University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag March 27
March 27, 2007 | Men's Basketball
March 27, 2007
By Adam Lucas
One of the most popular questions since Sunday night has been where the loss to Georgetown ranks on the all-time list of heartbreaking Tar Heel defeats. We've covered that subject in this column before; now, unfortunately, there's a new addition.
Jones Angell made a good point late Sunday night: the regional final might be the most painful round to suffer a loss, along with possibly the national championship game. If you lose in the national semifinals, at least you made it that far and got to enjoy Final Four week. With a regional final loss, you're right on the cusp, but then you watch the whole thing at home.
So it's certainly the most painful loss of the Williams era. Given what was at stake, I'd say it's the most painful loss since the 1998 Utah game. That was a different kind of game--the Tar Heels weren't in control of that one the way they controlled the Georgetown game--but a similarly crushing result.
But it's also an ending unlike any one in Carolina history. Dean Smith always told us there were billions of people who didn't care that the game was being played; somehow that never hit home quite as hard until the death of Jason Ray on Monday. It's a cliché to say basketball is "only a game"--that's trivializing something that's very important to a lot of people who devote their lives to it. But at the end of the day we all go home to our families, and there's no question losing someone from the family is much more important than losing a basketball game. It's been remarkable how many folks have emailed about Jason. Several former wearers of the Rameses costume have checked in, and the current Butler Bulldog is one of several mascots to write. There was also a heartwarming photo from Sunday's other regional final. I hope you'll consider giving, as Jason's family suggested, to the Jason Kendall Ray Memorial Fund, Concord Christian Church, 3101 Davidson Highway, Concord, NC 28027.
As an avid Carolina fan who lives in New Jersey, I am often hard-pressed to find N. Carolina gear by my home and the team seems to switch uniforms every year. This year, Nike unveiled new uniforms for Ohio St., Arizona, Florida, and Syracuse for its respective conference tournament and the NCAAs. Can I purchase a Carolina jersey that resembles this year's model or should I wait until next year if they plan on switching? UNC's jerseys are arguably the best in the nation, I just want to get the right one!
Rob Carabelli
It seems like a long time ago that those new shoulder stripes were major news surrounding Carolina basketball. They created quite an uproar when they debuted; by the end of the season they had been largely forgotten.
Nike, as you might have heard, is a pretty successful company. You're right that four schools got a brand new look for the postseason. Nike calls it the "System of Dress, and it's drawn mixed reviews from fans--not to sound like a geezer, but is it even fair to call those things they're wearing on their legs "shorts"? If you read through the Q&A at the above link, you'll see that "more schools are expected to adopt the System of Dress next fall."
Does that mean the next time you see the Tar Heels they'll be wearing billowy shorts? Not necessarily--each school will get the chance for individual input--but it might be a good idea to hold off on that jersey purchase.
It seemed to me that the kids got tired in the second half of the Georgetown - UNC game and that it would have been a good idea to do a mass substitution for 5 or so minutes. That had worked very well in the first half. Why didn't Coach Williams make that type substitution in the second half or in overtime? I am a very disappointed Tar Heel fan, but also one that is very proud of our team.
Elaine Schallhorn
Candler, NC
This is an interesting observation. If you go back and look at the second half tape, it's true that the Tar Heels look a little out of gas--Ty Lawson, especially, was showing some fatigue, which impacted his defense--while Georgetown appears to be gaining momentum. It's a curious situation, because five Hoyas played at least 31 minutes while just two Tar Heels (Lawson at 40 minutes and Tyler Hansbrough at 32) did the same.
Assuming Lawson returns next year, one of his summer points of emphasis might be trimming into the kind of shape that allows him to be as effective in the closing minutes as he is when he's fresh. He's not in bad shape, obviously, but it's also true that he's a player who has often been able to excel using his raw physical gifts. Polishing those gifts could turn him into a superstar as a sophomore.
As far as a late-game five-for-five substitution, that's probably not going to happen in a critical game. The Tar Heels did substitute 13 times in the final 10 minutes as compared to just 11 for Georgetown, so Williams was doing his best to keep his players fresh. He primarily followed the same pattern he established throughout the postseason--play a deeper bench in the first half and then trim the rotation in the second half to a core group of 8 or 9 players.
