University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Saturday St. Louis Notebook (Marshall Update)
March 24, 2012 | Men's Basketball
March 24, 2012
By Adam Lucas
Kendall Marshall's status was slightly improved on Saturday, when he participated in some aspects of practice.
"I didn't do anything 100 percent," Marshall said. "There was no full contact. I did some shooting, and I did some light passing and catching. Obviously, there will be some pain. There's going to be pain for the next month and a half. It's a matter of if I'm able to contribute to my team and withstand the pain."
At the earliest, that verdict won't be rendered until after Sunday's shootaround. Former Tar Heel Kenny Smith provided some context during Saturday's CBS coverage of the first two regional finals. "The toughest part is catching the basketball," said Smith, who suffered the same injury in 1984.
Kansas coach Bill Self said he anticipates Marshall will play, but he won't be able to make dramatic tweaks in his team's approach based on Marshall's status. The Jayhawks got to bed around 3:30 a.m. local time after defeating NC State, then had to be back at the arena for a 1:30 p.m. NCAA-mandated press conference.
"We have probably 30 minutes to practice for North Carolina, and we're not going to change who we are in 30 minutes," Self said. "We're not a team that changes a lot of things and tweaks it. This is who we are, this is how we play. There will be some things that we can do a little differently, but it's not going to be a major overhaul."
Barnes believes: Interesting comments from Harrison Barnes, who shot 3-of-16 and committed five turnovers in the win over the Bobcats, a dismal performance partially redeemed by his solid play in overtime.
The magic of Barnes, though, is that it almost always feels like he's a couple consecutive baskets from turning in a spectacular performance.
"You have to know that you have put in enough time in the gym," Barnes said. "You are going to have poor shooting games and you are going to have great shooting games. You have to keep playing. It can't affect your overall effort in the game."
Despite the shooting struggles, Barnes wasn't gloomy about the win over Ohio.
"It might be the happiest game I've ever been part of at Carolina," he said. "I know it was probably the worst to watch and the worst executed. But I was so happy for everyone in our locker room. Everyone made big plays down the stretch."
Kansas series?: Self expressed support for the idea of a Carolina-Kansas regular season series. The teams haven't met outside of the NCAA Tournament in a pre-scheduled game (excluding the coincidental meeting in the 2002 Preseason NIT) since 1981 in Michael Jordan's first game as a collegian.
"It would be a great game for us," Self said. "I don't know if Roy would agree with that...We're the second and third winningest programs of all time, and I think it would be unbelievably good if we could play. Certainly neither place has a hard time selling out, but we could certainly raise the price of season tickets a couple bucks."
With Kentucky likely ending the series with the Tar Heels, there's a slot on the Carolina schedule for a marquee non-conference opponent. But Self was right--don't expect it to be filled by the Jayhawks.
"It would be too emotional for me," Williams said. "When somebody says Allen Fieldhouse to me, all I think about is positive thoughts. I don't want to go in there as the coach of the opposing team."
Self on Carolina: Williams was asked nearly a dozen questions about his history with Kansas, and Self fielded several queries about the specter of Williams looming over his program. That led to a strong compliment from Self about Dean Smith. "He's someone who probably handled stress, handled his players, developed a program, and had a system better than anybody that's ever coached college basketball," Self said of the Tar Heel legend. "To hear Coach (Larry) Brown talk about Coach Smith when we're sitting around visiting is remarkable."
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.
