Lucas: Full Speed Ahead

By Adam Lucas

There is no official statistical definition for a fast break point. There's no manual you can consult, no clip tape you can watch.

For this year's Carolina team, here's the easiest way to tell if it's a fast break point: does Coby White have the ball? If so, you can probably put it in that category.

The Carolina freshman is a one-man fast break. Twice in the first half against Harvard, he pushed the ball for a Tar Heel basket after a Crimson made hoop; head coach Tommy Amaker immediately burned a timeout after the second one.

That's the kind of demoralizing bucket the Tar Heels score when the transition game is at its very, very best. As the UNC veterans will tell you—most teams can run after missed baskets or steals. Running after makes requires everyone doing everything exactly right; the big man getting the ball inbounds quickly, the wings sprinting down the floor, and the point guard catching the ball on the run, making good decisions, and getting the ball to the right teammate or doing it himself.

And sometimes—here's what freshmen may not learn until later in the year—it's just not there. Sometimes the best break is no break at all, being willing to settle for the secondary break rather than force the ball into the teeth of a defense that might have the offense outnumbered. That's sometimes difficult for a young player to learn; he's accustomed to being able to beat any defense, whether one-on-one or one-on-three, in high school.

"At the beginning of the season, I would push it every time because I knew Coach Williams wanted me to go fast," White said. "Now I'm trying to choose my times. I still have a ways to go."

But he's getting there. During one pretty stretch in the first half, with Harvard having taken the lead at 18-17, White rocketed down the court and pulled up for a foul line jumper. On the next possession, he again beat the defense downcourt, but this time found a wide open Cam Johnson for a layup.

The freshman is strong enough to finish through contact and occasionally make up for a bad decision with a purely physical play, but he's at his most dangerous when he combines the good choices with the incredible talent.

"The first thing I do is look to see if there are any seams or gaps," White said of what he sees when he brings the ball downcourt. "I look at the help side. If it's just me and my man, I feel like I can beat my man and make a play."

Let's all recognize this: Carolina will never, ever play fast enough for Roy Williams. The Tar Heels could put a five on the court of Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson, Coby White, Jackie Manuel and Tyler Zeller, and Williams would still believe they were lollygagging.

If you're looking for one of the primary differences in the freshman seasons so far of Nassir Little and White, White acknowledges he's been almost reckless with his desire to dash downcourt at every opportunity. Little said after Wednesday's game, "You have to monitor your energy level," when deciding when to sprint downcourt. Guess which of those two philosophies comes closer to the heart of Roy Williams?

Without it getting much attention, the Tar Heel tempo had slipped a little in recent years. Carolina was playing fast more by reputation than by production. Ken Pomeroy's stats evaluate something the stats guru calls "adjusted tempo," which measures the number of possessions per 40 minutes. It might surprise you to know that Carolina was a meager 46^thnationally in that category last season. That's not necessarily bad (the 2017 national champions were 40^th), but it's not necessarily the way Williams would prefer to play.

The Tar Heels haven't been in the top ten in adjusted tempo since the 2012 team quarterbacked by Kendall Marshall. Four of the five teams from 2005-09 were in the top ten.

This year's team currently ranks sixth, and that's largely due to White. That number will likely come down during ACC play as the Tar Heels encounter some of the more methodical squads in the league. But White still has the Tar Heels playing at a speed more comparable to last decade than to most teams we've seen in the 2010s.

"Coby is a fast guy," said fellow freshman Little. "He runs extremely fast with the ball in his hands. You have to try and create separation between you and your man. You have to make sure you're running hard, because Coby has the ability to look up and find you."

White will be the first to admit that he's still finding the balance between "looking up" and "looking at the rim." As he finds it, he'll make the offense even more dangerous. His teammates are also figuring out how to most efficiently run with their point guard rather than just watching him jet past people. They're learning there are times when their first inclination should be to hustle to the glass rather than spot up for a pass that might not come.

"A lot of that is solved through playing together," said Cam Johnson. "We'll figure out where he wants to shoot and where he likes to shoot it from. He likes to get it in transition and take it end to end. We'll learn that when he gets in certain spots he's going to kick it out and in other places on the court he's looking to shoot. We're working together, we're building a camaraderie, and we'll get things right."

Players Mentioned

Nassir Little

Coby White

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