4: North Carolina
Despite a change at the top, the Tar Heels will return to a familiar look: a pressing
defense
 During his 36 years as North Carolina's coach, Dean Smith preferred
that there be only one voice speaking for the Tar Heels. So
he forbade his assistants from commenting to reporters
about the team, which helps explain why Bill Guthridge
could spend 30 years
sitting next to Smith on the Tar Heels' bench and still be able
to walk the streets of Chapel Hill in relative anonymity.
"That's part of why I loved my job," Guthridge
says. "I could go to the grocery store, I could go to
the movies, I could go out to eat.
Some people would recognize me, but not
many."
Let the record show that Guthridge's last supper was on
Oct. 8, when he and his wife,
Leesie, quietly celebrated their 28th anniversary at a restaurant
in Raleigh. By the time they got home that night, the news
of Smith's retirement had broken and there were 24 messages
on the Guthridges' answering machine. Smith held his press
conference the
next day, and the Guthridges have since taken an unlisted
phone
number.
Little else about the Tar Heels is different from a year
ago, however. Six of the top seven players return from a
team that won the ACC tournament and reached the Final
Four. While Smith's sudden
abdication caught the Heels off guard, it also infused
them with a healthy dose of
attitude. "We know people are going to be doubting
us," says junior power forward Antawn Jamison, a
two-time first-team All-ACC
selection. "It's going to boil down to the players and our
dedication on the floor. We know what
we have to do."
It's hard to believe, in light of North Carolina's history,
that there were doubts about the Tar Heels last year. The
day after North Carolina lost to Virginia to drop to 0-3 in
the ACC for the first time ever, Jamison and teammate Vince
Carter returned
from practice to their dorm rooms to find taped to their
doors newspaper articles chronicling the team's woes. At
the midway point of the conference season, the Heels were
3-5 and in sixth place, and many of the players felt
abandoned. "It was amazing,"
Carter says. "We weren't winning, and all of a sudden
it seemed like our fans weren't
behind
us."
North Carolina won 16 straight from that point on before
succumbing to Arizona in the NCAA tournament semifinals. A
big reason for the Tar Heels' turnaround was the marked
improvement of freshman point guard Ed Cota, who was named
the ACC's rookie of
the year. Though he could stand to improve his outside
shooting—he attempted only 25 three-pointers last year and
made just eight of them—Cota's ability to provide a steady
hand at the point could be the key for what will be a much
quicker unit this
season. Serge Zwikker, the lumbering
7'3" center, has graduated, and while he provided North
Carolina with a powerful inside presence, his
slow-footedness also hindered the Heels' ability to push
the ball upcourt and apply defensive pressure. "It
killed Dean the last couple of years not to
be able to press," Guthridge
says.
The backcourt will be in good hands with Cota and senior
shooting guard Shammond Williams, who averaged 14.1 points
a game and knocked down 41.9% of his three-pointers last
season. They'll be spelled by
6'5" freshman Max Owens, a talented shooter who can
create his own shot off the dribble. Up front, the quicker
pace should benefit Carter, a
6'7" swingman who has mixed breathtaking athleticism
with maddening inconsistency in his first two seasons at
Chapel Hill. The biggest question mark, though, is at
center, where
6'10" senior Makhtar Ndiaye will get first crack at
replacing Zwikker, with
6'9" Ademola Okulaja standing by. A 7-foot freshman,
Brendan Haywood, might also figure into the mix by season's
end.
|
Last Year | 28-7 |
|
Returning Starters | 4 |
| Points Per Game '96-97 | 77.4 |
| PPG By All Returning Players | 62.3 | Though the Tar Heels thus appear to be in splendid shape
for the first year A.D.—After Dean—Guthridge is wary of
making any predictions. When asked how his sideline
comportment will differ from Smith's, Guthridge replied,
"I have no idea. It'll be
interesting to see." Sounds like a man looking to find his
own
voice.—Seth Davis
Next: Clemson
|
