Lucas: Year Two, Day One

By Adam Lucas

Let the record reflect that this season's first official "live action" reference from Carolina head coach Hubert Davis occurred approximately 30 minutes into the first practice.

Most of the Tar Heel fan base became aware of Davis' affinity for the phrase when he said it during an in-game interview in last season's national championship game. But he'd been using it with his team throughout the season.

Go on the road to a hostile environment? That's live action.

NCAA Tournament? Live action.

Get two minutes of playing time in the second half of a close game? You guessed it—live action.

The phrase became so ubiquitous that it was the perfect rebranding for Friday night's celebration of the opening of the college basketball season. Formerly Late Night, now Live Action, begins at 7:30 p.m.

Before then, though, Davis will put his Tar Heels through three practices, including a relatively early session on Monday because there were no classes due to a University wellness day. The initial practice began with what has become the traditional Thought for the Day at practice #1: "It's amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit."

The session also marked the debut of the program's new navy practice shorts—hey, it's the little things!—which are a throwback to the gear Davis and several assistant coaches wore during their playing careers. Davis himself made the request for the switch.

The players in those practice uniforms had a productive first day. The NCAA's switch to allowing preseason workouts means most of the basics have already been introduced, so the freshmen don't feel quite as overwhelmed. That includes Seth Trimble, who is the very, very early candidate to be the freshman who earns the firmest spot in a rotation that is otherwise stocked with experienced depth.

And while there has been plenty of buzz about the offensive potential of this year's squad, Monday's practice included a nice reminder that it was their defense that was instrumental in last year's postseason run. The 2022 Tar Heels allowed the six NCAA Tournament opponents to shoot just 38.4 percent from the floor and a meager 27.0 percent from the three-point line (those same numbers were 44.0 percent and 37.1 percent in ACC play) while strangling them with a 13-rebound advantage on the backboards.

During Monday's controlled scrimmage period, the starting five went through an approximately eight-minute stretch where they were simply dominant on defense, with the guards shutting down ballhandlers on the perimeter and Pete Nance and Armando Bacot swatting anything that approached the paint. The Blue (reserve) squad was held scoreless during that span.

It's not quite postseason form just yet, however. The Blues eventually came back to get several buckets.

Overall, though, the Tar Heels on Monday looked like exactly what they are—an experienced team that already largely understands Davis' expectations. It showed during a drill focusing on defending the screen on the ball, when Davis stopped the (live) action to praise Bacot. "Armando, you were unbelievable right here," the head coach said. "You were great. Did you see that, guys? He was up here, active, and in his stance."

Davis isn't above criticizing the big man; in fact, Bacot identified a specific Davis criticism as one of the turning points of his Tar Heel career (there's much more on that story in Together, which is about a month away from release). But it's a promising season when the team's best player is also the one being singled out for little details in a drill. And that's also why Davis' last words to his team on Monday were not entirely unexpected:

"Great job today, guys," the head coach told them. "I'm very proud of you."

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Pete Nance

Seth Trimble

Related Videos