I was wonder if the final shot in regulation was drawn up for Wayne. It
is hard for me to believe that after a timeout Coach Williams would draw
up a play for someone who at that time was having a horrible shooting
game. Did the other options just not open up, or was Wayne the first
option?
Matthew Little
Wake Forest, NC
Let's turn to Roy Williams:
"We didn't know what defense they were going to be in, so we called two plays. One if they were in man-to-man, and one if they were in zone. They came out and played zone, which is sort of what I expected, if I would have had to make a choice. We had Ty's penetration. We had a screen inside, and we had Reyshawn on one wing. I put Wayne back in as opposed to Marcus. Ty penetrated and we got a screen for Wayne. He got a good look."
It's rare that coaches truly "draw up a play" on the spur of the moment--there's simply too much risk involved and potential for error. Instead, what usually happens is calling for a variation of a usual set. In this case, Carolina was using a variation of their "Go" play, which has several options and resulted in baskets in several end-of-half and late-clock situations this year. Even at the end of the half against Southern Cal, when the Tar Heels took a timeout with 0.8 seconds left and executed a brilliantly designed play that resulted in an open look for Ellington, it wasn't a brand-new play. Carolina had walked through that exact same set earlier in the day at shootaround.
So how many underclassmen do you think will leave after this year and whom?
Scott M. Carpenter
This was a tremendously popular question throughout the postseason, as the amount of national media covering the Tar Heels increased. Prior to that, it had been perhaps the quietest season in terms of who's-going-to-leave questions in recent memory--especially given the amount of talent on the roster. That's a credit to the local media, because the Tar Heel beat writers found other storylines to follow and didn't go for the same easy column others seemed to want to do during the postseason.
Who's going to leave? I'm the worst person to ask, because I don't pay enough attention to the NBA to be credible. In fact, I was recently surprised to find out that Kelly Tripucka no longer plays for the Hornets. What, they're the Bobcats now? Well, as long as they haven't ditched the stylish Julian pinstripe unis.
Several Tar Heels--notably Brandan Wright, Tyler Hansbrough, and Lawson--will have decisions to make. Announcements either way could come in the next month. The basketball banquet is scheduled for April 10, and it's unusual for players to announce they're leaving prior to the banquet (although Hansbrough announced he was staying prior to that event last year).
You know what, though? Around the country there are teams waiting breathlessly to find out what their star players will do, because without them they'll struggle. Here's the great thing about Carolina basketball in the Roy Williams era: the Tar Heels will be good next year--and most every year--no matter who leaves. Therein lies perhaps the best achievement of his four-year tenure. When he took the job, he talked about building a program. Now it's built. We're back to agonizing over losses in the final eight rather than simply trying to make the NCAA Tournament. In some ways, the pain helps you remember how far Carolina basketball has come over the past four years.
Lauren's final Down Low of the season is below--and as usual, it's a good one--but this wraps up my portion of the Mailbag for this season. As always, thanks for the quality questions and fun emails. I hope to see you at Boshamer Stadium starting tomorrow night against Davidson (all the radio broadcasts are free online this year, so tune in on TarHeelBlue.com and drop us an email) and hope you'll consider contributing to the team's project to shave their heads to fight cancer. Next season seems like a long time away right now, but it'll be here quickly. It should be a doozy, too--consider this pre-Christmas schedule: two games in Las Vegas against prime opponents, a game in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge that's likely to be a road game, at Kentucky, and at Penn in the Palestra. Those games will come in a span of just two weeks. The official announcement of the schedule will come in August. Also, don't forget Hall of Fame announcements will be made on April 2; Roy Williams is one of the finalists.
If you need a way to get one more basketball fix, plan to come out to the sports memorabilia auction of the Reece Holbrook Golf Classic. This year's auction is presented by Roy and Wanda Williams, and it will take place on April 29 in Chapel Hill. As usual, there are some one-of-a-kind Tar Heel hoops items available. Email Stephanie Williams for more information.
