The Tarheel Freshmen

The North Carolina Tarheels unveiled their four freshmen and a transfer last night in their opening game against Gardner Webb. Point Guard Marcus Paige was the only one that got the start but the rest of them got plenty of playing time as Roy Williams tries to get his rotation sorted out. The Freshmen came in with plenty of accolades and are put under a microscope as soon as they step on the UNC campus. None of them really had an impressive debut. Big men Joel James and Brice Johnson showed a little bit of offensive polish, scoring 6 points a piece, but it looks like James is going to be the type of player that picks up about a foul a minute until he learns the Tarheel way of playing defense. Brice Johnson has been physically compared to John Henson but his game has more offensive polish than Henson's did but he is going to be nowhere near the defensive presence Henson was. J. P. Tokoto's athleticism has been compared to Vince Carter's but his skills are still pretty raw. He also scored 6 points in 10 minutes of playing time but had a breakaway dunk and made an athletic move to the basket. The potential is there. The comparisons between Marcus Paige and Kendall Marshall are inevitable but there is a big gap in the floor leadership abilities between the two. Paige's offensive game is more developed at this stage of his career than Marshall's was but he did post a stat line of 6 points, 0 assists, and 4 turnovers. Sophomore transfer point guard Luke Davis only logged 3 minutes of playing time and had 1 assist on the night. I believe his minutes will grow as the season progresses.