University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Media Day Preview
October 13, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Oct. 13, 2011
By Adam Lucas | 
Media Day Photo Gallery
Carolina's media day convenes this afternoon at 2:30, with interviews with all returning players (remember, in a holdover from the Dean Smith era, freshman don't talk to the press until after their first regulation game) and head coach Roy Williams.
To get you ready for the avalanche of stories you'll see this afternoon, here's a look at the one question each player is likely to answer more than any other. For live updates and photos from today's media day festivities, follow @UNC_Basketball and @TarHeelMonthly, and check back with TarHeelBlue.com later this afternoon and tomorrow for photos, video and stories.
You can also submit your questions for the players. Later today, we'll post their responses to the best questions.
What are the expectations?
Barnes is in a fascinating situation: he's likely to be the 2011-12 poster child for college basketball, with all the magazine covers, television time and publicity that come with that honor. But the expectations for him will likely be more reasonable as a sophomore than they were as a freshman.
Expect Roy Williams--a frequent critic of last year's expectations of Barnes--to mention that scenario that afternoon.
"There's a lot of truth to the idea that the expectations might be more reasonable this year, even though I know they are there," Barnes says. "I try to do the best I can. I know what it takes to win, and that's what I want to do."
Is he healthy?
Since the injury to Leslie McDonald, Bullock might be the most buzzed-about Tar Heel on the roster. He says he's feeling full strength, and just as importantly, he's learning to trust that his knee will hold up to the movements he'll need to make in his role as one of Carolina's top perimeter scorers.
"No one has even come close to seeing the real Reggie," Kendall Marshall says. "When I watch him on film from last year, that's not the Reggie I saw in high school, and that's not the Reggie I've seen in pickup over the last couple of months. His knee might have bothered him more mentally than physically. He had to fight some things. But he has his confidence back, and we're going to see a different Reggie Bullock this year."
What's next?
Henson's career improvement arc is one of the most dramatic in the NBA early-entry era of Tar Heel basketball. Forget that he arrived as a heralded prep prospect. The truth is that he spent much of his freshman season learning his place on the floor, figuring out what would work (and what wouldn't) against players with similar physical gifts.
Always a defensive presence, Henson says you'll notice a more complete offensive player this season. It's worth remembering that improvement from last year is relative--after all, we're talking about a player who ranked second in the league in rebounding and actually improved his field goal shooting in conference games as compared to non-conference competition. He's not exactly starting from zero.
"To me, John Henson has been the most impressive player this summer," says Dexter Strickland. "He's gained weight and he has more confidence offensively. He's dribbling to the rack, he's not just catching and shooting. He can get to the basket with his dribble."
Can he carry the load?
The Tar Heels entered last season wondering whether anyone on the roster had the requisite skills to play point guard. That question was emphatically answered by the arrival of Marshall, who proved, as Harrison Barnes memorably said, to be a point guard "as true as they come."
This year, the question will be whether Marshall is physically prepared to be Carolina's primary point guard, a role that could come with upwards of 30 minutes per game. Expect Roy Williams to mention his plan of giving backup point guards--a group that includes Dexter Strickland and freshman Stilman White--some meaningful early minutes to test their mettle, but Marshall is the point guard the Tar Heels need on the floor in the crucial minutes.
"Having to play 30 minutes a game for the entire season will be an adjustment," he says. "Coach Williams told me (in the spring) I had to be ready for that. I've worked on my body, and I'm more durable, quicker and faster."
Is he a backup point guard or a starting shooting guard?
This goes hand in hand with Marshall's question. If Carolina needs someone to relieve Marshall for ten or 15 minutes per game, is Strickland that person? And how would he balance playing some backup point guard with his incumbent role as the starting shooting guard? And how does Bullock's return change the shooting guard mix?
Sorry, one question per player.
The junior, who says he's past the knee problems that occasionally troubled him last season, clearly expects a big year offensively. His head coach knows that won't be Strickland's only role.
"I'm committed to giving Dexter time at the point," Williams says. "That helps us and it helps him."
Can he be the first dual-ring Tar Heel?
As you might have heard, no Carolina player in history has two championship rings. Watts and Tyler Zeller have a chance to do it this year, because they already possess hardware from 2009. Looking back at Tar Heel history, it's not just surprising no one has done it, it's surprising no one has come very close. Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins were eliminated by Indiana in 1984 in the regional semifinal. The Eric Montross-led senior class fell to Boston College in the second round in 1994. The closest anyone has come might be Dante Calabria, Pat Sullivan and Donald Williams, who were on the 1993 championship team and then made it back to the Final Four in 1995.
Watts, as you would expect, isn't getting his finger sized just yet. "It's not something I think about right now," he says. "But it's nice to have that reminder of what the ultimate goal is."
What's the value of a senior leader?
As the scholarship senior likely to receive the most minutes this season, Zeller will be the recipient of most leadership questions. That can be fun--like at media day--and it can be not so fun--like when the Tar Heels lose a game and everyone wants to know how fast they should panic.
"I've been deemed the leader," Zeller says, "but on the court, we have several leaders. We all have an equal role on the court. And you have to have a point guard with leadership, and Kendall does a superb job with that. He gets everyone where they need to be and runs the proper plays."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of six books on Carolina basketball, including the official chronicle of the first 100 years of Tar Heel hoops, A Century of Excellence, which is available now. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter and Facebook.