Brownlow's Down Low
I have little doubt that Reyshawn Terry will be drafted in the upcoming NBA draft in either the late first or early second round. If this happens, six members of the 2005 championship team (along with Marvin Williams, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Sean May, and David Noel) will have been drafted. This would be a phenomenal accomplishment in my estimation but I wonder how the 2005 team stacks up against other Carolina teams. Has there ever been a team with more players drafted to the NBA?
David Shoaf
Seattle, WA
Lauren writes:
The short answer is no, there has never been another team in college basketball to have four players selected in the lottery (top 13 picks). The 2005 draft had the most Carolina first-round selections, but the most players ever taken from Carolina in one draft are five in 1980. Mike O'Koren was a first-round choice; John Virgil and Rich Yonakor were third-round picks; Jeff Wolf was a fourth-round choice and Dave Colescott went in the seventh round.The numbers of players selected each year has fluctuated through the years. In 1957-60, the most players picked were 94. From 1961 to 1967, as many as 161 players were selected and as few as 84 were selected. From 1969-72, the totals were all over 200 (one as many as 239) and it went back down to 156 in 1972 and then the picks hovered around 200 until 1979. From 1980-84, more than 200 players were picked (228 in 1984) and it went down to 162 in 1985. Finally, in 1988 it went down to 75 and then to 54 in 1989, where it stayed until 1995, when it went up to 58. It went up to 59 players in 2004 and up to 60 in 2005 and 2006.
The 2005 team also technically had five (David Noel, second round in 2006) and possibly six (Reyshawn Terry) future NBA draft picks on it, which is quite a bit. However, with the large drafts in the early days, some Carolina teams have had as many as twelve. The 1977 team had twelve future picks (Walter Davis, Tommy LaGarde, John Kuester, Bruce Buckley, Phil Ford, Tom Zaliagiris, Dudley Bradley, Mike O'Koren, John Virgin, Rich Yonakor, Jeff Wolf and Dave Colescott). The 1980 team included the five aforementioned draft picks from the 1980 draft (see first paragraph) and also included future draft picks Al Wood, James Worthy, Jimmy Black, Chris Brust, Pete Budko, Mike Pepper, and Jimmy Braddock.
Despite the high numbers of players drafted, the highest number draft pick (future or current) that Carolina has averaged on any particular team with three or more future draft picks is 12.8 in 1957. Carolina had two first-round selections (Lennie Rosenbluth went sixth and Pete Brennan went fourth in 1958), one second-round selection (Joe Quigg at 12th overall in 1958), and one fourth-round selection (Tommy Kearns at 29th overall in 1958). In 1993, the future draft picks of Eric Montross (9th), George Lynch (12th) and Hubert Davis (20th) makes up the second-best average pick of 13.7. The 2005 team earns third-place honors with its future draftees averaging a 14.6 pick.
Carolina has also had some high average first-round draft numbers. The 1977 team had five players taken in the first round and the average pick was 7.0. The highest average for teams that had three or more eventual first-round picks belongs to both the 1982 and 1983 teams, which both included three first-rounders (James Worthy, who went first; Michael Jordan, who went third; Sam Perkins, who went fourth). Those three average out to a 2.7 pick. In 1981, add Al Wood to Sam Perkins and James Worthy and that average pick goes up to 3.0. The 1984 team had five current or future first-round selections (the most ever): Brad Daugherty (first), Michael Jordan (third), Sam Perkins (fourth) and Kenny Smith (sixth) and Joe Wolf (13th). Those picks averaged out to 5.4.
Since 1989, the most NBA players Carolina has had on a team at one time are five, and it was last done in 2005. Four other teams have also had five: 1991 (Eric Montross, George Lynch, Hubert Davis, Rick Fox, and Pete Chilcutt); 1994 (Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Montross, Serge Zwikker and Jeff McInnis); 1995 (Stackhouse, Wallace, McInnis, Zwikker, and Shammond Williams); and 1996 (McInnis, Zwikker, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, and Shammond Williams). However, if Terry is drafted this year then the 2005 team will have had the most future NBA draft selections since 1989.
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.
