University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Notebook (Lawson Semi-Update)
March 17, 2009 | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2009
By Adam Lucas
The saga of Ty Lawson's toe entered its ninth day on Tuesday, as Roy Williams spent the first six minutes and 20 seconds of his afternoon press conference answering more questions than you ever thought possible about a toe.
Unfortunately, the Tar Heel head coach wasn't particularly positive about Lawson's injury. "I really expected it to respond quicker than it has," he said. "I'm a little surprised by the severity of it. I'm as discouraged at this moment as I have been since it happened."
It's important to note that Carolina didn't have a formal practice on Monday, so Williams's concern isn't based on something he saw yesterday. The stated goal for Lawson was for him to participate in half of Tuesday's practice, which was scheduled to take place after the press conference.
Even if he does, however, don't expect him at full speed for Radford on Thursday at 2:50.
"There's absolutely no way he will be 100 percent," Williams said. "He hasn't broken a sweat in nine days. Nobody misses that amount of time and comes back 100 percent."
There's a natural inclination to scoff at the importance of a toe injury, but as Williams pointed out, "As a basketball player, toes are important. You plant and push off of it. It's just his toe...but it's extremely important."
The next scheduled public update on the health of UNC's point guard will be Wednesday afternoon in Greensboro at the pre-NCAA press conference.
Injury history: At what point does this team start drawing comparisons to the 1977 team? Players in the projected top nine of the rotation have already missed a combined 70 games--four for Tyler Hansbrough, 29 for Marcus Ginyard, 23 for Tyler Zeller, 12 for Will Graves (although that isn't an injury situation), and two for Lawson.
The '77 team is the current standard-bearer for tough-luck injuries. That squad lost suffered key injuries to regulars Tommy LaGarde, Phil Ford and Walter Davis but still managed to make it all the way to the national title game.
Drew II: Lost in the concern over Lawson's injury is the fact that Larry Drew II played some of his best minutes in Atlanta. Against Virginia Tech, he won the coaches' award for good/bad plays ratio, and against Florida State he won the assist/turnover ratio award (for more on those awards, check today's Mailbag.
"Those two games will help him," Williams said. With or without Lawson, the head coach wants his Tar Heels to play at a faster pace. Carolina didn't break 80 points in two games in Atlanta and is in a stretch of three straight sub-80 games. Prior to this stretch, they hadn't had back-to-back sub-80 games all year.
Radford connections: Despite having never met in the NCAA tournament, Radford is a familiar opponent. When he was the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, current Highlander head coach Brad Greenberg once approached Williams about assuming the head coaching job of that organization. Radford is also the alma mater of Rams Club executive director John Montgomery and UNC assistant coach Steve Robinson.
To the amusement of Williams, a photograph of Robinson from his college days appears in the Radford media guide.
"The guys will have fun looking at that if somehow the media guide gets left in the locker room," Williams said with a knowing grin. "That will probably happen today."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
