University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Championship Perks
May 25, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Adam Lucas
Theo Pinson has already received some of the best spoils of winning the 2017 national championship. He watched One Shining Moment on the podium with his team at University of Phoenix Stadium. He cut the net. He celebrated with thousands of Tar Heel fans at the Smith Center.
But there's one more benefit he's eagerly awaiting: this summer's pickup games with Tar Heel basketball alums. Tradition holds that players who earned a national championship tend to get more favorable calls in those games. If a call is close, the national champ is likely to point at the banner they hung in the Smith Center rafters, and that's the tiebreaking vote.
“You can't say anything to Rasheed (Wallace), because he's the OG,” Pinson said. “But some of those other guys, I can't wait until they try to get a call. I'm just going to look up, and it's going to be hilarious. I don't know when the banner is actually going up, but we need to get one up in the practice gym early. I'm going to make one myself and put it on the wall.”
Of course, there's one slight hazard of talking trash in a Tar Heel pickup game: you're probably playing with several other national champions. Still, Pinson is looking forward to—at least—being on equal footing.
“Last summer, some of those guys like Jawad (Williams) and D-No (David Noel) kept talking about how we didn't get one of those banners, so we couldn't get a call and just had to get downcourt,” Pinson said. “I'm not sure what the tiebreaker is when it's national champion against national champion, but I want to find out.”
After winning the championship, Pinson submitted his name for NBA Draft consideration. He wanted to receive the professional evaluation, but he also knew that since he was already the owner of a national title ring, he might need some additional motivation for his senior year.
“I put my name in because I wanted to see where I would be as of right now,” he said. “Most of the feedback was what I expected. Shoot the ball better, defend a little better. I want to put a full season together and show what I can do. And I want to use those evaluations as fuel. We won the national championship, so we're going to have to find some different things for fuel this year.”
Even almost three months before the first day of fall classes, Pinson is already a little wistful about his senior year. He'll get to go through it with his best friend, Joel Berry, both of whom agree they wouldn't have wanted to do their senior year without the other. “Everyone says we're attached at the hip,” Pinson says with a grin.
They've already discussed some of the moments they're most anticipating in 2017-18, from their final Late Night with Roy Williams to their last home game at the Smith Center to their senior speeches on the floor of the court where they've played so many games.
The last two senior nights in Chapel Hill have been epic. The 2018 version promises to be just as good, and Pinson knows exactly how he wants his senior season to end.
“What I've seen since I've been here is how much all the seniors care,” Pinson says. “You see how much they put into the season, and at the end of the year, you can tell they're starting to get a little emotional. You've been playing here for so long and you have so many stories to tell the younger guys. I can't believe it's almost my time to give a senior speech. That's going to be a mess.
"At the end of the year, I want to go out the same way Isaiah, Kennedy and Nate did. Joel and I are ready to do that.”
