Backward & Forward

MJ in the Clutch / 1982

   This Carolina basketball season is probably one of the more unique and different ones that I have experienced.  I’ve seen frustration before, usually at the end of a season, when a player gets injured or a game ends in a disappointing loss.  I can think of 1977’s injury to Phil Ford, and eventual Four Corners debacle in the Championship game with Marquette.  Or more recently, 2011’s injury to Kendall Marshall, that more than likely cost UNC a Final Four appearance.   We even had more positive turns of fate, like in 1982, when Michael Jordan hit a championship game-winning jump shot, and then Georgetown’s Freddie Brown sealed it by throwing away a pass;  and then in 1993, with the infamous time out call by Michigan’s Chris Webber that secured an NCAA title for Carolina.

   But this season is a little different, in that some of the many circumstances that have impacted this Tar Heels season happened BEFORE the season started.   Of course, I am referring to the incidences with UNC star players P.J. Hairston and Leslie McDonald.   After both players were suspended from being in the starting lineup at the season’s beginning, McDonald has returned, but lost the first nine games of the season, and Hairston will not be reinstated, missing the entire season.  Chances are that P.J. will never again don a Carolina uniform again.  While these are not the only factors in how Carolina’s season has gone, it has had a tremendously negative effect on it. 

   I must say that even though the Tar Heels play has been erratic and unpredictable at times, they have had their highlights, looking like a Final Four team in beating Michigan State, Kentucky, and Louisville in convincing fashion.  But then at other times, they have looked like immature schoolboys, throwing passes where there are no teammates to catch them, and missing free throw after free throw.  If they had made at least 10% more of their free throws, the Tar Heels would be undefeated and probably ranked as the #1 team in the polls.  Instead, they are a modestly respectable 9-3, and ranked 19 th, picked by many to be third in the ACC behind Syracuse and Duke.

  After losing to a good unranked Texas team on Dec. 18, the Tar Heels have reeled off three straight wins.  The first two featured Tar Heels "Version 1"- the erratic, often frustrated group, beating Davidson 97-85 (in OT) and Northern Kentucky, a team they should have beaten by 30 or 40 points, by 75-60.  Then on New Year's Eve, Carolina unveiled their other team, "Version 2"- the sharp, energetic group that earlier knocked off the three Top Ten teams, and they whipped up on UNC-Wilmington, 84-51, with a dominating second half performance, outscoring UNC-W 53-28.  

   Many programs would be bragging on their team if they were 9-3 and boasted such early wins over top teams. But this program is a storied one with great expectations each and every year, and the teams that have not achieved and overachieved can be counted on one hand.  Carolina fans are used to teams, not with just 20 wins and an NCAA tournament berth, but ones with 30+ wins, conference championships, and Final Four berths. Take a quick peek in the rafters of the Dean Dome. This year’s team, while certainly perking our interest at times, has raised more questions than eyebrows.  One wonders if UNC will raise more banter than banners this year.

   UNC Coach Roy Williams was quoted this week as saying, when asked if he was pleased with his team's performance, "No coach is ever going to say that they're satisfied with where they stand unless you're 13-0 and beating everybody by a million."

    Sure, basketball is a sport that is based on a ball that bounces up and down, but teams that bounce that way are not usually the best or most elite.  Three great wins against Top Five opponents.  Three mediocre losses against unranked teams.  It leaves us wondering : just which Tar Heels team will show up next ?

   UNC has now reached their ACC conference schedule, and will play Wake Forest next.  This should be a fairly easy win.  Will it be?   We’ll see.. depends on whether UNC is “on” or “off.”  With #2 ranked Syracuse looming on the horizon, we will soon get a better picture of what kind of Tar Heel team will be showing up on the court come tournament time. Here's a quick look at Carolina's upcoming schedule :

• Sun Jan 5 / UNC @ Wake Forest
• Wed Jan 8 / Miami
• Sat Jan 11 / at Syracuse

   With P.J. gone and Leslie still shaking off the rust, who will pick up the slack?   So far, point guard turned shooting guard Marcus Paige seems to be the only real consistently productive player on the roster. James Michael McAdoo looked like a star during spots the last two years, but hasn’t really stepped up.  J.P. Tokoto, Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks & Nate Britt have shone at times, but been lackluster at others.  And of course, as I said before, Leslie McDonald has the shooting touch from the 3-point arc, but hasn’t found his midseason form, and isn’t near the leader we had hoped he would become so far. 

   The Tar Heels need to look deep within and lift themselves up to a higher and more consistent level of play.  If not, then UNC may fall into the middle of the pack and become lost in the shuffle.