My Top Ten List- Basketball- Part II

3. Sam Perkins- No matter what nickname you called him, "the Big Smooth" or "Sleepy Sam", Perkins played with an easy, natural grace that was not common to big men when her arrived in Chapel Hill in the fall of 1980. He had not been playing basketball long when began his freshman season but he quickly made an impact and was the second leading scorer on the team at 14.9. He was also named the 1981 ACC Tournament MVP and appeared in the Final Four when the Tarheels lost in the Finals to Indiana. I recently watched their Final Four game against Virginia. Virginia featured 7'4" Ralph Sampson Perkins went up and blocked a Sampson jump shot which was an impressive feat considering Perkins was giving up seven inches in height on the play. Perkins finished his North Carolina as the second leading scorer and the all-time leading rebounder. He is still the third leading scorer and the second leading rebounder.

4. Vince Carter- Carter came North Carolina with the reputation as a high flyer and his mid-air acrobatics were second only to Michael Jordan in the annals of North Carolina basketball. The two plays that I remember most from Vince Carter is the dunk he had over Tim Duncan when North Carolina completed a comeback win over Wake Forest and an alley oop thrown from past half court by Shammond Williams against Florida State. He drove right down the middle of the lane against Wake Forest with only Tim Duncan standing in the way and he rose up and over Duncan and threw it down with two hands. Against Florida State Williams threw the ball towards the basket and Carter went up and got it. While he was at North Carolina, Carter transformed from a high flying athlete into a complete player and he is just now finishing up a 17 or 18 year career in the NBA.

Project Players

Dean Smith used to always have on his teams at least one "project player". These players were not that highly heralded coming out of high school but had some potential to turn into a valuable starter or a key reserve off the bench by the end of their four years. Warren Martin, Kevin Salvadori, and Hubert Davis come to mind. Warren Martin couldn't catch a pass without traveling when he was a Freshman but by the time he was a Senior, he was averaging about 10 points and a couple of blocked shots a game. This years team has several project players with tons of potential but probably shouldn't be starting and/or logging 20 to 30 minutes a game. J.P. Tokoto probably has the most upside of these projects. He is probably the most athletic player the Tarheels have had since Vince Carter. He glides up and down the court and he is definitely the highest flyer they have had since Vince Carter. He is working hard on expanding his basketball skill set and may already be the best passer on the team. Joel James is probably the biggest project. He is listed at 6'10" and 280 pounds but he only played 2 years of high school basketball before coming to UNC. He takes up a lot of space in the middle and also needs to work on his basketball skill set. The Point Guard position has always been the toughest to play at UNC and since Roy Williams started his tenure at UNC, the position has been amped up a little bit to run the Supersonic engine that is the Tarheel offense. Nate Britt was brought to UNC as an under study to Marcus Paige but got thrust into the starting role when Paige had to slide over and assume P.J. Hairston's position. Britt needs to develop an offensive game to go with running the show. All of these projects will probably all be good players by the time they finish their four years. The climate of college basketball has changed as the McDonald's All-Americans are only staying one year now. Teams need these project players to perform a lot sooner than usually expected and their learning curve gets very steep as a result.

A Bluegrass Beat Down

I do not like Kentucky. Plain and simple. I was really nervous about the game yesterday because Kentucky keeps bringing size at you from the Guards on up. The 'Heels Guards barely hit six feet tall. Statistically, the 'Tarheels should not have won this game. They got killed on the boards (44-32), they only went 26-45 from the free throw line, and one of the few statistical categories they did win was in Turnovers (9-17). As Jim Bouton once said in his Baseball epic Ball Four "tell my statistics to shut up." The ultimate stat that is the only one that counts is the final score and that one the 'Heels had an advantage of 82-77. That improves their record to 7-2 on the season with three wins over top tier teams. Marcus Paige's Alley Oop to Brice Johnson brought back memories of Ed Cota to Vince Carter, James Michael McAdoo got back on track with 20 points and led the team with 4 assists and more importantly,drove to the basket hard and shot 19 free throws. He did not settle for the jump shot and took a very aggressive offensive approach. Marcus Paige led the way with 23 points and J.P. Tokoto scored a career high 15 points on 7-10 shooting and displayed the athleticism that will only become more prominent as his basketball skill set grows.