University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag Nov. 7
November 7, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2006
By Adam Lucas
Welcome back, loyal Mailbag readers! Carolina gets an early start on the 2006-07 season next week with a trip to Charlotte. Combine that with the high level of excitement surrounding this year's team, and you've got the earliest edition of the Mailbag ever. We'll be back in this space every Tuesday answering all your Tar Heel hoops questions. Just like last year, Lauren Brownlow is the traffic cop of this column, and Brownlow's Down Low returns in the anchor position it occupied last year. We're looking forward to hearing from you throughout the season. As always, you can submit your questions via email. Make sure to include your name and hometown.
We get a lot of questions about how to get tickets. As of right this second, it's pretty simple: you can just buy them online. Are they going to be front row seats? No, but with this year's team every game is going to be exciting from every seat in the building. It's also worth noting that of the games that aren't sold out, one of them isn't televised (High Point) and one is on ESPNU (Florida Atlantic), so buying a ticket might be your only way to see those games. Also, if you want to attend the trio of terrific women's home games (Duke, Tennessee, and Connecticut all play at Carmichael this season), you better buy them now. Only limited seats remain for those games and they will definitely be sellouts.
By the way, don't forget about the Best Game Ever signing tonight at Barnes & Noble at Southpoint in Durham. Joe Quigg--who made the two most famous free throws in Carolina history by sinking a pair in triple overtime against Kansas in the '57 national title game--will be there signing books, and so will I. Plus, Woody Durham will be in attendance and will share some of his 1957 memories when the signing begins at 7:30. So you've got the chance to knock out some of your Tar Heel Christmas shopping while meeting two Tar Heel greats...and one guy who hangs out with Tar Heel greats.
Before we get to the inaugural 2006-07 edition of the Mailbag, it's time for some preemptive Mailbag answers. These are designed to deter some of the questions we expect to be most popular this year:
1. It's Alex Stepheson. Not Stephenson. Please don't add him to the Jeff McInnis (not McGinnis) Hall of Fame for Carolina players whose names are frequently misspelled.
2. Same as #1: it's Brandan Wright, not Brandon. Should be easy to remember--he's a unique player with a unique name.
3. The guy in the suit on the end of the Carolina bench is Marc Campbell. He's sitting out this season as a transfer from UNCG. His dad, Greg Campbell, was a Tar Heel basketball letterman during the 1965-66 season.
4. Because TarHeelBlue.com is Carolina's official site, we can't answer recruiting questions.
Also, watch your local newsstand soon for the new Sports Illustrated. This year's college basketball preview has regional covers and they've already taken a cover shot of Reyshawn Terry and Tyler Hansbrough for one edition. Brandan Wright was also the subject of a very unique photo designed to highlight his wingspan. That photo will run inside the magazine.
With the formalities out of the way, let's get on with the questions.
Love the story of The Best Game Ever. When will the movie come out? Who should play fiery Frank McGuire? And who should play Wilt? And I figure Tommy Kearns will want to play himself.
Please throw your answers into Mailbag sometime.
Dick Rabil '73
Gaithersburg, MD
Does this mean you're offering to produce the movie?
The run to the 1957 national title is definitely a Hollywood-type story. The first instinct for McGuire's role was Al Pacino, but he's probably getting too old (Although it would be fun to hear him throw a, "Whoo-ah!" into McGuire's lines--if you don't get it, go get Scent of a Woman from Netflix). This is a little bit of a quirky choice, but how about Johnny Depp for McGuire? He's been an acting chameleon for most of his career and already has experience playing New Yorkers from his role in Donnie Brasco. I could also see Russell Crowe as a basketball coach.
In case you didn't catch it, the Kearns reference is because of Kearns's role in Finding Forrester. If you'd rather see the 1957 point guard in the flesh, these days he's a part-time New Yorker and should be at Madison Square Garden if the Tar Heels advance to the NIT Season Tipoff finals.
Who do you believe will be in the starting lineup at the beginning of the
season... and will it change
John Setzer
Myrtle Beach, SC
This is far and away the most popular question of the preseason. Here's the answer: I don't know. A week of practice remains before the opener, and Roy Williams has juggled the White team every single day in practice so far. The Tar Heel head coach has already said he expects Reyshawn Terry and Tyler Hansbrough to be difficult to bump from the starting lineup; for that reason, go ahead and pencil them in. Brandan Wright seems the logical candidate to fill the spot alongside Hansbrough in the post. His athleticism and shot-blocking ability make him the perfect fit for the extended pressure defense Williams wants to play this year.
