Lucas: One To 400

By Adam Lucas

Roy Williams has won 400 games at the University of North Carolina and one of them was because of Sterling Manley.

This is not said, in the wake of Manley's 16-point, 13-rebound performance in the 93-81 win over Bucknell, to denigrate Manley. This is said because approximately a month ago there was some concern as to whether Manley would be able to take a break from his multiple attempts at conditioning tests long enough to actually play basketball for the Tar Heels.

On numerous occasions, Williams has stood at the East Chapel Hill track, begging, cajoling, pleading with Manley to make his time. "That's not good enough, Sterling," he will shout. "Do you want to play?" he will ask him. "Let's go, big fella!"

Sometimes (mile run and 33s test) Manley eventually made it, although never on the first try. Sometimes (the 12-minute run) he still hasn't. You know that offhand comment Williams has made a couple times recently about how a player on the current team believes they came to UNC on a track scholarship rather than a basketball scholarship? Well, now you know the secret identity of that individual.

But here's the thing. This is not the first time Williams has stood out there at the track and shook his head and muttered and mumbled and grumbled. You didn't always hear about those stories at the time, either. But you might have heard about the ultimate conclusion to those stories—they became Sean May and Deon Thompson and Kennedy Meeks.

You know what all three of those individuals have in common? Well, yes, they hated preseason conditioning, for one. But for another, they all see a national championship ring when they look on their dresser.

That's what Williams has done so often during his 15 seasons in Chapel Hill. He takes players and makes them better than what they believe they can be. Every single one of those players—and Manley—at one point during September and October, thought, "I can't do this." Every single one of them blanched at the thought of another afternoon with Jonas Sahratian. And every single one of them, along with dozens more of their teammates, left Carolina having achieved more than they ever dreamed.

That's because of the talent and commitment of players like Raymond Felton and Tyler Hansbrough and Justin Jackson. But the overwhelming common thread is simple: that's because of Roy Williams.

Oh yes, he gets some very talented players. He's not winning with the cast of Hoosiers here. But here is the exact recruiting story of Sterling Manley coming to Carolina, as told by Sterling Manley:

"One of my high school coaches asked me what school I wanted to go to," he says. "I was joking, and I said, 'North Carolina.' I knew they would never come to see me. He said, 'Let's make it happen.' He sent my film to (assistant women's basketball coach) Sylvia Crawley, and she gave the film to Coach (Steve) Robinson. She told him, 'We get these all the time.'"

Stop right there. Do you know how many of these films the basketball office receives? You will never know how many people in America are personally acquainted with a 6-foot-9 kid who is averaging a triple-double in high school until you are a college assistant coach. Most of those kids turn out to measure 6-foot-1 and the triple-double is in turnovers, missed free throws and minutes.

But every once in a while, you get a Sterling Manley, who is laughing at this part of the story.

"I guess Coach Rob was jumping out of his chair (when he watched the film)," he says. "And the next week Coach Williams came and watched me play."

And now the player who broke his right leg going into his junior year of high school and his left leg going into his senior year of high school is a Tar Heel who puts up 16 points and 13 rebounds in the second game of his college career. I would like to name for you the Carolina big men who did not have a double-double by the second game of their Tar Heel career: Tyler Hansbrough. Brandan Wright. Tyler Zeller. John Henson…

Stop. Just stop. Sterling Manley is none of those players. But he is exactly how Williams won these 400 games, because somehow he finds the players who need to be pushed, who will use it as fuel, and then turns them into 16 points and 13 rebounds in 17 minutes of game action. On that track at East Chapel Hill and on that Smith Center court during conditioning, it was painful to watch Manley run. But he never gave up. And neither did his coach.

"Everything Coach Williams does has a reason," Manley said. "I needed him to push me. I didn't know how to practice. I just showed up for the games. Now I have someone who pushes me and helps me grow, and it makes me a better player."

One day, of course, we'll have to decide how to honor Williams. Maybe they will name the court after him, which seems too commonplace, or maybe they'll build a statue. It won't matter. The incredible impact he's had on his players, and the loyalty and devotion his passion for their success has inspired, will matter to him infinitely more.

You don't come to Carolina because of a gimmick or because of a slogan. You come to Carolina because Roy Williams will figure out exactly what your limit might be, and then he'll push you right past it, every single day for every year that you're a Tar Heel. You will take zero days off but neither will he. And you'll win a lot of games and one day, he'll have 400 of them, and he will be able to look back and recite each and every player who has been part of those 400, and the two of you will laugh about that time you didn't think you'd make it.

This one was perfect. This one was the textbook example of how he did it. Every single player who has played for him over this last decade and a half can tell you about a time he didn't think he'd succeed at Carolina, and how Williams made them fight through it. They have all been Sterling Manley on that track. And they've all been Sterling Manley in that locker room, too, with their teammates shouting, "Big Ster!" and celebrating with them.

So, you might wonder, how did Roy Williams celebrate his 400^th win at Carolina? He is the first coach to win 400 games at two schools. Perhaps this was cause for a party, or at least an extra scoop of ice cream.

Here is what he did: he gathered his entire staff and took them to UNC Hospital, where they sat in the room with Cameron Johnson, who gave up his hometown school and his hometown and being a 20-minute drive from his family to come play basketball for Williams at North Carolina. Johnson underwent knee surgery on Wednesday afternoon, and Williams couldn't go home without stopping first at the hospital.

He did it because it's the only way he knows how to run a program, and because Johnson is family now, and because this whole thing, it only works with the complete commitment of the players and the coach. This is the deal. He will ask you to sweat and ache and push. And in return, he will be there at the track and on the sideline and in the hospital room with you, every time.

Because one day Roy Williams will win more than 400 games. And one of them will be because of Cameron Johnson. And that's all the reason he needed to be there.

Players Mentioned

Cameron Johnson

Sterling Manley

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