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Lucas: The Comeback
December 8, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
On an otherwise grim day, Jeremiah Francis and Anthony Harris completed a lengthy comeback.
CHARLOTTESVILLE—The scoreboard, of course, is not encouraging. Virginia thumped Carolina, 56-47, on Sunday afternoon. It wasn't pretty.
If you are one of those types of people who thinks that absolutely nothing positive should come from a loss, that everyone should mope around in misery until the next time Carolina takes the court, that's totally understandable and you'll want to skip the rest of this story.
But if you're open to the idea that even a dismal defeat can be a step forward for certain individuals, you'll want to see the scene in the John Paul Jones Arena stands around 25 minutes after the game ended. That's where Jeremiah Francis stood, in full suit and tie, FaceTiming with his father, a smile on the freshman's face. Next to him was Anthony Harris talking to his family and friends, having also just made his Tar Heel debut.
After hoping and dreaming and, most importantly, working, the duo were officially in a college basketball box score. Harris tore his ACL in early December of 2018. Francis has been through two years of rehab after a two surgeries on his left knee.
So, yes, they weren't happy with the outcome of the contest. Carolina has significant work to do. But when asked about that moment with 7:42Â left in the game when Roy Williams sent them both to check in, neither could help it when a smile spread over their faces.
"It's been such a long journey," Francis said. "So many people stuck with me and helped me get stronger every day."
Both players credited the work of Tar Heel athletic trainer Doug Halverson and strength and conditioning coach Jonas Sahratian.Â
"We've been in the weight room for early morning 7:30 workouts almost every day," Harris said. "We wanted to do anything we could do to speed up our recovery, even if that meant getting up before 7:00 in the morning."
That work paid off when Williams approached them in shootaround on Sunday and told them to be ready to play against Virginia. They'd been cleared medically to participate, but Williams was hesitant about using players who had only been through a couple of full-court practices.
The general thinking was that the duo might return against Wofford next week in Carmichael Arena. Instead, with Carolina struggling to find any rhythm, Williams used them in the second half against the Cavaliers. Both notched their first points as Tar Heels, with Francis converting a free throw and Harris sinking two field goals.
The disappointment from Sunday's loss will eventually fade. There will be other games. The feeling from those moments, though, won't dissipate anytime soon.Â
Imagine you're a teenager and the one thing you love more than anything else is taken away from you. All those weight room visits, all those afternoons on the stationary bicycle while the rest of your teammates shoot and run and jump, all those times you wanted to turn the alarm off when it was still dark outside—Francis and Harris fought through all of those realities to get to Sunday afternoon.Â
As Dean Smith so often said, during the season it's only about the team and during the offseason it's only about the individual. But on this one day, for just this minute, maybe it was just a little bit about those two individuals, and Smith would be the first to recognize that Harris and Francis are people before they are basketball players. And Sunday said more about them as people than it did about Carolina as a basketball team.
"I never doubted I would get back on the court eventually," said Francis. "Once I got to Chapel Hill this summer and started working with Jonas and Doug, I felt like they would get me back on the court."
If you're a parent, you'll understand exactly what Francis' father, Jerry, was telling him in their FaceTime conversation. You take your kids to all those practices and drive to all the tournaments and wash the uniforms and prepare the water bottles for one reason only—because they love to play, and you love to watch them play. So imagine that you're Jerry Francis on Sunday afternoon, and all of a sudden there's your kid kneeling by the scorer's table, finally doing what he loves again.
"He told me it had been two years since he had been able to watch me play basketball," Francis said. "And he said watching me come into that game was a very proud moment."
