University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Getting Theirs
March 30, 2008 | Men's Basketball
March 30, 2008
By Adam Lucas
CHARLOTTE--Over the past three years, we've seen this particular group of Tar Heels do almost everything. They've won big games and lost big games. Won championships and lost championships. Cut down the nets and sometimes even left the nets hanging. We've seen them grow up, from the young team hanging with an Illinois squad bent on revenge to the wise group that suddenly understands what a one-and-done tournament means.
"We don't get a do-over," Marcus Ginyard told his teammates late in the second half as Louisville made a run. "We don't get a second chance. We learned that the hard way last year."
We've seen all that. But Saturday night, we saw something we might not have seen before. We saw Ty Lawson sprint past Kenny Smith. Late in the game, I could've sworn I saw Tyler Hansbrough post up Brad Daugherty.
These are the ghosts that you see every day when you play basketball for the University of North Carolina. You see them in the rafters. You see them dotting the walls of the locker room in color photographs. Your coach mentions them regularly.
Always, there is the past. Always, there was someone who did it better or a team that won more or a player who worked harder.
Dean Smith taught us not to compare them, to simply enjoy each team for what makes it unique. But sometimes, what makes a team unique is how they relate to some of those teams from the past.
In the wake of Carolina's 83-73 win over Louisville in the East Region final, now this can be said: we are watching one of the best Tar Heel basketball teams of all time.
There has been almost a century of Tar Heel hoops. Already, this team has won more than any team before them--they set a school record for victories and are still adding on. The total currently stands at 36.
They may eventually score more than any team before them. They have a player, Tyler Hansbrough, who is better than almost any player who came before him.
But they are still looking for their place. Remember two weeks ago, when they won the ACC Tournament in this same building. The so-called celebration was muted, more a feeling of obligation than celebration. Fine, we'll cut down the nets. Fine, we'll wear the t-shirts.
After the Tar Heels disposed of a game Cardinal team but before they scaled the ladder to cut down the nets, Roy Williams gathered his players around him. "Enjoy this," he said. "Enjoy this time on the court. But there's still work to do in San Antonio."
"I don't know if this team has enjoyed anything all year," Deon Thompson said. "We won back-to-back ACC championships. We won the most games of any team at Carolina. But we've never sat back and enjoyed it. We're glad we're a part of the great history at Carolina. But we still want a national championship."
Thompson is right. And to be honest, I'm not sure if we've enjoyed watching them the way we should. Ten years from now...five years from now...heck, even a year from now we'll be remembering them as one of the best of our lifetimes. But all year long, there's been something to worry about. Who's hurt? Who's healthy? Why are they beating on Tyler? Can we get that number-one seed in Charlotte?
And here we sit, 36-2 and one of four teams that the entire nation will focus on over the next week. Is that worth, perhaps, a day of sheer bliss before worrying about the next hurdle?
Carolina Basketball goes national this week. America will get reacquainted with our Hall of Fame coach. The nation will get to know Hansbrough, who in the glow of the win said, "I'm just trying to keep it classy," when asked why he didn't want to jump on the scorer's table or hurl the ball to the roof of the Charlotte Bobcats Arena when time expired. For the next seven days, as the sports world focuses on San Antonio, casual fans will once again get a glimpse of the Carolina Way that we take for granted. Suits on the road. Help a teammate. Keep it classy. If that doesn't make you proud, then take a word of advice from Williams and enjoy it for just a minute.
There, that's better.
Now, being part of that thing called Carolina Basketball means understanding where you fit among those who came before you. In the summer, former players return for pickup games. The trash talk flows, but there is only one ultimate final word.
"The guys who come back from that '05 team, if you say anything to them, they just point at their title banner," Wayne Ellington said. "There's nothing you can say to that. That's why you come to North Carolina, to win championships."
One of those guys, of course, is Quentin Thomas, who will try to become the first Tar Heel with two national titles. Three other champions were in the stands on Saturday--David Noel, Wes Miller, and Sean May.
As the current team snipped the net, Williams called the alums down to the front row of the stands. He hugged each of them and they each whispered, "Congratulations, Coach."
Noel had his '05 title ring around his right index finger. He looked out at the court, where Ellington and Hansbrough and Lawson were looking at him. The current players motioned for the trio to come out on the court, to be a part of the celebration.
That would have been a great moment. Past and present, together on the court. Fans would have loved it. Pictures would have been snapped. Those are three of my all-time favorites, and maybe yours too.
But they didn't belong on the court at that moment. It wouldn't have been true Carolina, which all involved understood. This moment, right now, was about 2008.
"Nah," said Noel, waving at the current incarnation of his team to go relish their moment. "We've already got ours."
Now it's time to go get theirs.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
