University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag (Part 1)
April 14, 2009 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
April 14, 2009
- National Championship Commemorative Book
- National Championship Commemorative DVD
- National Championship Apparel and Merchandise
- National Championship Photos and Prints
- Buy Game Photos
- View/Create Highlight Videos
- Send The Team A Congratulatory Email
By Adam Lucas
There was so much good content this week that we're going to do a two-part Mailbag for our final installment of the season. We'll have answers to the most common questions today and then some more specific queries tomorrow--when we'll have information on the celebration of the 100th season of Tar Heel hoops, Final Four tickets, banners and more.
Here are the most common questions of the last week:
1. In the all-time victories race, Kentucky has 1,988 wins. Carolina has 1,984 wins. Kansas, in case you're interested, is in third place with 1,970 wins. Kentucky and Carolina are currently slated to meet in Lexington next season. Amazingly, Carolina has averaged 20 wins per season in the program's 99 years of existence. That's an incredible statistic.
2. Being selected as the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player does not mean Wayne Ellington's jersey goes to the rafters. The criteria indicates a player must be voted team MVP, which is a different honor than Final Four Most Outstanding Player. Donald Williams was MOP in 1993, but he is not in the rafters. George Lynch is, however, because he was voted the team's MVP. The 2009 version of that honor will be handed out at the annual awards ceremony, which brings us to...
3. The annual awards ceremony will be this Thursday at 7 p.m. The Smith Center opens at 6:30 p.m. The event includes the final speeches from the seniors, an extensive highlight video that includes behind-the-scenes footage, the Carolina version of "One Shining Moment," and much more.
4. The Tar Heel Sports Network's broadcast of the championship game is currently not available for purchase. However, making it available for download via iTunes or some other format is under consideration. Stay tuned to TarHeelBlue.com for more details.
5. There are two different championship DVD's available. The first is a behind the scenes look at the 2008-09 season from start to finish. It includes locker room footage, off-court highlights, special bonus features, and more. It does not include the 2009 championship game. To get that video, the most cost-efficient way is ordering the DVD two-pack.
6. There is only one authorized championship book, which is available here. It includes 256 pages of completely new content on the 2009 Tar Heels, including behind-the-scenes stories, photos, practice plans, and more.
7. Applications for the 2009-2010 TarHeelBlue.com/Tar Heel Monthly internship are now available. If you are an undergraduate/graduate student at Carolina and interested in sportswriting, it's a great opportunity to get your foot in the door. Email me for the application. Also, we're looking for two different types of fans: those who watched the title game at the Smith Center and those who watched the title game in an unusual place/situation. Both of these are for a Tar Heel Monthly project. If you'd be interested in helping, let me know.
8. As you have probably heard, Ed Davis has already announced he'll be back for his sophomore season. Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington are likely to have a decision after the awards banquet. The early entry deadline is April 26. Because both players tested the waters last year, if they apply for early entry this year they are not allowed to return to school. Players can only "test the waters" once.
9. A list of incoming recruits for the 2009-10 season can be found here. The schedule is usually released by the ACC in August, but nonconference games already on the docket include a game at the new Cowboys stadium against Texas on Dec. 19, a trip to New York for the Coaches vs. Cancer event on Nov. 19-20 (other teams involved include Syracuse, Ohio State and Cal), and a road trip to Kentucky.
10. Way back on March 16, Tar Heels Today featured a list of similarities between the 2009 team and the 2005 squad. It's reprinted below, with some recent additions:
Saturday's ACC Tournament semifinal loss might not be the only similarity the 2009 team shows to the 2005 Tar Heel squad. Others include:
Brownlow's Down Low
I think that I'm correct that Ellington ended a crazy streak of double-digit scoring against OK. What are the stats on Ellington's NEXT game after such a streak-ending low?
Randall Pekari in Connecticut
Lauren writes:
I think that the games you're referring to are after he ends a double-digit game streak. So, in other words, he scores ten or more points for, say, five or more games, then scores less than ten points, and then you want to know what he does in the next game.In the first 17 games of this season, Ellington shot 50% or higher from the floor in just five games. Then in the next 20 games, Ellington shot 50% or better in 13 of those games. It all started with a two-game performance in which he made 17-of-29 shots, 9-of-17 from beyond the arc, in two home games against Miami and Clemson. He had a bad game against Florida State, shooting just 23.1%, and in the next 17 contests, he shot over 50 percent in 11 games.
He had another two-game stretch in which he scored 24 total points and shot just 8-of-21 from the field in the loss at Maryland and win against Georgia Tech. Since then, he has shot 47.1% from the field or better all but one game and above 50% in seven of the last nine games. He hit just 3-of-9 shots against Oklahoma but rebounded by hitting 7-of-14 shots against Villanova, 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.
Last season, he had a streak of 12 straight double-figure games last season snapped by scoring just five points against Valparaiso on 2-of-10 shooting. He responded by scoring 17 against Kent State on 8-of-11 shooting and just one game later, he had his epic 11-of-19, 36-point performance against Clemson in the overtime win. He had six straight double-figure games before managing just six points against Florida State on Senior Night. He responded by scoring his highest-ever total against Duke, 16 points. He finished the season with nine straight double-digit scoring games and started this season with five straight, or 14 in a row, his longest streak before the 23-game streak ended against Oklahoma.
As a freshman, his longest double-digit scoring streak was four games. He began his Carolina career with three straight double-digit games and then had just five points in a loss to Gonzaga. In the next game against Tennessee, he had 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting (2-of-3 from beyond the arc). He had just three points against St. Louis on 1-of-7 shooting and bounced back with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting (5-of-6 from beyond the arc) against Rutgers. He had a four-game streak of 10 points or more snapped by managing just four points against Duke. Against Wake Forest, he had 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting. He had just three points in the final Duke game and then had 18 against Florida State in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
