Lucas: White Soaking Up Knowledge

By Adam Lucas

Nearly two months into his first fall semester at the University of North Carolina, Coby White is still a little amazed at the realities of his new life.

During the Carolina basketball reunion weekend in August, White had just completed over an hour of pickup against a formidable alumni-stocked squad that rolled through virtually every possible combination of opponents (that's what happens when your team features Raymond Felton, Rasheed Wallace, Danny Green and Marvin Williams) without a loss.

Once the games were over, White lingered on the court, getting instruction from Felton about how to run a specific play. The freshman realizes very few 18-year-olds get insider tips from 13-year NBA veterans. Want to feel old? Coby White was in preschool when Felton and the Tar Heels won the 2005 national title.

But he's still mature enough to realize the value of the pointers he's received since arriving on campus.

"You're around legends on a regular basis," White said. "You're around people every day who know way more than yourself about the game of basketball. It's not normal for an 18 year old like me to be able to get knowledge about the game from someone like Raymond Felton, who has played 13 years in the NBA. And yet there he is talking to me, because he has my best interests at heart and he's my family now. To be around that caliber of people, who led the way and set the path for us and now consider me family, is amazing. I'm thankful to be able to talk to them and for them to be willing to share their knowledge with us—not just about basketball but also about life."

Of course, it was natural to wonder exactly what Felton was telling White as they walked the court that day in August. The two guards were mostly hovering around the free throw line as they chatted, which it turns out was exactly the point.

"He told me to stay low," White said. "He said I can live in the midrange area. My game has always been to get to the basket, but he told me it's going to be tougher to do that in college because you're going against seven-footers all the time. So he wanted me to stay low, and he also said I have to be a leader. That's something I've heard from a lot of people since I committed here—in order to play at Carolina, I have to be more of a leader on the court."

You don't become the state of North Carolina's single-season scoring leader (White scored 1,069 points as a junior to set the state record) without a vast array of ways to put the ball in the basket. But White isn't satisfied. In an effort to maximize his production, especially in that midrange area highlighted by Felton, the Goldsboro native wants to add a floater to his vast scoring repertoire.

White is the fifth state of North Carolina Mr. Basketball to play for the Tar Heels during the Williams era, and the first since Theo Pinson in 2014. But he's the first point guard of that group, and he is already well aware that the position comes with extra expectations.

"If you don't have a high IQ for the game, it's going to be hard for you here," he said. "If you're a point guard and you don't do the little things, it's going to be hard for you here. The great point guards that came through here, they weren't just physically talented. They knew how to play the game. It can get stressful sometimes, but it's nice to see how much faith Coach Williams puts in his point guards."

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Theo Pinson

Coby White

Related Videos