University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Chapel Hill Continues Green Love Affair
September 8, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Since leaving Chapel Hill in the spring of 2009 as a national champion, Danny Green has essentially been around the world. He's played with two different NBA teams, played in Slovenia, won a world championship with the San Antonio Spurs, and gotten so familiar with the professional basketball life that he offhandedly refers to the NBA title trophy as "Larry," as in, "I got to take Larry to North Babylon." The trophy is officially named the Larry O'Brien Trophy, but those who are well acquainted with it, like Green, just know it as Larry.
But nothing in the past five years prepared him for what happened at Kenan Stadium on Saturday night. When Green was told he'd be honored at the end of the first quarter of the Carolina-San Diego State game, he thought he might wave at the crowd, soak in a couple of cheers, and go back to his seat, where he was enjoying hanging out with former teammates Deon Thompson, Bobby Frasor and Marc Campbell.
That's not what happened.
Instead, the Kenan video board flashed a montage of photos--including, of course, the iconic shot of Green's dunk over Greg Paulus in 2008. The visuals were accompanied by a long list of Green's accomplishments.
"I was kind of surprised," Green said about the very impressive resume. "I kept thinking, 'Is that me?'"
It's him. Chapel Hill has always loved Green. It started because he was that guy who danced during Jump Around. It got to be such a trademark that he eventually grew tired of being known only as the "dancing guy." He's since become so much more that it's barely a footnote on his Tar Heel career. Yes, once upon a time, he danced. But now you know him so much better as a key contributor to one of the best teams in school history. A national champion. A world champion.
Carolina fans have always appreciated the verve with which Green plays. In many ways, he played the way we think we would've played...you know, if we could play. We would've dunked on Duke. We would've grinned with our teammates on the court. We would've had a heat check and launched a three-pointer from within the Tar Heel state logo at midcourt of the Smith Center.
How purely Chapel Hill is Danny Green? He was on Franklin Street for less than half an hour on Friday afternoon...and got a parking ticket. Is there anyone who has ever had a sip from the Old Well who can't relate to that?
Green, though, hasn't always been aware of just how popular he is in Chapel Hill. It still seems to take him by surprise. After all, he's not there at home games when his image goes up on the Smith Center video board during the "I am a Tar Heel" montage and receives a roar commensurate with any other player in the sequence, and louder than most.
The roar from the Kenan crowd on Saturday night truly seemed to take him aback. By the time he made it back to his seat--he stopped to take, conservatively, 100 photos with fans between the field and his seat--he was still shaking his head.
"It was overwhelming," he said of the reception. "But it was overwhelming in a good way. I've never had an ovation like that."
Green isn't a stranger to big ovations. He heard deafening cheers from a Senior Day sellout crowd of 21,750 at the Smith Center. He stood at center court in Detroit while "One Shining Moment" played at Ford Field. He watched confetti fall in San Antonio after winning this year's NBA title.
The warm reception in Chapel Hill, though, seemed to connect with him. An hour after he'd stood there near the 25-yard line and watched everyone come to their feet, including a boisterous reception from the Carolina football players who were huddled nearby, he was still shaking his head.
"It was unbelievable," he said. "Chapel Hill has showed me so much love."
GoHeels.com will have more video and content from Danny Green later this week.
