University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Bullock's Back
October 4, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Oct. 4, 2011
By Adam Lucas
Reggie Bullock doesn't remember a specific play when he knew. But after a summer of changing directions, fast-break dunks and full mobility, all he knows is that he knows he's back.
The sophomore endured a frustrating freshman campaign complete with personal tragedy (the loss of his grandmother, a central figure in his life) and basketball struggles. After battling a lingering knee injury early in the season, Bullock tore the lateral meniscus in his left knee in the Feb. 27 win over Maryland. He had surgery on March 7 to correct the injury and did not play again.
"I probably played up to 70 percent of my potential," Bullock says now in assessing his first year at Carolina. "I can do more than what I showed last year. I want to bring rebounding, defensive intensity, and anything Coach wants me to do to the team this year."
The injury changed his game. His attempts to take one dribble and pull up for a jumper--a signature move in high school--sometimes ended with his knee buckling. Quick stops and changes of directions were sometimes impossible. The darting, swashbuckling wing had turned into a straight line player.
His teammates believe he may be poised to demonstrate what everyone missed last season. Among both alums and current Tar Heels, he's been one of the most frequently mentioned players who have impressed at the regular summer pickup games. As Bobby Frasor advised him would happen--the former Tar Heel guard also endured knee surgery during his Carolina career--he went through a period even after being medically cleared when he wasn't certain his body would withstand the typical basketball moves he wanted to make.
Now, with full confidence in his knee, he more closely resembles the player who earned first-team Parade All-America honors at Kinston High School.
A return to health means a more diverse game for a player who was sometimes limited to simply being a jump-shooter as a rookie; in conference games, 61.1% of his field goal attempts were three-pointers, tied for the highest percentage on the team and a testament to his inability to create shots other than stand-still jumpers.
"I've worked on becoming a better ball-handler and creating for myself," Bullock says. "I've got more confidence in my shot. I couldn't leave my feet as well as I wanted to last year, and my shot was ending up flat because I didn't have enough arc on it. Coach Haase pointed out I was shooting right at the rim. That's the main thing I worked on with my shot."
Because of his limited action as a freshman, Carolina fans never really got to know their latest homegrown product. Kinston is largely a split Carolina-NC State town, a place where Jerry Stackhouse remains the standard by which other basketball players are judged. Stackhouse was a pre-internet phenomenon, a player the town usually shut down to watch play for the Vikings--and later, the Tar Heels.
Bullock had a front row seat for that show. Stackhouse lived on Bright Street in Kinston. Bullock and his family lived on Carl Court, less than a quarter mile from Stackhouse's home. The odds of one tiny block of North Carolina producing two Tar Heels are longer than a Bullock maximum-range three-pointer.
"We had similar height, so people would always compare us," Bullock says. "They would say he was more aggressive and I was more laid-back. I was probably a little better shooter than him in high school. People in Kinston tell stories about him going through the lane, taking two people with him, and dunking the ball. He's the type of player that you still hear about in Kinston if you're a little kid growing up playing basketball."
That little kid who grew up on Carl Court sometimes had trouble relocating his passion for basketball when he was forced to watch so much of the 2010-11 season from the sidelines. And it's not surprising that even as a college sophomore, his best advice during his challenging freshman year came from home, the place that shaped him as a player and a person. It was issued by his grandmother, Patricia Williams, less than a month before she died on Jan. 7.
"She told me to play my game," Bullock says. "She didn't want me to feel any pressure. She said she knew I love the game, and I should let that come through on the court. I'm ready to do that."
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.
