
{"id":15957,"date":"2011-02-17T10:31:24","date_gmt":"2011-02-17T15:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=15957"},"modified":"2011-02-17T10:31:25","modified_gmt":"2011-02-17T15:31:25","slug":"heels-continue-to-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/02\/17\/heels-continue-to-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"Heels continue to grow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/02\/17\/heels-continue-to-grow\/landreth-mug-13\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15958\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/landreth-mug1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"landreth-mug\" width=\"100\" height=\"134\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-15958\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/landreth-mug1.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/landreth-mug1-84x113.jpg 84w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/landreth-mug1-59x80.jpg 59w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Eddy Landreth<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\nNorth Carolina is closer to being one of the best teams in America than most of the media and fans around the nation understand.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You going to tell me that two of the better teams in the country are not us and North Carolina?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the defending national champions had to come from behind to win at Cameron Indoor Stadium. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The team we played tonight is not as good as anybody in the country? Come on, they can play with anybody.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They were as good a team as we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve played; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no question about it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Krzyzewski said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They have such good talent, and Roy has them in a system that suits them so well. They run so well. [John] Henson has an impact that shows up in stats, but he has more of an impact than that. He is really good. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a more unique guy than him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>This Carolina team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chemistry, or blend of personalities and styles on the court, is outstanding. UNC is gifted and possesses a unique talent base on which to build a far greater team by the time this season finishes.<\/p>\n<p>Losing to Duke inflicted pain on the Tar Heels; but if pain can be a good thing, this was. The Tar Heels will continue to grow and mature from a game of this stature, played in an arena that was so loud the noise hurt one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ears.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tonight we made each other better,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Krzyzewski said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Both teams got something out of it. Going forward, both teams will have a chance to cause some trouble for people.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Why is UNC good? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good question, coming one season after the Tar Heels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lost 17 games, particularly given that Carolina is relying heavily on three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior who has not played much before this season because of injuries.<\/p>\n<p>In looking at this team, one has to start with Henson. He snatches rebounds half a foot above where most big men can reach. He blocks shots so often and with such timing that he seems to get inside opponents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 heads.<\/p>\n<p>In the bounce-back victory against Clemson this past Saturday, Henson blocked the Tigers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 first four shots and helped to push their offense to the perimeter for much of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Offensively, he is simply uncanny in his unorthodox manner of driving to the basket. He is able to put the ball on the floor without losing it; and, taking two long strides from the free-throw line, lay it in the bucket for two points. He can shoot hook shots that no one playing college basketball today can dream of blocking.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153His reach is unbelievable,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Krzyzewski said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s a better shot-blocker in the country. He is unique. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as good a big guy as there is in the country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Kendall Marshall is an ideal point guard for this group because he is a skilled passer who puts the ball into people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hands right where they want it, to score.<\/p>\n<p>Harrison Barnes is quietly starting to realize his great potential. The drive and dunk he had at Clemson, energizing the team, is a prelude of dominance to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When that happened, I said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcOK, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to win this game,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marshall said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It took the crowd out of it. Everything went silent. They didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see it coming. We didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see it coming.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>This Carolina team is developing into a more effective defensive force with every practice and game. And as the players learn to try to go one-on-one less, move without the ball and make the so-called extra pass, their offense is going to get better and better.<\/p>\n<p>The offense will also improve when Leslie McDonald and Reggie Bullock learn to spot up in the right places and then shoot jump shots with confidence. Both would benefit from driving more and shooting some mid-range jumpers.<\/p>\n<p>The real X-factor for this team is 7-foot Tyler Zeller. When he learns to focus the entire time he is on the court, to always be ready to catch the ball and make strong moves to the basket or kick it out to the perimeter when double-teamed, this team will be incredibly difficult to guard.<\/p>\n<p>As a group, the most important thing for the Tar Heels for the rest of the season is to improve their desire to win and be willing to put in the extra work and attention needed to hear what Coach Roy Williams is teaching, rather than just listening to the sounds from his mouth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Carolina is closer to being one of the best teams in America than most of the media and fans around the nation understand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[431],"class_list":["post-15957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15957"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16080,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15957\/revisions\/16080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}