University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Paige Ready For Expectations
June 27, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Even before he arrived in Chapel Hill this week to begin summer school, Marcus Paige knew he would have to hear a lot of Kendall Marshall comparisons. Paige, a 6-foot-1 native of Marion, Iowa, will be asked to partially fill--along with incumbents Dexter Strickland and Luke Davis--the point guard role occupied by Marshall for the past two seasons.
It's not hard to make the connections. Paige is a lefthanded point guard. He's a good passer. And he's chosen jersey number-5, a digit last worn by...Kendall Marshall.
"I do see some similarities," Paige says. "But I wouldn't say, overall, that we're very similar players. He has the gift of being one of the best passers in college basketball in the past decade. I like to get other people involved, and I'm a pretty good passer, but in high school I did a couple more things offensively, and hopefully that will translate to college."
As Paige will learn over the next few months, putting the ball in the basket is likely to be one of the easiest parts of his transition to college basketball. Shooters can shoot, no matter what the environment. But point guards playing for Roy Williams often find that they're being given a whole new set of responsibilities, and are asked to see the game in a different way than they might have viewed it in the past.
That's part of what Paige believes will be most valuable as he begins his exposure to the Carolina summer pickup games, plus the NCAA-allowed two weekly hours of skill session work with Tar Heel coaches.
"I've heard everyone from Kendall to Dexter talk about how it's not very easy at first as a point guard at Carolina to pick up on everything," Pagie says. "There are lots of different situations you have to know, lots of different options and lots of ways to run the break. I'm going to try and soak it up as quickly as I can."
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The rookie also hopes to use the pickup games to learn more about his new teammates' offensive preferences. The other four players on the court largely have to worry only about how their own game transitions to college basketball, and which shots that worked in high school are still viable.
For Paige, the task is a little different. He still has to make his own offensive progression. In the ACC, the room to get off the jumper will be a little slimmer, the shot-blockers come across the lane to close off penetration a little faster, and the hand checks are a little more authoritative. But distributors also have to learn about their teammates--which players prefer getting the ball a step above the block or which would rather shoot it off the dribble instead of catch-and-shoot.
"I want to be able to lead on the floor," Paige says. "Even though I'm a freshman, I can help with that. Part of it is knowing how to get people the ball where they can score. I've watched a lot of games on TV, but most of it will come by playing the games with them this summer."
Paige suffered a stress fracture in his left foot during the all-star circuit, but he was fully cleared to return to basketball action almost a month ago and expects to participate full-speed in Carolina's summer activities.
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.
