unpredictable. He has a group that two weeks ago struggled while trying to master Carolina's intricate on-court pregame warmup routine. Every arena, every game situation, every challenge will be new.
But it just might be that they're too young to know what they don't know.
"I'm not preparing them for doom," Williams said. "I'm telling them they're a heck of a lot better than I'm telling you they are."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and 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 Going Home Again, click here.
