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BASKETBALL NOTES: Heels come to play on Tuesdays

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Staff

Frank Heath

It’s been three and a half decades since the North Carolina Tar Heels were regular guests at the post-season National Invitational Tournament, where they played three times during a four-year span between 1971 and 1974, and Carolina fans hope it will be even longer before the Tar Heels have such frequent visits to this tournament again. But in the troubled season that has been 2009-10, it is indeed a relief to be able to say that UNC basketball will be at Madison Square Garden starting next Tuesday night for the Final Four of the NIT.

This team could have easily been left out of the event or – perhaps worse – fallen in the first round if they had not arrived prepared. But Carolina has instead played some of its best basketball of the season over the past week and change, executing in the clutch, clamping down on defense and learning better how to emphasize its strengths and attack the opposition’s weaknesses.

From the moment the Tar Heels set foot on the Carmichael Auditorium court last Tuesday night, they have exhibited measures of passion, intensity and confidence that had dwindled into short supply during ACC play this year.

That difference has been evident in the stats, as Carolina’s scoring, shooting, turnover and defensive numbers have been improved during NIT play. It has also been evident on the players’ often-smiling faces and in their relaxed gaits, as they have prowled first the Carmichael court and then the loud, strange and imposing Deep South dens at Mississippi State and UAB, in Starkville and Birmingham.

The positive change has probably been most evident in UNC’s end-of-game performances – the Tar Heels have come up with game-winning runs and made the big plays in the waning moments of three consecutive tight post-season games now, at times when the consequences of failing at would have been heading home for good.

And individually, senior Deon Thompson has had a couple of his best games, scoring 20 against William & Mary and dropping a double-double Tuesday night to lead the Tar Heels against UAB. At Thompson’s side, Marcus Ginyard has been the team leader and exhibited a level of ease and confidence on the court that we have not seen since his junior season. Larry Drew II has come up with the biggest plays, and directed both the offense and the defense, with a steady hand that often went away as quickly as it showed up during the regular season.

And post players John Henson and Tyler Zeller have continued to show improvement and a better grasp of what they are supposed to do within the Carolina system, while also recognizing better what they are capable of naturally. The other guys getting minutes – Leslie McDonald, Will Graves, Dexter Strickland and Travis Ware – have also made positive contributions in these wins.

It’s nice to be able to say these things about the play of this UNC team over a stretch of games, because until very recently that would not have been possible.

Now comes the fun part, as all that remains for Carolina is simply to head up to New York and storm the Garden, extending the way it has played the past three games for another two, on one of basketball’s biggest stages.

The Tar Heels managed to win this event one time before, capturing the 1971 NIT title on the same storied court by first cutting down close rival Duke, 73-67, in the semi-final, and then Georgia Tech and its All-American Rich Yunkus, 84-66, in the championship game. (In a first-round game that year, Carolina held Julius Erving to 13 points.)

In the absence of injured star Dennis Wuycik on that final weekend in ‘71, Carolina forward Bill Chamberlain was named tourney MVP after scoring 34 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against the Yellow Jackets in the final. For Chamberlain, whose #31 Jersey hangs in the Smith Center to this day, that game would serve as a springboard for a sensational 1972 season in which he earned second-team All-America honors.

Back then, with only 16 teams in the NCAA field and 16 playing in the NIT, winning the NIT title was a bigger deal than it could ever be now. But for a UNC team that just weeks ago could have had only the faintest thoughts of playing this late into March, winning one or two more games would have to be a very, very satisfying way to finish up what was becoming, more and more, a disappointing and chaotic year.

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