University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Ellington Goes Global
July 20, 2007 | Men's Basketball
July 20, 2007
By Adam Lucas
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Wayne Ellington simply thought his opposition for the summer would be some of international basketball's best players. As it turns out, he also got the chance to face one of America's finest.
A strong performance at the Pan Am Games tryouts earned Ellington a slot on that prestigious team, which departs for Rio de Janiero on Saturday. The dozen players picked, who were culled from a 30-player pool during tryouts, are going through a quick USA Basketball crash course this week in Washington, D.C.
Games will be played July 25-29, but before the team officially takes the floor against outside foes, the coaching staff--led by head coach Jay Wright of Villanova and also including Mark Gottfried of Alabama and James Jones of Yale--is trying to install as many team concepts as possible. It's a bit like learning a foreign language. For example, what is called the "short corner" at Carolina--the area on the baseline just outside the paint--is "the porch" under Wright. Ellington spent last year learning the Roy Williams vocabulary; now he's spending a week getting accustomed to Wright's preferred methods.
 |
For more on Wayne Ellington, read Adam Lucas's column from the June 2007 issue of Tar Heel Monthly.
|
"Roy!" Wright shouted at Georgetown center Roy Hibbert, another member of the select dozen, during Thursday's practice, "You've got to get to that porch!"
"It's a very different vocabulary," Ellington said after the workout, which took place at the practice court at Washington's Verizon Center. "Coach Wright and Coach Williams have different ways of teaching things and different philosophies defensively. The common thread is that they're both very intense and both very good coaches."
Williams is one of the very few college coaches who makes it a point to take time out from the hectic summer recruiting schedule to watch his current players in competitive environments. That continues even after his players graduate, as it's not uncommon for him to leave a Carolina practice and fly to an NBA city to watch a former player play a pro game.
"The players are part of my family, and obviously for that reason I'm going to support them," Williams said. "I want to give them support all year long, not just during our season."
The Tar Heel head coach was scheduled to be in Washington to watch Thursday's practice but was sidelined by vertigo, which made air travel impractical. "I'm ticked at the world for having to miss it," Williams said.
He will be on the road shortly for more recruiting, but in the meantime sent assistants Steve Robinson and Joe Holladay to watch Ellington. The Tar Heel contingent saw some familiar faces, as Maryland's James Gist and Michigan State's Drew Neitzel are also on the Pan Am team.
After a 90-minute practice, the Pan Am squad scrimmaged a hastily assembled group of DC-area players with strong college pedigrees. Recognizable faces at the start of the 3-period scrimmage included Trajan Langdon, Jordan Collins, Tony Bethel, and Laron Profit.
The level of competition increased midway through the first period when Wizards star Gilbert Arenas, a three-time All-NBA pick, arrived and began stretching. A few minutes later he was in the game, where his first assignment was guarding Ellington.
The Tar Heel sharpshooter, who has been in an offensive groove throughout tryouts and practice, immediately nailed a three-pointer over Arenas and then began the difficult task of trying to check him defensively.
"My eyes lit up when I saw him come in the game," Ellington said. "I was glad I was able to hit that first three on him. I knew I was going to have to strap up defensively, because I knew he would come right back at me. I get to play against quite a few pro guys who have done very well in the NBA during the summer in Chapel Hill, so it wasn't a totally new experience."
Ellington will have a new experience in one more day, as he'll make his first trip out of the country when the Americans depart for Brazil. He's taking more than just his newly acquired passport. He's also taking a renewed sense of confidence that had him playing much more aggressively than he did at the close of his freshman season.
"My shots are falling," he said with a grin. "I've gotten a lot of work in this summer, and I've gotten more consistent and more prepared. I'm expecting next season to be even better."
Adam Lucas most recently collaborated on a behind-the-scenes look at Carolina Basketball with Wes Miller. The Road To Blue Heaven will be released on September 1. Lucas's other books on Carolina basketball include The Best Game Ever, which chronicles the 1957 national championship season, Going Home Again, which focuses 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.
