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This year’s Heels – a whole new ballgame

Posted on December 9, 2010December 9, 2010 by Staff


By Eddy Landreth
Staff Writer

This is not last year’s basketball team.

Those words are meant for those worried that UNC is going to take another swan dive.

This team may not win any championships, but this is not last season’s team. Period.

But wanting to do well is different from understanding how to go about it, how to work together and what Coach Roy Williams means when he says something. That’s a reality that makes winning more difficult than meets the eye.

As for the talent, let’s get one thing straight. Aside from defending national champion Duke, every team in the ACC would trade its team for the overwhelming majority of these kids. And we know that even Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski wanted freshman Harrison Barnes in the worst way.

What gets lost in the 21st century cult of the freshman is that 99 percent of the players in college travel a natural learning curve, the same as they did back in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

All one has to do is look at John Henson. Most people want to blame Williams for holding Henson back a year ago, which is nonsense. Williams did not hold anyone back.

Last year’s group happened to be especially immature, with no natural leader to step forward and take charge.

Look at Henson now. He’s only scratching the surface of what he could be – but, oh my, what a surface. With a wingspan of at least 7’ 4’’, he has learned how to rebound at this level. He always knew how to block shots. And now he is learning to weave through players and make shots in a way that I have not personally seen since Ralph Sampson at Virginia.

Now, I’m not comparing Henson to Sampson; but to those old enough to remember Sampson taking that thin body of his and snaking through a crowd to score, tell me Henson does not remind you of him.

The sore spot on the team has been Larry Drew, and for good reason. Not everything that has gone wrong with UNC in the last year and a half is Drew’s fault, but the point guard is the leader on the court. He has to accept the responsibility for success and failure, of his teammates as well as himself.

He also has to come to a meeting of the minds with his coach. Dean Smith won two national championships with guards who had no more talent than Drew. And Williams has already said that Drew has the capability to become the best defender at the point he has ever coached.

Drew needs to take care of the ball, go north and south instead of east and west and make sure his teammates are in the spot, then get them the ball.

Freshman Kendall Marshall is the perfect player to push Drew. Marshall’s basketball IQ is as high as one could hope to get. He looks to get the ball down court in scoring position as soon as he gets it, and no Carolina point guard has passed so well since Easy Ed Cota – who, by the way, went to three Final Fours without playing much defense.

The biggest development will come when Drew can prove his words have become knowledge, lessons that he translates onto the court every night.

“If things are getting kind of heated, and my teammates look at me and I’m relaxed and poised, then that is how they are going to be,” Drew said. “It all starts with the point guard, offensively and defensively.”

1 thought on “This year’s Heels – a whole new ballgame”

  1. Jeff Rupkalvis says:
    December 14, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    Well put Eddy. The Carrboro Citizen and its readers are really fortunate to have your contributions.

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