University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Freshmen Go Old School
November 23, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2005
By Adam Lucas
The way Danny Green described it, it sounded pretty simple. And maybe to him it was.
He was discussing an extraordinarily ordinary play from the second half of Carolina's 112-55 win over Cleveland State. On the play, Green got the ball on the left wing. Remember, this is the same Danny Green who was the sharpshooting hero on Saturday night against Gardner-Webb, so he might have been forgiven for jacking up another trifecta.
But he didn't. And what he did next might have brought a tear to the eye to anyone who has railed against the lack of polish in today's college game.
Green gave a little head fake. He took a couple of dribbles. And then he pulled up for a midrange jumper that he banked in off the glass and cleanly through the hoop.
That's a play that won't make a single highlight tape. It won't be on Carolina's end-of-season highlights package. It was just a good, solid basketball play made by a player--and a freshman class--who will make plenty more of them.
"I was struggling with my shot tonight," Green said. "I even missed free throws, which I usually don't miss. So I figured I would start in closer and get into a rhythm. Using the glass is probably the easiest way to score. So I wanted to use the glass, get into a rhythm, and work on getting back to the line."
It was a little impolite, but you wanted to gawk at Danny Green after hearing him speak the above words. You wanted to demand that he go into the locker room and produce at least two forms of ID that would verify that his actual birthday is indeed June 22, 1987, and not 1957.
Use the glass? Work on midrange production rather than continuing to fire up aimless three-pointers on a night when the stroke wasn't there? Has Marty McFly visited the Smith Center from 1951? On a night when Raymond Felton showed up sporting an old-school Pistol Pete Maravich jersey, there was even more vintage work being done on the court.
It's not just Green (who had a stat-stuffing night of 7 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks in just 17 minutes). It's everyone in the rookie class. It's Bobby Frasor giving a pump fake, taking a step forward, draining a three-pointer, and then drawing a charge a few minutes later. It's Marcus Ginyard seeing David Noel ahead of two teammates and two defenders and whipping a laser-guided pass for an easy dunk. It's Tyler Hansbrough's quickness and forcefulness with the ball in the paint. It's Mike Copeland's shot-blockng instincts.
"One through five, everybody in our class can handle, everyone can pass, everyone can shoot," Frasor said. "It's not a case where one guy is an athlete and one guy is a shooter and one guy is a passer."
Tuesday night, they were also all defenders. Cleveland State didn't make it particularly difficult, as they mostly settled for the first mediocre shot available. After blocking zero shots against Gardner-Webb, the first time the Heels had failed to scratch in that category since 2002, they swatted nine Viking attempts on Tuesday. Every shot was challenged, every pass was contested.
It got to the point where the crowd reacted not to blocked shots, but failed blocked shots. With Carolina holding a 40-point lead in the second half, Ginyard went down on the floor to chase a loose ball. He heaved it into the air, where CSU's Frashon McGee recovered it and headed toward the basket. Noel was coming from the backside and appeared to have a clear lane to yet another block. But McGee--and this was unusual--went strong to the hoop and scored.
A barely audible, "Awww," went through the crowd. How quaint: the Tar Heels failing to get their hands on the ball.
They won't all be this easy. In fact, none of the rest of them are likely to be this easy. But don't let anyone tell you that Roy Williams is working from scratch here. He's got a roster with a significant foundation.
"All the freshmen who came in are good players," Green said. "Coach Williams wouldn't recruit anyone who isn't a good player. Everybody on our team is fundamentally sound. Right now we're learning the things he's teaching us and getting better at them every game."
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.
