University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Circle Of Life
March 31, 2010 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
March 31, 2010
By Adam Lucas
NEW YORK, N.Y.--Marcus Ginyard couldn't help but look a little bemused as he knotted his tie for the penultimate time as a Tar Heel basketball player. Over these last 36 games, he's seen it all. He's seen injuries. He's seen opponents make impossible shots. He's seen errant opposing passes bounce off legs and result in a three-pointer, and he's seen Tar Heel layups touch every part of the rim before falling off. He's seen blown plays and missed assignments. Sometimes, he has seen all these things in the same game.
Now, as March prepares to turn into April--yes, this Carolina team is going to be playing basketball in April--he's seeing something even more unlikely than a last-second College of Charleston three-pointer: he's seeing the Tar Heels suddenly get all the breaks.
There's no other way to describe the final minute of Tuesday's NIT semifinal against Rhode Island. With 42 seconds remaining and Carolina holding a one-point lead, Deon Thompson tapped the ball out of bounds under the UNC basket. So sure was Thompson that he'd touched the ball last that he made an initial move toward the other end of the court to play defense.
Except the officials granted possession to Carolina.
Then, after the Tar Heels failed to score on the subsequent possession, Lamonte Ulmer grabbed the rebound and started upcourt. How many times have we seen this in the month of March? Down one point, less than five seconds to play, one team makes a frenetic dash for a game-winning hoop and celebrates at midcourt.
Except Ulmer never got off a shot. Will Graves dove for the ball and came up with a healthy portion of Ulmer's leg, sending the Ram sprawling to the court and the ball into the hands of Larry Drew. So, Will, was there any contact on that last play?
"No comment," Graves said with a grin that fully answered the question.
"I feel badly that the game ended like that," said Roy Williams, who told his team afterward that sometimes it helps to be lucky.
He's right, it does. One month ago, it felt like the Tar Heels had walked under a ladder while breaking a mirror and carrying a black cat. Now, the travel bags are packed with a full collection of rabbit feet.
"I'm just glad we're putting ourselves in position to be lucky," Ginyard said.
There's something to that. In this event, especially over the last three games, Carolina has executed better and more efficiently than their opponents. That doesn't mean Carolina has executed well, just better. Not every time, but enough to be in position to be lucky, as the senior said.
Rhode Island brought what appeared to be the entire student body to Madison Square Garden, a Carolina blue--except they call it Keaney blue--clad group that didn't sit down for the entire game. "This is our Super Bowl!" one of those students shouted before the game.
The Tar Heels managed to hang around with a team with plenty invested. It wasn't a shooting exhibition on either side, but there were plenty of charges drawn and knees scraped on defense. Against a team that ranked fifth in the nation in turnover margin, the Tar Heels somehow managed to coax 18 turnovers. That--plus the 27 offensive rebounds--accounts for Carolina's 83-68 edge in field goals attempted. Shoot the ball 15 more times than your opponent and you've got a pretty good chance of winning.
And still, the game was undecided with a minute left in overtime. A break here or a bounce there, and it's Rhode Island that's moving on to play Dayton for the NIT championship on Thursday night at 7 p.m. Leave it to another senior, Deon Thompson, who on Thursday will take the floor for an NCAA-record 152nd time--more than any player in college basketball history--to explain exactly what's happened over these last two weeks. By this point, he's been around so long you half expect him to grow a gray goatee, start living on top of a mountain and speaking in riddles.
And to be honest, he is starting to sound a little more like Rafiki than Simba.
"What goes around, comes around," said Thompson. "It's one big circle, like the circle of life."
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.
