University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Eye of the Beholder
January 10, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2006
By Adam Lucas
BLACKSBURG, Va.--With 12 minutes left in the first half, Seth Greenberg got what he wanted.
He was watching his team run their offense, slowly poking at North Carolina and trying to find a weak spot. Suddenly--he thought--they found it.
Jitterbug guard Zabian Dowdell got the ball about 30 feet from the basket. He was guarded by Wes Miller. Greenberg, who had been kneeling, shot straight up. He demanded Dowdell's attention and called for a play that would isolate him against Miller. This was the weak point. This was the matchup the Hokies wanted to exploit.
Miller didn't hear Greenberg make the call. But he felt it.
"I didn't see Coach call it but I knew he pulled it out and spread the floor," Miller said. "I thought it was great. I was like, `Hey, here we go.' Guarding the ball in the middle is something we do in practice every day. It's a station with Coach Holladay. So I wanted to stay within our principles, stay in front, and get a hand up."
That's exactly what he did. Dowdell finished with 13 points but it took him 16 shots to do it. Every time he zipped around a screen, every time there was a sliver of daylight, there was Miller careening around another Hokie to stick a hand in Dowdell's face.
Can we agree that Carolina had some pretty good perimeter defenders on the roster last year? Anyone remember a guy named Jackie Manuel? Against that defense, Dowdell made 8-of-15 shots and scored 21 points.
Against Miller and Marcus Ginyard, he made 6-of-16 and scored 13.
That doesn't mean Miller and Ginyard are better than Manuel, but it does mean they're better than you might think. Good enough to guard one of the quickest guards in the ACC off the dribble. Good enough to cut off one of Virginia Tech's primary offensive options.
Good enough that, by the time the first half was winding down, Dowdell was limiting to hauling down Miller on a shoestring tackle that easily could have been called intentional. It was the textbook frustration foul. That's how much things had changed in just 12 minutes of action--Dowdell had gone from being the lion prepared to take advantage of the weaker prey to being the prey.
"I think sometimes when you try and stay in front of a guy that talented and you don't let him do the things he wants to do, it can frustrate him," Miller said. "I had fun guarding him and I'm always up for that kind of challenge."
Carolina needed that kind of defensive effort, because the offense was halting at best. But here's the key point: as ugly as it was, as many unforced turnovers as there were, as many times as they failed to even initiate the offense correctly--when the Tar Heels needed a basket, they got it.
That's coaching. That's, well, not a "system" because Dean Smith wouldn't like that word. But a "philosophy" that works. Tied at 48, Cassell Coliseum prepared to come unhinged, Carolina runs a set play to get Miller a great look at a three-pointer from the top of the key. Bang, he nails it.
Coming out of a timeout with 1:20 left, the PA system blares Metallica's "Enter Sandman." It's the unofficial Hokie theme song, the one they play when the football team takes the field and the one that seems to serve as the automatic call for everyone in the building to stand, bounce, and scream. The bass is thumping, the students are roaring, and Carolina has a bunch of freshmen on the floor with a meager 2-point lead.
What do you do? Calmly run a set play, feed the ball to Tyler Hansbrough, and watch him score to provide a 4-point cushion.
It didn't take continuous offense to win the game. It only took big shots at the right moments, because Virginia Tech's offense was being absolutely strangled by the Tar Heel guards. The Hokies managed just 9 assists on 24 field goals, proof that one-on-one play was often their only option. On seemingly every second-half possession, they watched the shot clock melt under 10 and then had to heave a desperation shot.
"Our guards were really getting after them," Hansbrough said. "They couldn't pass it where they wanted to pass it because our guards were pressuring them."
You can try to diagnose what led to that defensive pressure, try to figure out what makes Miller a tough match for guards with a multiple-inch height advantage. But there's no need to watch game tape. Just listen to him.
"He's a heck of a player," Miller said of Dowdell. "He's one of the better guards in the ACC off the dribble. Coach (Jerod) Haase gave us a great scouting report on him and I really tried to take it as a challenge. I had a good time defending him."
He had a good time defending him. That's what you can't quantify. That's what Seth Greenberg couldn't see when he called for his team to clear out and let Dowdell operate.
In what will be described as an ugly game, that's what was downright beautiful.
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.