That leaves the guard spots, and they're likely to be fluid. Bobby Frasor and Wes Miller got the start against St. Augustine's. It wouldn't be surprising to see Williams try a different combination against Pfeiffer (by the way, Pfeiffer prefers a Grinnell-like uptempo style, so Saturday's exhibition should be very entertaining).
The answer to the second part of John's question is simple: the lineup will absolutely change. Players get hurt, players go through slumps, matchups change. As everyone knows, this year's team has incredible depth. That means constant competition in practice, and Roy Williams has shown he's not averse to making lineup changes. Wes Miller took over at shooting guard for Marcus Ginyard midway through last season. Over the last ten years of his coaching career, the only one of his teams that had a fairly rigid lineup that almost never varied was the 2001-02 Kansas team that went 33-4 and reached the Final Four. Of the 185 starts available that season, 180 of them went to Drew Gooden, Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Boschee, and Aaron Miles. Not coincidentally, that team didn't have a huge amount of depth--only seven players averaged double-digit minutes. This year's Carolina team has more depth and therefore is likely to have more lineup changes.
How much of an impact do you expect the freshmen to have and carry on the team this year?
Terrell Cassada
Jacksonville, FL
They've already had a monumental impact on Carolina basketball history: Ty Lawson and Deon Thompson wore headbands against St. Aug's, thereby becoming the first Tar Heels to don a headband since Serge Zwikker. A quick digression: I coached against Serge's daughter in t-ball this summer. At the moment she has more quickness than her dad but does not possess his reliable baseline jumper. Also, our team won the game...but of course we were not keeping score, it was all for the kids, we just wanted to have fun, blah blah blah. Look for the championship ring ceremony at halftime of the Gardner-Webb game. We'll be the team with more kids interested in digging in the dirt than in playing t-ball.
Oh yeah, the freshmen. They're going to have a big impact. It wouldn't be surprising to see at least a couple get starts this year. More importantly, at least three are going to play major minutes, and at least four could be members of the regular rotation. It's refreshing, though, to not have to immediately plug a handful of them into the starting lineup out of necessity. That's happened too many times in recent Carolina basketball history. This year's rookie class will have to earn their playing time the old-fashioned way (cue old Smith Barney ad): They'll have to "eeaaarn it" in practice.
Also, keep in mind that the freshmen will be better in February than they are in November. "They are going to learn so much this year," Marcus Ginyard says. "This coaching staff is going to teach them things they don't even know they have to know. Most of our freshmen last year would tell you we learned more last season than we learned in three or four seasons of high school basketball. So there will be an adjustment period."
There are a lot of reports out about the Tar Heels trying to break the school record for points averaged per game. I have a feeling that this team is going to be amazing on the defensive side of the ball as well. What is the all-time lowest point total average that Carolina has allowed in a season and do you think that this team can surpass it?
Will Fitzgerald
Duncansville, PA (formerly Roxboro, NC)
This team has the potential to be very good defensively. But they have no chance of breaking the Carolina record for fewest points per game allowed. In the ACC era, that honor belongs to the 1981-82 team that gave up just 55.4 points per game. Because of the pace he wants to play, the very best Roy Williams-coached teams usually allow approximately 70 points per game (his five Final Four teams have averaged giving up 70.2 points per game; toss in the dominant 1997 and '98 teams and the average goes down to 69.2 points per game).
By the way, research for this question prompted an interesting discovery. Any idea which Carolina teams in the ACC era have scored the fewest points per game? Only two squads during that time have averaged less than 68 points per game: the 1957 national champions (65.5 points per game) and the 1982 national champions (66.7 points per game). Which leads us to the next question...
Thanks for doing the basketball mailbag each season and taking time to interact with the fans. With the 50th and 25th anniversaries of the 57 and 82 Championship teams commemorated this season, do you know if the University plans on doing anything to honor and celebrate this occasion(halftime ceremonies, throwback unis for the current team, etc.)?
