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College Basketball - Return to Glory at Chapel Hill?

By Eric Williams
Tuesday, December 17th, 2002
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If you want to keep your job, you go out and recruit the best basketball players in the country and persuade them to enroll at your university. And from the looks of it, that's exactly what North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Matt Doherty has done. It is now his job to mesh his new talent with what was left over from last year and help guide this team to a better finish than last year.

Last season was a nightmare for everyone involved with North Carolina basketball, from the coaching staff and players, right on down to the lifelong fans and boosters. The team struggled to their worst-ever finish in the ACC, failing to finish among the top three teams for the first time in the history of the conference. They also had their record string of 27 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament snapped and in the process, Doherty went from being a National Coach of the Year candidate to a coach on the hot seat in one season.

Although most fans expected a rebuilding year, not many expected a 20-loss season. However, judging from the lack of big-time talent on the team, Doherty did all he could with the hand he was dealt. But, that excuse won't hold for another year, so Doherty had to find a way to upgrade his talent.

Enter freshmen recruits Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, and Sean May. These three young men arrived on campus as the most heralded group of Tar Heel freshmen since Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse toiled on Tobacco Road and immediately became the hope of many to help return the team to prominence. Felton and McCants were immediately plugged in as the starting backcourt and expected to provide some stability and leadership, along with injecting the team with some much needed quickness and athleticism.

Felton, a 6-1 point guard, was heralded as the best pure point guard prospect in the country, and so far, he hasn't disappointed. Although he hasn't scored as much as one might have expected from someone who averaged over 30 points per game as a high school senior, he has provided the team with the floor leadership they often lacked last year. Felton has led the team in assists in every game this year and his ability to break down defenses and find open teammates has allowed other Tar Heels to get easy shots and flourish without having to force the issue.

Felton's steady play has given his backcourt mate McCants the opportunity to burst onto the scene immediately and spectacularly, as evidenced by his opening game 28-point outburst versus Penn State, which set a team record for freshman scoring in their opening game. McCants started strongly in the Penn State game and hasn't slowed down, averaging 20.1 points per game through the first seven games. He capped off his early-season coming-out party by being named the Preseason NIT Tournament MVP, as he led the Heels to the tournament title.

McCants has shown that he can hit the perimeter shot, but it's his ability to put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim that has many fans excited. McCants' array of dunks and Felton's highlight-reel passes at Madison Square Garden during the two games there made them instant crowd and SportsCenter favorites.

While McCants and Felton have provided the outside firepower and flash, May has helped to shore up the inside with good old-fashioned post play. Although a bit undersized to play center at 6-8, May has proven to be a strong presence in the middle, equally adept at scoring in the paint and rebounding in traffic, while leading the Heels in rebounding in five of the first seven games. May gives the Tar Heels an inside option when teams pay too much attention to the baby backcourt, and so far he has delivered.

The emergence of the fabulous freshmen has allowed sophomores like Jawad Williams, Melvin Scott, and Jackie Manuel, who were overmatched as freshmen in the ACC, to play within their means, without having to worry about carrying the load. Also, with their increased athleticism and speed, Doherty's Heels are able to get out and run more, giving them more opportunities to score easy baskets, something they weren't able to do much last year.

If the first seven games are any indication, the Heels will be a much-improved team than they were last year. Even though they've lost their last two games to ranked opponents, the outlook is bright for the rest of the season.

The young Tar Heels proved that they can play with some of the better teams in the country on their run to the Preseason NIT title, dispatching a Kansas team many in the preseason picked number one and a Stanford team that beat nationally-ranked Florida.

The freshmen also proved that they won't be intimidated by ranked opponents, which should serve them well once conference play begins. And although they probably won't challenge Duke and Maryland this year for conference supremacy, they have closed the talent gap.

By no means is this team a title contender yet, as evidenced by the whippings they took from Illinois and Kentucky. However, step one of the rebuilding process is done, as this first class of recruits has more than exceeded expectations early on. But, the job is not done. Coach Doherty can't rest on his laurels and crow about the job his talented freshmen have done to this point. He now has to build on this class with another group of recruits, the way Duke and Florida reload with great classes virtually every year.

Doherty must get his program back to where Carolina is again at the top of every major recruit's list, and then he must sign them and get them to enroll. That is the only way for the program to get back to the heights they enjoyed under Dean Smith. But, considering the state of the team last year, this is a step in the right direction and should bode well for the near future.

The Heels aren't all the way back yet, but if the freshmen continue to play as well as they have and the other players continue to contribute, a return to glory for the Carolina basketball program will be nothing but a mere formality.

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