Repeat?

Well, with the absence of college basketball comes the hype of the next season. Personally, I'm so bored without college basketball. I hate this time of year because there is no good basketball on. I do not like staying up to all hours of the night watching the NBA players dribble down the shot clock and then throw up a shot. Yes, they are good players, but when a playoff tournament comes down to a seven game series, and then another one, and then another one, I'm not going to watch.

So Andy Katz comes through for me with an article about North Carolina. He seems to be thinking repeat. Ok, not quite, but he says if UNC has any chance to repeat, they need good play from Larry Drew II, Ed Davis, and Marcus Ginyard. I'd go a step farther and say we need good play from everyone, but yes, he is correct that those three players are going to be keys to next year's team.

If you ask me if North Carolina will repeat next year (go ahead and ask), I will say that I do not think they will. There are just too many variables to a season. What would happen if Ed Davis got hurt, or perhaps more importantly Larry Drew? Face it, we are a little thin at point guard. We can't afford a sprained ankle or a bad toe for anyone.

Here's what Roy has said about Drew:

"I just think he's good, and I think he's a quarterback first," said Williams of Drew. "I think he tries to get people the ball, and he's going to be fine defensively. He can do a lot better job on how important he takes care of the ball because he's following a guy who's probably the best I've had doing that. Larry has got to be able to push it at a fast pace and still not turn it over."

I believe this is an accurate statement, if Drew can keep the turnovers down, he should be fine. I was impressed with the way he played in the ACC tournament. He's not the scorer that Lawson is, but he doesn't have to be. He needs to get people involved and that's what I like in a point guard is a pass-first point guard. He didn't get a ton of time this year playing behind Lawson, but he will next year and that will increase his confidence. He is the starting point guard next year, because there is no way in high Heaven we are getting John Wall (For the record, I don't want him anymore anyway).

With Davis, everyone and my own mother knows what Davis can do next year and will have to do. He made a good decision and will not have any regrets with another year.

Ginyard is going to be huge next year because if he had played this year and graduated, we're talking about Will Graves being our main perimeter weapon. Here's what Roy said about Ginyard:

"Let's put it this way, if I didn't have Marcus on the perimeter, I'd be scared to death -- and you can put that in capital letters … SCARED TO DEATH," Williams said. "He can play the 2, that's his natural position, and he can play the 3 and he can play the 1 in a pinch for us, and he's been there and he's been in involved in big games and tough practices. He can get those guys to understand what's going on."

Yeah, I have to agree with Williams about being scared to death, as mentioned above, Will Graves would be the main perimeter weapon. This sounds an awful lot like David Noel, which has also been mentioned before about Ginyard. I think he's going to have a lot of fun with this group.

I'm gonna throw out a wild card here and say that Will Graves will play a big role for next year's team as well. We've seen flashes of what he could be - a decent defender and a good shooter - now we need to see it consistently.

I'm looking forward to the title defense. I said earlier that I didn't think North Carolina could repeat, but it certainly doesn't mean they won't. I think they should win the ACC regular season. My feelings are mixed on the ACC tournament, and in the NCAA tournament, I believe the Sweet 16 is possible, but so is the Final Four. You never know and we won't know until we start watching this team. How many days is it before Late Night?

CHAMPS! CHAMPS! CHAMPS!

Oh yeah, that feels good. Enjoy this one for awhile. Soak it in. I think I'll be replacing the main picture on my blog here soon. YEAH!

Photo Credit: SI and Sportsline

Steady Eddy

Ed Davis. I like this kid so much and Scout wrote a nice article on him. Everything they say is so true. He has been a great inside defender and rebounder and that was fine earlier in the year, but as he has adjusted to college basketball, his offensive game has expanded as well. This article compares him and his shot-blocking ability to that of Brandon Wright. It’s hard to believe that Wright has more blocks than Davis, but B-Wright also started almost every game (I know he was sick for the Arizona game, along with Ginyard) and played a bigger role for that Tar Heel squad. So let’s compare these Heels’ stats from their freshman year.

Wright: Averaged 14.7 pts, 6.2 boards, 1.0 steals, and 1.8 blocks, while playing 27.6 minutes per game. He was mostly the second option as he was the 2nd leading scorer behind Hansbrough

Davis: Has averaged 6.6 pts, 6.7 boards, and 1.8 blocks while playing only 18.8 minutes per game.

So I believe that if Davis started, he would probably be at 10, 8, and 2 per game, which would have probably made him ACC rookie of the year, but I think he would agree that he has had a great opportunity to not have to shoulder the load, but come in and play solid defense and score a few buckets. Plus Deon Thompson can shoot the ball with a little more range and is an underrated shot-blocker.

With Davis' first game in the tournament, he reminded me of Marvin Williams 1st game. If you remember, Marvin was the 6th man, but I would consider him more versatile than Davis because of his ability to handle the ball and his range, but Davis, like Williams, is playing an important role on this team and I hope that he sticks around to develop into the ultimate player.