University of North Carolina Athletics
Montross Assists with Another Championship
June 9, 2005 | Men's Basketball
June 9, 2005
By Adam Lucas
Eric Montross has already been a part of one Tar Heel national championship season. Now he'll be a part of another.
The Tar Heel center played a key role on the 1993 champions, averaging 15.8 points and 7.6 rebounds during Carolina's 34-4 dash to the title. After a successful debut as a member of the Tar Heel Sports Network's basketball coverage this season, he stepped in front of the camera to host "Team Carolina," the behind-the-scenes DVD produced to commemorate the 2005 national championship.
"Team Carolina" is unlike any previous season-in-review project. Producer Ken Cleary was granted exclusive access to every aspect of the 2004-05 team, including practices, postgame locker rooms, and much more. He gathered 150 hours of footage, which was supplemented by exclusive interviews with every player and coach on the 2005 roster.
Montross, who had already seen a sneak preview of some of the rough DVD footage, filmed his spots Wednesday in a variety of locations around the Smith Center.
"Fans are going to enjoy the behind-the-scenes aspect the most," he said. "This type of access to the team is very hard to come by, but it was granted this year by Coach Williams. The DVD shows the inner workings of his team and it's a great way for fans used to looking in from the outside to get a look at the team from the inside."
That inside look is now much closer to being a reality. Montross's hosting spots were the last segment that needed to be filmed; Cleary and fellow producer Jones Angell have already compiled roughly 80 percent of the two-hour content. They'll spend the next few days integrating the Montross shots into the other content. The DVD should be ready for replication by mid-June and will ship to customers shortly after the Fourth of July.
As an added bonus, a significant amount of bonus features have been added to the project. DVD extras include a moving piece on Carolina academic advisor Burgess McSwain, a special Tar Heel-centric version of "One Shining Moment," a "chalk talk" with Carolina players and coaches breaking down how they tried to attack Illinois in the national championship game, and David Noel narrating his top five and bottom five moments of the season. The always-glib Noel even added a few "bonus plays," explaining to producers that the Tar Heels had far too many great plays to limit it to just five.
Online orders are being accepted now by clicking here.
"Through winning a championship, I knew what a treasure it would be for people to have something timeless to enjoy the 2005 title," Montross said. "It's a great opportunity for us to celebrate what these young men have done and it's a great opportunity for me to be a part of it."
Book production update: The companion piece to the "Team Carolina" DVD is the season-in-review book, "Led By Their Dreams." Featuring the absolute best full-color photography available anywhere, first-person accounts from players and coaches, and a season narrative by Adam Lucas, the coffee table-style book will begin the printing process next Friday. The nearly 250-page tome will also contain a CD featuring the entire Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast of the championship game against Illinois.
TarHeelBlue.com will have interview outtakes from the book beginning in August. For fastest receipt, it can be preordered online or by phone (919-419-8100 x106) now.
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.
