Thursday, June 19, 2008

Commentary: Tar Heels should win it all in ‘09

With NBA draft stock down, Lawson, Green, Ellington elected to join Hansbrough for title run

By By Caulton Tudor - McClatchy Newspapers

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Raleigh, N.C. — It's an old story in the sense that one party's despair can be another's delight.

For North Carolina basketball fans on Monday, the delightful idea of a national-title chase was brought squarely into focus when Tar Heels Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green had to postpone for at least one season their hopes of landing berths on NBA rosters.

The three perimeter performers - junior guards Lawson and Ellington, and senior wingman Green - announced they would return to school for the 2008-09 season, thereby making Carolina the heaviest possible favorite to unseat Kansas as the next national-championship team.

Carolina's trio waited until the final minutes on Monday - 10 minutes before the deadline - before making their notions known through the school's sports information department.

At that point, coach Roy Williams called it "a long and exhaustive process of gathering information" and said that he was "pleased" the players went through the offseason workouts. Williams said that all eventually would be NBA players.

Don't bet heavily on that observation, though. All three had little choice except to seek safe campus harbor during a perfect storm of available talent to the pro teams. In other words, they weren't that good.

Only Lawson, a much-injured point guard, was ever remotely seen as a decent NBA first-round candidate. Ellington, an under-sized wing guard, was generally touted as a contender for the second round in the June 26 draft. Green, a sixth man, was sized up from the start as a marginal free-agent hopeful who would likely have to spend a good deal of time in the minor leagues, and/or Europe, before getting legitimate consideration for an NBA roster.

Whether they upgrade their pro stock or not next season, it leaves Carolina with talent aplenty to make a strong go at the '09 college title, which will be decided April 6 in Detroit. Before that, the Heels should be good enough to open the NCAA event in Greensboro on March 19 and 21. The four regional championships will be staged in Boston (East), Memphis (South), Indianapolis (Midwest) and Phoenix (West).

Other than UConn, Purdue or maybe even Duke, it's difficult to pinpoint strong challengers to Carolina's likely supremacy. The three returnees from Monday, plus Tyler Hansbrough, Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson will give UNC a huge national edge in talent and experience.

On paper, Carolina hasn't had such a glaring edge over the rest of the field since 1984. That team lost to Indiana in its second game of the NCAA Tournament.

The college game has changed beyond recognition since 1984. That Carolina team had Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, Kenny Smith and Brad Daugherty. The '09 Heels will not have that many future pro stars. But no team in the nation will begin with anywhere near the same collegiate punch. They may not win it all. But they should.

Comments

LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...

They'll still choke.

But, hey, atleast UNC will have to play some tournament games outside of the state of North Carolina next year......

Ty Lawson's return to Chapel Hill following the fans treatment of him for attempting to leave for the NBA should be interesting. I believe the term is..... awkward

June 19, 2008 at 3:16 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Mangino_Maniac (anonymous) says...

Anything short of the national championship will be a disappointment... talk about pressure.

June 19, 2008 at 7:30 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayViking (anonymous) says...

What did the fans do?

June 19, 2008 at 8:27 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jacqueshock (anonymous) says...

UNC may be the favorite, but there are several others who will be standing in the way.

The best team does not always win the title. See the '97 Kansas, '98 Arizona, '99 Duke (even though UConn was just as good, despite what people say).

Of course, there are favored teams that have won: '92 Duke, '95 UCLA, '96 Kentucky.

June 19, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...

jacqueshock, I can't believe you didn't mention '91 UNLV; undefeated until the championship game and lost to Duke.

JayViking - When Ty Lawson declared for the draft, many of the Tarheel fans were saying he wasn't good enough to play in the NBA. Several articles quoted him saying how that reaction pissed him off. They (the fans) all said he was great while playing at UNC, but then when he attempts to make some money on his game, he's suddenly no good. Now he's forced to return to school. Apropos, I suppose.

June 19, 2008 at 1:59 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...

woops, UNLV lost to Duke in the regional final not the championship. Sorry.

June 19, 2008 at 2:22 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KU (anonymous) says...

Those players might be back, but remember, THEY AREN'T THAT GOOD. KU put a beatdown on them they will never forget. They're the same kids. Soft. Fluffy. Just the way Roy likes them.

And now that Roy's "virus" has had time to fully-infect the UNC program (which it hadn't when he won with Doherty's players), they will choke. Mark it.

June 19, 2008 at 3:29 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Somewhere Mark Randall is cursing you. I mean, making a mistake like that is understandable normally. But not when KU was in the title game!

June 19, 2008 at 3:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

And BTW it wasn't in the regional final either but in the Final Four. Third time's the charm?

June 19, 2008 at 3:34 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...

Obviously calling it the championship game was a typo. Clearly I wouldn't have left out KU on purpose. Once I realized what I typed, I looked up the UNLV/Duke game quickly in google and saw it listed as regional championship. Being 17 years ago, I don't remember clearly, so I trusted that information and didn't take time to verify on a more professional site.

The point was about UNLV losing anyway, not necessarily at what point they fell. But I suppose that won't stop you from being a dick. Congrats on that.

June 19, 2008 at 4:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayViking (anonymous) says...

thanks

June 19, 2008 at 7:58 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

mvjayhawk (anonymous) says...

I'm sure TarHeel Nation thought this year was the year...and KU stomped that out of them. Now, next year is DEFINITELY the year....and 'ol Roy will probably never have as much returning talent and experience ever again. I know he loves that title from '05...but that wasnt' his team. Now it is. Can he do it this time?

June 19, 2008 at 10:41 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

KGphoto (anonymous) says...

Roy will be pouring powder blue tears. I can't wait!

Been there done that.

June 20, 2008 at 4:55 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

trich424 (anonymous) says...

http://hawkbasketball.blogspot.com/

June 20, 2008 at 3 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

The Incredible Roy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNDlUh...

***

Mark Randall's pretty mellow these days, I wouldn't worry ...

June 20, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

pmohr13 (anonymous) says...

same old story, North Carolina favored.

June 21, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. ( | suggest removal )