Lucas: Preseason Basketball Notebook

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

September 1, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas

Carolina practiced twice this week as preparations begin for the start of the season in late September.

By: Adam Lucas

By Adam Lucas

Don't tell Hubert Davis it's only the first day of September.

The Carolina head coach was in midseason form this week as his Tar Heels went through a couple of the NCAA-allowed preseason practices. Official practice for the 2022-23 season will begin in late September.

With no opponent to prepare for, this week's two sessions were focused on two aspects of the game: individual skills and refining some of the offensive and defensive principles that form the core of Davis' system.

That doesn't mean, however, that they were easy workouts.

Less than ten minutes into Thursday's session, Davis halted a very basic fullcourt layup drill when he spotted what he considered to be an egregious error.

"What have I told you many times?" he asked the team. "The best way to be successful is to do exactly what I say to do. When you're on the left side, it's a left hand layup. If you choose not to do that, how can I trust you to put you in the game? When you get on the court, you might decide you are going to do something your way instead of my way."

And when they're on the court together, it's readily apparent that there will be plenty of Tar Heels vying for playing time. Add Pete Nance to the four returning veterans (Caleb Love, RJ Davis, Armando Bacot and Leaky Black) and that's five talented, experienced college basketball players. Freshmen Seth Trimble is going to play, as is Jalen Washington. Puff Johnson played key minutes in the postseason run. Dontrez Styles hit one of the biggest shots of the NCAA Tournament. D'Marco Dunn has shown flashes. Justin McKoy has significant ACC experience. Freshman Tyler Nickel has played bigger than his high school level of competition. Will Shaver has the added benefit of enrolling early last winter. You can legitimately make a believable case for thirteen different players earning major minutes this season--and there aren't enough minutes for a 13-player rotation (even while keeping in mind one of Davis' favorite sayings that applies to those in and out of the regular rotation: "You're going to get an opportunity, I just don't know when that opportunity will come.")

In other words: earning the head coach's trust is the best path to playing time on a crowded depth chart. Even if that means something as simple as how you shoot a layup.

Notes: No word yet on an ACC schedule. Last year it wasn't released until Sept. 16, and it is tracking to be around that same date this year…Recall that Hubert Davis is such a competitor that he watched the 1991 team's Final Four loss to Kansas every year from 1991 until the Tar Heels won the 2017 national championship. So it shouldn't be a surprise that this spring's loss to the Jayhawks in the title game remains fresh in his mind. "We were one rebound away from the national championship last year," he told his team at one point on Thursday. "One rebound!"…Nance can be more than just a shooter. He averaged over a block a game for Northwestern last season and has been a defensive presence—in addition to a positive, vocal leader—in pickup and practice…

Because of the well-documented depth, Carolina is the preseason number-one team in the Blue Ribbon poll. That same poll indicates the nonconference schedule will be a tough one: the Tar Heels play at #12 Indiana, could play #16 Villanova in the semifinals of the PK85, face #18 Michigan in Charlotte, and could also see #24 Michigan State in Portland. According to the ACC schedule rotation, Carolina is also slated to have home-and-homes with the two other ACC teams in the poll: Duke (#5) and Virginia (#20).