Nick Maples
Every Carolina fan close enough to Chapel Hill to make a pilgrimage an option should mark their calendars for Feb. 10. That's the date of the Wake Forest game in Chapel Hill, and that's also the date Carolina will host a reunion of the 1982 and 1957 teams. All living members of the '57 team are expected to return, and virtually every member of the '82 team will attend. They'll be honored during the game, and if the current guest list holds (always questionable with a large number of people with busy schedules), you'll want to be in attendance to see the first public Chapel Hill appearance in quite some time for some very famous Carolina basketball alums. Very, very famous. You'll be mad at yourself if you don't go. Catch our drift?
The University has also produced a DVD, Legends In Blue, celebrating the 25th anniversary of that legendary 1982 team. It includes exclusive new interviews with all the members of that team (Michael Jordan put 60 Minutes on hold to give up the better part of an hour to reminisce during his fantasy camp in Las Vegas) plus a bonus feature on the '57 squad. This year's team got a sneak preview Friday after practice and it received rave reviews. Of course, if you want to learn more about the '57 team, you need a copy of The Best Game Ever. That reminds us that we want to give more stuff away this year. Since you asked, Nick, send us your mailing address and we'll send you a copy of the book. Stay tuned to future columns as we try to give away everything from DVD's to DelayPlay radios to books to game tickets.
Brownlow's Down Low
Considering the depth on this years team, is there a UNC team that could compare to this years or is this the most depth we've ever had at UNC?
Joshua James O'Connor
Kansas City, Kansas
Lauren writes:
I want to preface this by saying that there's no telling how deep this team is, because the season hasn't started yet. Don't underestimate the difficulty of the transition to college basketball and the pace and savvy that Roy Williams requires.Here are some of the deeper teams in Carolina history, in chronological order:
(NOTE: This list begins when minutes per game were tracked, which is 1979-80.)
1983-84 - That team featured seniors Sam Perkins and Matt Doherty, junior Michael Jordan, sophomores Brad Daugherty and Steve Hale, and freshman Kenny Smith. Eight Tar Heels averaged double-figure minutes. Three players averaged double figures in points (Daugherty, Jordan, Perkins) with two not far behind (Doherty at 9.8 and Smith at 9.1). That team did not lose a game until February, went 14-0 in the ACC, finished 28-3, and went to the Sweet 16 where they lost to Indiana, 72-68.
1986-87 - Nine Tar Heels averaged double-figure minutes. Five players averaged double figures in points, which amounted to 77% of the 91.3 ppg average, highest in Carolina history. That team finished 32-4, went to the Elite 8 and featured stars like Jeff Lebo, J.R. Reid, Kenny Smith, and Joe Wolf, plus contributors like Steve Bucknall, Scott Williams and Ranzino Smith.
1988-89 - Eight players averaged more than 20 minutes a game. There were six double-figure scorers and their scoring made up 87% of the total average of 90 points a game. That team went 29-8 and went to the Sweet 16, and included Bucknall, Fox, Lebo, Reid, and Scott Williams, plus Pete Chilcutt, King Rice, and Kevin Madden.
1993-94 - Most of the key players from the national championship remained - Eric Montross, Derrick Phelps, Brian Reese, Donald Williams, Kevin Salvadori. Add in highly-touted freshman superstars like Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, and Jeff McInnis, and what could go wrong? Nine Tar Heels averaged double-figure minutes, and only one of those nine averaged fewer than 15 (Jeff McInnis at 14.6), but it didn't seem like enough to go around. Only three players averaged in double figures in scoring (Montross, Stackhouse, and Donald Williams), and the Heels went 28-7 and made an early NCAA Tournament exit in the second round against Boston College. It almost seemed as if the new era of college basketball was clashing with the old-school guys, and it wasn't a good match.
2004-05 - Eight Tar Heels averaged at least 16 minutes per game. Five averaged in double figures scoring (Raymond Felton, Sean May, Rashad McCants, Jawad Williams, Marvin Williams), and their 70.8 ppg made up 80% of the 88-ppg average. We all know the '05 national champions were so deep that Marvin Williams came of the bench. But what was much more important than the talent or the depth was their chemistry. They also had great senior leadership by Jawad Williams, Melvin Scott and Jackie Manuel - guys who set a great example and did what they had to do to make the team better.
Adam Lucas's third book on Carolina basketball, The Best Game Ever, chronicles the 1957 national championship season and is available now. His previous books include Going Home Again, focusing on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team. To submit a Mailbag question, click here.
