Wear Twins are Out

So, David and Travis Wear decided they didn’t want to be Tar Heels anymore. Looking at the big picture for their two roles, I can’t say that they were going to be more than role players anyway, but they could have done some shocking. I feel the ceiling had already peaked with them and they weren’t going to get much better, but they did surprise me with how much playing time they actually received throughout the year.

They are heading back west, which I’m sure is hard on twins being away from their family, but where they go doesn’t really matter to me because now we have no frontcourt depth. We’re looking at Tyler Zeller and John Henson as the bigs and Will Graves playing the 4 occasionally. With Harrison Barnes coming in, I feel he could play the 4 occasionally, but the need for another big man is very pressing right now.

Coach Williams has been on the recruiting trail a bit, trying to find some unsigned big man, who can fit the system. The hard part is though you don’t want to just throw a scholarship to a player who has the ability of Byron Sanders. North Carolina actually had a player named Justin Knox visit recently and according to Knox’s uncle, was offered a scholarship by UNC. This is a potentially good situation we could be in if Knox does sign because he only had one year of eligibility left. He played 3 years for Alabama and finished his degree in 3, so he can transfer and still play in the 2010-2011 season because of being a graduate transfer. If he does sign, you don’t lose a potential scholarship player in the future because he’s only a one year rental. It looks like a win-win for everybody. Knox is also visiting Georgia Tech.

Knox isn’t going to wow anyone, but he does seem to fit the system and could really be a big help because we have no frontcourt depth and can’t afford a timely Tyler Zeller injury again. Knox was interested in going to another SEC school, but Alabama said no way, Jose’. We’ll see how this situation plays out.

Addition by Subtration

One of the biggest offseason questions will be whether or not Ed Davis does go pro. At the beginning of this year, I would have said that was a bad idea, but that’s when I thought Ed Davis was going to be an 18 and 11 guy every night. Since Davis was not like that and then was injured, I’m not convinced he would be willing to stick around and risk another injury. Most mock drafts have him as a top 10 pick. In fact, I can’t think of one that doesn’t have him as a top 10 pick.

If Davis did leave, I don’t think it would be the end of the world. In fact, I think this team would be better for a few reasons:

1) I don’t think Davis is a true team player. He doesn’t strike me as a team oriented guy. Not to say that he is a selfish guy who demands the ball all the time, but that fact that he doesn’t seem to put a lot of work into his game and that can hurt team chemistry because people see that he doesn’t work very hard and is still getting playing time. Ed Davis is a talent, but it seems like he is Ty Lawson as a freshman, where Lawson was not allowed to start because he kept messing around. Ed Davis is not a trickster like Lawson, but he just seems to not put the effort in, similar to how Lawson was, when he just got by on talent and not being a complete player.

2) If Davis leaves, I think that would open the door for Tyler Zeller to emerge as a main threat on offense. Zeller is obviously more offensive minded than Davis, but with John Henson on the weak side, Zeller could probably get away with more than he normally could because of Henson’s shot blocking ability. I was very impressed with Zeller as he came back from injury and really picked up where he left off. He was good for 9 points and 5 boards a night, which is good as your 6th man and I think if he starts, those numbers are only going to go up with more minutes and shot opportunities.

3. With Davis gone, the line-up would probably be Zeller at center, Henson at the power forward, Harrison Barnes at the other forward, with Will Graves, Dexter Strickland, Larry Drew II, or Kendall Marshall in the backcourt (which will probably remain a question mark until we get closer to the season. But the front court would still be strong with the 2 above bigs and the Wear twins playing the backup role. I believe if we needed to go small, Barnes could slide over to the 4 because of his height.

This is all speculation at this point, but if Davis does opt for the NBA, I don’t consider it a huge loss and the pieces will fall back into place soon enough. My honest hope is that he does go pro, but we’ll see what happens.

Go Team

Well, we are guarteend not to go winless in ACC play now. Virginia Tech is a tough team and they may not be Top 25, but they have played North Carolina tough lately. I did have my doubts, especially thinking we wouldn't have Marcus Ginyard and possibily without Will Graves and Leslie McDonald. But they all played and I think it's a good thing because they don't have too many games together.

Hopefully this game can be a confidence builder for the team. the crowd was good and I thought the team looked good for the most part. I thought the team was patient against the Va Tech zone, moving the ball around and looking for the open man instead of forcing shots. Some balanced scoring to fill up the box score. Ed Davis continues to impress and do well. He needs to stay another year for my sake. Team him and Harrison Barnes together....oh golly.

Defense looked pretty good too and the team really clamped down on Malcolm Deleaney in the second half. And we threw 4 different defenders at him. That might be what we need to do in order to prevent these scoring guards from having big nights. We'll see.