University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Right Now
March 19, 2006 | Men's Basketball
March 19, 2006
By Adam Lucas
DAYTON--Right now this hurts.
Tomorrow, supposedly, it will feel better.
Right now all I know is that tomorrow will bring a morning newspaper with the obligatory "sad faces on bench" photo of the Tar Heels.
Tomorrow I think I will leave the paper in the driveway all day.
Right now Quentin Thomas is in the Dayton Arena, in the shower, flat on his back in full uniform.
Tomorrow I think Quentin Thomas should be so proud of the progress he made this season.
Right now Wes Miller, who has been the go-to guy for the media all season, isn't answering any questions. Right now he is hunched over facing his locker, head in his hands.
Tomorrow I think Wes Miller will be back in the gym working on his shot. Maybe even tonight.
Right now Tyler Hansbrough is up on that familiar NCAA blue podium answering questions from the media, and you know what? Right now Tyler Hansbrough looks very young.
Tomorrow I think Tyler Hansbrough might take a moment to reflect on one of the most fantastic freshman seasons in Carolina history.
Right now I look back on that senior night win in Durham as, frustratingly, the emotional peak of the season.
Tomorrow I think I will look back on that senior night win in Durham as one of the most memorable wins of the Roy Williams era.
Right now Roy Williams is not crying. And that, somehow, makes it hurt worse. Right now his eyes are red and the tears are there, but he is talking about his team and calling them "an unbelievable group of kids" and the tears can't fall. Have you ever been so hurt you can't cry anymore?
Tomorrow I think he will still feel the same way about this team, and that is what makes them--and him--so endearing.
Right now I wish George Mason had never put in that 1-2-2 zone in practice a few weeks ago.
Tomorrow I think we will start to realize, just as Williams said, that the game has changed. The first- and second-round games are no longer walkovers for the power programs. They are legitimate contests against competitive teams who have good basketball players and aren't intimidated.
Right now I wish Carolina hadn't made that last comeback. Right now I wish David Noel hadn't made that game-tying three-pointer and Bobby Frasor hadn't cut the lead to two points with 20 seconds to play. Because that just made it more painful at the end.
Tomorrow I think that spirit will make me proud.
Right now Reyshawn Terry knows he could have done better.
Tomorrow I think he will start committing himself to doing exactly that.
Right now Bobby Frasor's eyes are red.
Tomorrow I think he will be better from having played a full season at point guard and being forced to run a team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, something very few rookies ever have to do.
Right now David Noel...right now I am not ready to write about David Noel.
Right now I want the Tar Heels to come back on the floor. They walked off the Dayton Arena floor all wrong. They walked off at the opposite corner from the hundreds of Carolina fans who had come to support them. We were standing there, completely silent, ready to give them one last ovation, hoping there might be one more chance to raise our hands above our heads and clap until our hands hurt. And then they were gone, disappearing into the tunnel, and all we could do was stand there and put our hands in our pockets.
Tomorrow I think I will write them a letter.
Right now I do not want to hear about brackets, Cinderellas, or upsets. Right now I do not want to watch one second of the rest of the NCAA Tournament.
Tomorrow I think I will start paying attention to baseball.
Right now Marcus Ginyard is doing what he has always been willing to do--answer questions from the media. They have ignored him for most of the year but now he is one of the few capable of putting together a coherent sentence, and now they need him. And right now he is as gracious as he has been throughout the season.
Tomorrow I think he'll be on the way to being one of the best defenders Carolina has ever had.
Right now David Noel...right now I am not ready to write about David Noel.
Right now Danny Green is not smiling for one of the first times all season.
Tomorrow I think the smile will be back, because 19-year-olds bounce back so much faster than we do.
Right now Byron Sanders is a success story. He has been occasionally maligned and occasionally loved. And he will leave as something maybe no one expected a year ago--a valuable contributor to the 2006 Tar Heels.
Tomorrow I think Byron Sanders will be a success story, because he'll be one day closer to his degree and one day he'll probably do something with a computer that will make you shake your head and say, "Man, that kid knows his stuff."
Right now I don't want to think about next year, which is funny because when this season started--think back with me--all anyone wanted to talk about was next year. "Just survive this year and get to next year. Man, we are going to be good next year. I can't wait until next year." But right now I don't want to hear about recruits or depth or predictions or schedules.
Tomorrow I think 2007 might start to look very enjoyable.
Right now I am disappointed.
Tomorrow I think this team becomes a benchmark. As in sitting around 10 years from now and telling your buddy, "Man, if this team played as hard as that team we had in 2006..."
Right now David Noel is everything that's right about Carolina basketball, everything you thought had been lost in a wave of NBA early entries and me-first players and a lack of fundamentals. David Noel takes charges. David Noel thanks the passer. David Noel huddles at the foul line. David Noel says "yes, sir." David Noel leads.
Tomorrow I think someone will say, "All they're losing is David Noel next year," and they will vastly underestimate what a colossal loss that will be, as though all you have to do is replace the 12.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and the role is filled.
Right now I am still in love with a basketball team and I am heartbroken.
Tomorrow I think the pain will start to go away.
Right now I am ready for tomorrow.
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.
