Stumbling Tar Heels now face No. 8 Duke
February 9, 2010
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)—Ed Davis walks to class wearing headphones like ashield against the negative vibe hanging over the North Carolina campus.Teammate Deon Thompson goes one better, rarely venturing out into public anymore than he has to these days.
“I just try to stay out of sight,” the senior said. “It’s just tough tobe around people when you’re losing.”
That’s never supposed to be a problem at a storied program that boasts fiveNCAA championships, 18 Final Fours and nearly 2,000 total victories. Yet whenthe defending champion Tar Heels host rival Duke on Wednesday night, they’ll bein a position few could have imagined: unranked, near the bottom of the AtlanticCoast Conference and hurtling toward the NIT.
North Carolina (13-10, 2-6 ACC) has lost seven of nine games since the startof 2010 after earning a No. 6 preseason ranking and entering the year as ACCco-favorites with the eighth-ranked Blue Devils (19-4, 7-2). In the past month,the Tar Heels have twice set the record for their worst loss under Hall of Famecoach Roy Williams, lost their past two home games by double figures to unrankedopponents and trailed by at least 19 points in five games.
Things have gotten so bad that Thompson joked that he’s ordering deliveryfood under an assumed name.
“Like coach said,” he said, “how much worse can it get, you know?”
Yes, it’s a different team from the one that rolled through last year’s NCAAtournament, with Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Greennow in the NBA. Still, with Thompson, Davis and Marcus Ginyard returning toguide one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, the Tar Heels figured to atleast give chase in the ACC.
Things looked OK after early wins against Ohio State and Michigan State, butno longer. Now Williams is reduced to coaching effort and concentration as muchas Xs and Os for a young team with shaken confidence.
“At times, I feel we are getting better and at other times, I see usregress,” said Williams, who hasn’t hid his frustration in his postgamecomments in recent weeks. “The consistency of that has been difficult tohandle. The bottom line is the results and you’ve got to keep trying. And youknow the reason you’ve got to keep trying? Because it’s the right thing to do.”
The struggles haven’t gone unnoticed over in Durham.
“My reaction to that is what’s going on?” Duke junior Nolan Smith said.“Because when I look at them, I know some of their players and I know they’re avery talented team. There are guys who are probably going to be lottery picks.It’s just very surprising to me.”
While the Blue Devils talk respectfully of their rivals, they privately haveto be eager to face the Tar Heels after losing six of the past seven meetings.That will be particularly true on Wednesday night, when the Tar Heels retire theNo. 50 jersey of Hansbrough—who graduated as the program’s all-time scoringand rebounding leader to go with a 4-0 record at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium—during halftime.
But Hansbrough’s presence will also be a reminder of what’s missing inChapel Hill. Whereas Hansbrough, Lawson and Ellington each hit last-secondwinning shots in the previous two seasons, this year’s group seemingly has noone ready or able to take that burden yet.
The 6-foot-9 Thompson leads the team at 14 points per game, but is more of acomplementary player. The versatile Ginyard returned for a fifth year aftermissing most of last season after foot surgery, but an ankle injury in Januaryhindered what was already a limited offensive skill set.
Davis, a 6-10 sophomore who returned after many projected him as a possibleNBA lottery pick, is averaging about 14 points and 10 rebounds. But likeThompson, Davis has often disappeared during games as the Tar Heels’ thinperimeter—their most glaring weakness from the start—struggles to get theball inside against pressure.
Much of the attention there fell on sophomore point guard Larry Drew II, whoinherited Lawson’s job and got off to a strong start before fading during theslide. Meanwhile, junior Will Graves has been streaky as the team’s only realoutside shooting threat.
Injuries haven’t helped, either. The Tar Heels are currently without TylerZeller, a skilled 7-footer sidelined with a stress fracture in his right foot.Williams said Tuesday that Zeller has been cleared for some light running, butit’s still unclear when he’ll return.
As for the freshmen, top recruit John Henson often looked lost afterstarting the year as a small forward, Dexter Strickland has also been up anddown at both guard spots, and twins David and Travis Wear have given the TarHeels serviceable minutes, but not steady production.
Williams has repeatedly said it’s his job to get the team playing better.But ultimately, Ginyard said, the players have to pull the Tar Heels out of thisnosedive.
“There’s only a certain amount the coaching staff can do to try to changethings up or try to get us to get the right things going on in our minds,” hesaid.
“Things happen that you aren’t expecting sometimes and we’ve just got to doa better job of dealing with it. I think a lot of times we’re getting too caughtup in worrying about how bad things seem to be going for us. Right now, it’stime we start focusing on just trying to get better and trying to make thisthing work.”