University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag
March 17, 2009 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
March 17, 2009
By Adam Lucas
We're going to get to the questions in just a second. But first, we need to start with a realization I had last night (I'm a little slow). As you know, if the seeds hold, Carolina and Duke will play in the same building on Saturday evening. My guess is it will be a very pro-Carolina (and anti-Duke) building. That means thousands of Tar Heel fans will be there, screaming and cheering for Duke's opponent. And there's a chance that Duke's opponent might be Texas.
So what, right? Well, Texas is still coached by Rick Barnes. And it was in that very same Greensboro Coliseum in 1995 that Barnes and Dean Smith nearly came to blows on the sideline. Maybe you had to live through it to appreciate it, but the white-hot hatred for Barnes possessed by Carolina fans in those days made it entirely unlikely that 14 years later, they'd all assemble in the same building and fervently root for him to advance to the Sweet 16.
You've got to love college sports.
After Kentucky amazingly discovered some "archived" wins a few years ago, I am curious as to what each school's record is currently in all-time wins.
Jim Hebb
Arlington, Va.
Jim, you've identified one of only two possible reasons to pay attention to the NIT. The first is to follow Jeff Lebo's Auburn squad, which hosts UT Martin tomorrow night. The winner of that game plays the winner of Northwestern-Tulsa, which could set up a game with dual Tar Heel connections (Doug Wojcik is the head coach at Tulsa).
The other reason is to follow Kentucky's progress, or lack thereof. The Wildcats currently have 1,986 wins, while Carolina has 1,978. An early UK flameout coupled with a long Tar Heel NCAA run could make things very tight. The Wildcats' first NIT game is tonight at 9:30 against UNLV. A win there could send them on a road trip to Creighton, which you'd have to guess would be a very hostile environment.
By the way, don't forget about Kansas in this discussion. Thanks largely to Roy Williams piling up wins while the Tar Heels went through their well-documented struggles earlier this decade, the Jayhawks are sitting at 1,968 victories.
You'll probably get this question repeatedly, but why did Lawson come in third in First Team voting when he won player of the year? I understand the voting is separate but how is that logical if people thought he was the best of the whole bunch?
Darrell Smith
Milwaukee
It's not logical. It's All-ACC voting. Those are two separate things.
Two voters, who have yet to be identified, left Lawson off their All-ACC first team, which means they saw five better players in the league this year. But player of the year voting is separate from All-ACC voting. When filling out a ballot, voters are first asked to list their five members of the All-ACC team. Then they pick one player as the player of the year. It sort of sounds like voting twice for the same thing, but it actually helps keep Player of the Year voting separate from some of the strange voting occurrences that happen with All-ACC.
I'm aware that Carolina Players are evaluated & graded in practices and games by the coaching staff- Best Defensive player is often referenced and even was mentioned in Tuesday's mailbag. Can you describe the different roles that the players are evaluated during practices and games? How many positions or roles are evaluated? Offense, Defense, Press, Screening??? And how are the points calculated in these evaluations?
Rob Coles
UNC Class of '87
The entire coaching staff reviews game film together after every game--sometimes, they even do it immediately after the game. Every Tar Heel on the floor is graded on every offensive and defensive possession. Awards are handed out in seven categories, each of which is listed below. Rams Club members who receive Tar Heels Today already get the full list of awards for each game, but for today's purposes we've listed this season's most frequent winner in each category.
Defense: Players receive "good" plays for a good defensive play--sliding their feet, denying the pass, etc. Players receive "bad" plays for any defensive error, such as failing to get a hand up on a shot, failing to stop the dribble, etc. The player with the best ratio wins the award. So far this year, Bobby Frasor is the reigning king of this category, with twice as many defensive awards as his next-closest teammate. Most frequent winner: Frasor (12)
Blocked shots: Essentially self-explanatory. Most frequent winner: Davis (16) Charges drawn: Basically self-explanatory, with one minor note--credit is given for a charge drawn even if the official doesn't call it. Not that an official would ever miss a charge call. Most frequent winner: Hansbrough (15)
Assist/turnover: A Tar Heel gets a full assist for a pass leading to a teammate scoring a basket or being fouled on a shot attempt. Half-assists are awarded for any pass to the post, a post man throwing the ball back out, or making a nice pitch-ahead in transition. Players can also receive half-turnovers for fumbling the ball or a mistake on which Carolina retains possession. Full turnovers are awarded when the Tar Heels lose possession. The player with the best ratio wins the award. Most frequent winner: Lawson (18)
Screens: Any screen required to be set receives credit for a half-screen. Any screen set solely on the initiative of the player receives a full screen. Most frequent winner: Thompson (12)
Offensive rebounds: It sounds self-explanatory, but it's not. An offensive rebound receives credit for one rebound. An offensive rebound and a basket receives credit for two rebounds. A tip is worth a half-rebound, as is establishing inside position for an offensive rebound. Most frequent winner: Hansbrough (11)
Good plays/bad plays: The catch-all category, this gives coaches the opportunity to emphasize certain parts of the game. Failure to hustle or forgetting a play could be a bad play. A strong move to the basket or making a smart play by being cognizant of time and score could be a good play. Most frequent winner: Lawson (15)
Winners in each category receive plus points, which can be used to get out of some end-of-practice running.
Brownlow's Down Low
I'm curious how many games this season has Deon Thompson scored the first Carolina points of the game? It just seems like he usually the first on the books.
Kelly Bera
Atlanta, GA
Lauren writes: Kelly must be a psychic because this e-mail was sent before the ACC Tournament and Thompson scored the first basket of both ACC Tournament games. He has now scored first in four of Carolina's last five games. This season, he has scored first in eight games but Tyler Hansbrough leads the way with ten opening scores. Danny Green is third with seven opening field goals. Ty Lawson and Green also lead the team in assists on the first field goal with six apiece; Carolina has an assist on 18 of its first 32 shots.
Carolina is 18-0 when getting an assist on its first score and 9-4 when its first field goal is not assisted. In ACC games, Carolina is 5-4 without a first field-goal assist and 8-0 with an assist. In ACC games, Hansbrough, Green and Thompson are tied for first in opening field goals with five apiece. Lawson's three assists on opening ACC field goals lead the team as well.
Ellington leads Carolina in making the opening shot of the second half, scoring 20 points, including four three's. Hansbrough is second with seven field goals and Thompson and Green are tied for third with five each. Thompson scored first in three of the four ACC Tournament halves, notching the first score in the second half of Virginia Tech game as well.
Carolina has assists on 22 of its 32 field goals to open the second half and Lawson has nine of those assists. Green is second with six and interestingly enough, tied for third with Wayne Ellington are Thompson and Hansbrough, each with two. Carolina is 8-2 without getting an assist on the first second-half basket, 7-2 in the ACC. Virginia Tech's second half opened without an assist but in the semifinals against Florida State, Danny Green had an assist on a Tyler Hansbrough jumper.
Lawson has five assists on the first basket of the second half in ACC games; ten of Carolina's 18 ACC second halves have begun without an assisted basket. No other Tar Heel has more than one assist to open the second half in league play. Hansbrough has led the second half scoring with six field goals.
Here's an interesting fact that should get Tar Heel fans excited about the future - in two career starts, Tyler Zeller either scored or assisted the first basket of each half, dishing out an assist once and scoring in three of the four halves.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
