Wall could block Heels' march to all-time win mark

Read that title again. One player is single handedly going to stop UNC from eclipsing the all-time win record for college basketball. I’m sorry, but I respectfully disagree.

But that’s what Robbi Pickeral from the Charlotte Observer things. Now, I know the article is not just single handedly about John Wall and that other factors obviously play into this (like the fact that Kentucky now has a plethora of talent), but we’re talking about a lot of things that have to go Kentucky’s way this year.

I think this upcoming Kentucky team (I’m assuming Jodie Meeks is back, for the record) is comparable to the first UNC team that Roy Williams coached. That team had a lot of talent, but what did they do with it? Not much.

So Kentucky will be a team of talent, but what are they going to do with that talent? This team has to do the following in order to succeed: 1) Buy into the coaches system, 2) gel together as a team, 3) refrain from any controversy (like academic problems. Hello Memphis!) 4) stay healthy. I’m sure there are others, but those stick out right now.

Let’s take the first two. Buying into Calipari’s system. Think of the upperclassman on this Kentucky team, this is their third coach in 4 years. That’s a lot of different offenses and defenses and lingo to pick up from a coach. Now some of these players are going to be fine right away, but you’re going to have some head cases that are harmful to the team. One of the biggest reasons why that 03-04 UNC team struggled and played poorly was because they did not buy into Roy’s system. The next year they did and the rest is Championship history.

Now the second point: gelling. Patrick Patterson, Jodie Meeks, and John Wall all seem like big time players, but are there enough shots to go around? What happens when Wall comes down the court and shoots the ball 5 times in a row without giving Patterson a look? This team as talented as it may be will be young and won’t have played much together. That’s plain and simple fact.

Robbi Pickeral says in the article that Kentucky now has the talent to become a 30-win team, while North Carolina will probably be somewhere between 23-28. Both of those are realistic numbers, but let’s not declare Kentucky champs yet. They still have to play the game. Just like the talking heads were toying with the idea of North Carolina being undefeated this past year.

The point of this is that I am of the opinion that this race will be close all year. I don’t look at John Wall as being the superman who is single handedly going to keep UNC at #2. If North Carolina does pass Kentucky, it’s hard to envision more than being 3 or 4 wins ahead of them by the end of the year. It may not be this year, but North Carolina will pass Kentucky and that will be super cool. And when the two play head to head this upcoming year, I’m going to go ahead and give the nod to UNC. Then it will be three more to tie!