University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Mailbag
February 15, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Feb. 15, 2011
By Adam Lucas
My question is not about the actual play of the team or statistics, but about the commercials that play during the game! During the past two seasons, the Smith Center has played various versions of the Rams Club's "I Am A Tar Heel" commercial (this is also played at Kenan). How many different versions of this commercial exist or does the video editing staff create different versions for each game by mixing up different alumni? Additionally, I attended the Florida State game on 2/7 (yaaay for Kendall Marshall). I noticed a new commercial, "This Is Carolina Basketball" featuring various Carolina basketball alumni stating the accomplishments of the team and ending with Dean Smith. It was absolutely awesome. Is there anywhere that these clips (both the "I Am a Tar Heel" and the "This is Carolina Basketball") can be viewed other than just being in attendance at the game and does the Mailbag have a list of all of the players involved?
Daphne Mills....and I am a Tar Heel '05
Peachland, NC
You can find every permutation of the "I am a Tar Heel" videos on the Rams Club's website. Look on the right-hand side--there are quite a few versions. By the way, ever wondered why Michael Jordan and James Worthy say, "I am a Tar Heel," rather than first mentioning their names? It's not because they're so big-time they don't have to identify themselves (even if that might be true). It's because they were the very first videos shot, a year before the others. If you look closely, you can see Jordan is wearing the same coat he's wearing in the famous kissing-Dean Smith photo. At that time, the Rams Club wasn't sure they were going to go with the name identifications, and the slogan for the campaign was going to be "I'm a Tar Heel." So that's what they asked him to say. By the time the 100 years celebrations came around, the line had been tweaked, and everyone else says their name.
If you think way back to the 2009-10 season, which I realize many of us have obliterated from our memories, you'll remember that you've actually seen some of those "This is Carolina Basketball" clips. They were used during parts of the team introduction last year. All of them were shot during the NBA Alumni Game and the Celebration of a Century last season, so anyone who was at either of those events could show up in the videos. As someone who was lucky enough to be in the room when many of those clips were being shot, it was a simple process of handing the players and coaches a list of Carolina's accomplishments and having them read the list back while looking into the camera. It was fun to see how even the players and coaches who had participated in achieving that list of success were still impressed by the sheer magnitude of the victories and great players.
Everyone knows John Henson has struggled with his free throw shooting. But from watching almost all of the Carolina games this year, I have the impression that he has a MUCH higher success rate with the first try of any two shot foul situation, whether it be 1-and-1 or a straight 2, than he does with the second shot. Any idea whether this is actually true and, if it is, any thoughts on why? Could he somehow get more uptight after making the first, than when he initially goes to the line?
Al Lehn
Woodbridge, VA
See, now this is why you have to pay close attention to the emailers, even when they're telling you about their strange pregame rituals or wondering why Roy Williams doesn't call 14 timeouts per game. Because sometimes they hit on something really interesting.
Al is exactly right, and the stats in Atlantic Coast Conference games prove it. On one-shot free throw opportunities in league games--when Henson converts a basket and is fouled, sending him to the line for one shot--he is 3-for-4. On the first shot of either a one-and-one or two-shot opportunity, he is 9-for-15 (60.0%). Maintain those figures and he'd never have to be removed from the lineup at the end of close games.
But on the second shot of a two-shot opportunity, his success plummets to 2-for-12 (one of the misses on the first shot is the front end of a one-and-one), or 16.7%.
What does that mean? I have no idea. It does seem to lend some credence to the idea that it's a concentration issue rather than a form issue (maybe he relaxes too much after hitting the first one?), which is also supported by the fact that Henson has been a consistently solid free throw shooter in practice.
To answer the inevitable next question--yes, the coaches are aware of the strange split, and yes, they're working on it with him.
I've seen it before toward the end of games. Marshall along other heels were motioning some sort of two finger hand gesture when one of the walk ons made his free throws. I was wondering what this inside gesture meant?
Eric Raplinger
Kansas City, MO
This is why you should always do your postgame reading.
One funny story from that article that didn't make it into the actual piece. There's not much that can make you feel older than asking a bunch of college students about a hand gesture. There's always that nagging fear that it might mean something you don't want to know about, and you're the only one that doesn't realize it. I remembered Frasor and Ginyard used to do it, but wanted to ask Daniel Bolick first. After explaining it to me--the way I'd explain how to sound out a two-syllable word to my kindergartener--Bolick walked away mumbling, "If you have to ask, I'm not sure I can explain it to you."
Yeah, OK, fine. Now, can you show me how to set the alarm on my cell phone?
Brownlow's Down Low
I keep hearing about home court winning streaks at Kansas and Duke, but Carolina's home court advantage seems to come up only when Clemson comes to town. I'd like to know how tough it is to beat UNC in Chapel Hill historically. Besides Clemson, how have the other ACC teams done here? How about non-conference opponents? Versus ranked teams? I know our record in Carmichael was impeccable, 20 losses in 20 years. How about the other venues (Bynum Gym, Tin Can, Woollen Gym, Smith Center)? How did Dean Smith do in Chapel Hill? Frank McGuire? Roy Williams?
Garland Lucas, Class of '77
Lauren writes:
Carolina was 62-11 (0.849) in Bynum Hall, where it played from 1911-1923, and 120-18 (0.869) in the Old Tin Can (1924-37). The Tar Heels played in Woollen Gym the longest (1938-65) and held a 219-30 record there (0.879). The Tar Heels were of course 169-20 (0.894) in Carmichael (1966-86) and are now 303-56 (0.844) in the Smith Center.In the Roy Williams era, Carolina is 108-15 in the Smith Center and five of those losses came last season. The Tar Heels are 62-1 against non-conference foes in the Smith Center since '04 and the lone loss was in 2006 in the national championship "rematch". Williams is 13-6 against ranked teams at home and 10-4 against the top ten. Carolina is 46-14 at home in ACC play since '04 and without last year, that improves to 43-9. Carolina has not gone undefeated at home in ACC play since the 2004-05 season; Carolina is 11-0 so far this year.
Matt Doherty was 31-16 at home and 5-8 against ranked teams with three top-ten wins (Wake, UConn and Duke). Without 2002, he was 25-7 in the Smith Center. Overall, he was 15-9 at home in ACC play. Bill Guthridge was 31-8 in the Smith Center (6-4 against ranked teams), 18-5 in ACC home games. In the Smith Center, Dean Smith was 132-16, 33-6 against ranked teams and 70-14 against ACC teams. Carolina did not lose a game in the Smith Center until 1988, two years after it opened, and dropped more than two games there just once (1996) under Smith. A remarkable stat: Coach Smith was 29-4 at home against the teams ranked 11-25. Coach Smith was 23-11 against teams ranked in the top seven (oddly enough, just 9-7 against Nos. 8-10).
Carolina was 169-20 in Carmichael (all under Smith) and 112-17 in ACC games, but 27-13 against ranked teams. It was a formidable environment for opponents and Carolina went 84-9 overall there from 1974-84. Carolina was 219-30 in Woollen Gym and 8-11 against ranked teams. Frank McGuire was 7-8 against ranked teams there but was 7-2 against the top 25 from 1956-61 after a rough start. Coach Smith was 0-3 against ranked teams there before getting his first and only win over a ranked team, beating No. 5 Duke in 1965. He was 22-7 overall despite some of the sanctions his early teams dealt with and he was 17-7 in ACC play.
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.
