University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: In Search Of Straight Shooters
October 15, 2009 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Oct. 15, 2009
By Adam Lucas
It's not often these days that you get to ask questions with uncertain answers at basketball media day.
That's the reality of life in the media world of 2009. In the stone age of, say, the 1990s, it used to be that media day was your first chance to see players and coaches since the last game of the previous season. Everything was new--some had added weight, some had dropped weight, some had added new elements to their game. Sometimes they'd even try to jump over a baby stroller--with the actual baby inside the stroller--during those lazy few minutes after the team photo. Yes, that really happened.
And then there were the freshmen. Who were they? What kind of players were they? They couldn't talk to the media until their first game (a longstanding Dean Smith policy), of course, but their teammates could talk about them. Often, the freshmen would be assigned to sit directly behind an upperclassman to "observe how to talk to the media."
In 2009, though, no one's really sure who the media are anyway, and high schoolers are used to fielding regular weekly--or more--calls from them during the recruiting process. On Thursday, the freshmen spent most of their media day time making fun of each other's portraits in the new media guide.
But this year's media session was less routine than past years for one simple reason: we know less about this team than any recent editions.
For example, this very simple question: who is the best shooter on the team? Outside shooting is one of two subjects Roy Williams has identified as the key to this year's Tar Heels (the other is backcourt play).
OK, who's going to make those long-distance shots? And can any of the Tar Heels say with any certainty who the best shooter on the team might be?
"Right now?" Larry Drew II said. "I don't think I could really say one best shooter...If we have a shooting contest, I'm going to pick myself to win."
"Best shooter on the team?" Marcus Ginyard said. "Wow...uh, well, lately you might have to put me up there. I've definitely moved up and you could also say no one else has stepped forward."
"Will Graves," Deon Thompson said, the only Tar Heel who sounded definitive. "He just hasn't been able to show it the way his teammates and coaches have seen it."
Graves is an intriguing player. As Thompson noted, he has a reputation as a shooter. He also earned a spot in the rotation last year, playing better defense, doing all the little things...and also hitting just 27.8% of his three-point attempts. For a player who regularly tosses in a dozen three-pointers in a row during practices, that percentage doesn't make sense. And Williams, who almost never speculates about things like scoring averages, off-handedly tossed out the nugget that Graves had the potential to be a "double-figure scorer" for this year's squad.
So, then, why didn't the shots fall with any regularity last season?
"My redshirt freshman year I couldn't do anything but make 3's," Graves said. "Last year I couldn't do anything but dunk. Hopefully this year I'll put it together. My shot still felt great last year, because I was still putting them up. It's a matter of making it go through the hole."
That's exactly the question. Whether it's Graves, or Drew II (who regularly made 800-1000 jumpers during daily summer sessions with his father), or one of the freshmen once they stop snickering at the media guide, someone has to make those shots. Beginning Saturday morning, the next three weeks will be devoted to figuring out who can do it with any regularity.
Teams don't have to be deadly proficient from three-point range to be successful; there wasn't a single team at the 2009 Final Four that ranked in the top 20 nationally in three-point percentage, and just one of the Final Four teams (Carolina, 21st) ranked in the top 100 nationally in that category.
But a team needs at least one threat to extend defenses, and, in Carolina's case, to prevent opponents from packing the lane.
"We need Larry to make some outside shots," Williams said. "Dexter (Strickland), Leslie (McDonald), Will Graves, Marcus, John (Henson), even Tyler Zeller is a good shooter. We need someone who will step up and make three-point shots."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of five books on Carolina basketball, including the just-released book on the 2009 national title, One Fantastic Ride. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter.
