The UNC loss taught me this…

As I have said many times about this season, “it is what it is”. Sunday at the Dean Dome, when North Carolina (13-8 ~ 2-4 in the ACC) played host to Virginia (13-6 ~ 4-2 in the ACC) the “it is what it is” was actually a mess, a complete mess, a FUBAR of sorts. Forget the score, which was 75 to 60 for the Cavaliers, because that does not tell the story of this game, not even close. The sub par performance might not even tell the story of this match up, which most everyone I know (and not just Tar Heel fans), thought it was Carolina’s game to win. And while I do surf the web boards, they also do not tell the story of the game (too much passion one way or the other in most instances), nor do the many recaps/analysis done by local papers or by the national media or by the Dick Vitale’s of the world. What to me most described this game was a quote, not the infamous one by Deon Thompson, but the one by the starting point guard Larry Drew II when asked if the heart was there in the locker room:

“Right now it’s not. As of right now everybody is just pretty flat and not really showing a lot of emotion. And it’s carrying out onto the court. At halftime the locker room was pretty dead and we were only down by five points. We’ve just got to bring it. We talk a lot, but it’s time for us to start showing it.”

That’s it in a nutshell. This team has talent, time to forget the fact that a lot of these guys might one day end up in an NBA uniform, or that they might become players at the next level overseas. It’s time to figure it out here and now, for this team, for this uniform, for this year. Many fans are wondering why John Henson only got five minutes in the game against the Wahoos. My question would be more like “how come Henson only earned five minutes in the game?” We all know that head coach Roy Williams’ theory/policy is that you earn your playing time on what you do at practice. So, I have to wonder, what happens behind those closed doors to make a player with a high talent level not get more playing time? All I have to do is look up at the quote I put on this post and I get my answer: “We talk a lot, but it’s time for us to start showing it”.

And once again going against the masses let me say this, a loss to UVa would not have made me too discouraged/upset, even if I did believe Carolina was going to win this one by double figures. Had I seen signs of improvement over the game against N.C. State, win or lose would have been a lot less important to me. Unlike most fans I am not a “here and now” type of person, I tend to take teams on cycles and not game by game. I just do not find it fair to take 40 minutes to judge a player this young, since they are developing. I like to give it a season (if not more) to see how they have progressed. That is just how I have seen things in my 25+ years of college basketball.

I know that when something is broken it takes time to get fixed, another reason for me wanting the cycle and not a game by game evaluation. But this game showed me something else. A lot of things are broken, and going back to my first years out of college, when I took a seminar of sales, I learned that the first thing a good “closer” has to learn is never to open too many doors (aka questions/problems) when trying to sell something. As a coach, if you have one problem to fix, it might take time but you will get it done and then you know you are on your way. When you have two, three, four, maybe more, much more, you can not just fix them all at once, and by the time one might be close to being fixed there might be another one re-opening up. It’s a vicious cycle, one that is hard to get out of if you fall into it, and maybe in order for this coaching staff to get out of it they will have to wait until the season is done and start fresh. And if that is the case with this team, so be it at this point.

The second thing I remember from the seminar is that in the end it comes down to money when you are selling something. Here, as a coach/team discussion, it comes down to buying yes, but not the same way, but rather “buying into the system”. The reality is that the worst salesman in the country is going to sell more air conditioners to hotels in Hawaii than the best one in the business will sell them to eskimoes in Alaska. In other words, you can have the best product (or basketball system) but if the players aren’t in that mind set you are not convincing them that they need to do it this way. But the one most important thing that I learned at that seminar is that it will always be easier to sell anything to one person than it will be to sell it to two or three or four or five (and on and on and on), and that the more people there is to sell it to the harder it will be to sell it to them. Roy Williams has had people that didn’t “buy into the program”, the one that always comes to mind is Rashad McCants. But being a one on one thing the coach was able to work at selling it to him over and over and over again. On this team I have a feeling that there are plenty not getting with it, and between the facts that there are many problems (mostly because of the people not falling in line) and there are people not falling in line, this is a huge problem that isn’t going away. End of story!

While I never did use that seminar to go sell, I still have the book opened to the first page, where it says “good or bad that you are always be proud of what you sell”. And that wraps it up for me there. Head coach Roy Williams has shown time and time again that his standards won’t be lowered to get players, that he will not change his winning ways. So, while this might mean that he is not going to have the season the fan base (or himself and the team) wanted, he is showing that he is going to do things his way, which means the best way possible. Now it’s time for these young men to learn that if they want to be the best they need to follow the best. It’s also time for these players to realize what extent North Carolina has at the next level and while the NBA is all about potential it’s getting to be also about accountability, and people in the business will have to wonder why such talents didn’t flurish under coach Williams.

So, with about ten games left, with several players readying themselves for the next level, be it in the NBA or overseas. Others working on that goal a year or two from now, this is your audition, this is where you are going to show the scouts what you are capable to do on the court as a player, but also how you cope with being told what to do and how to do it as a person. I am not asking for a huge turnaround that no one would believe unless they saw it with their own eyes, I am asking for the last part of the season one thing and one thing only, play with the attitude of the “Carolina Way/Family”, giving it your all for not just yourself, but for your coaches, your team mates, the players that have donned the uniform before you and those that will after.

On defense look at the best player they have and make it your job (as the individual guard this player and as a team) to make him score less than his average. On offense show that what the strength of this team was supposed to be, the inside play, is actually there. What is done is done, but there is still games to be played, still things to accomplish. Working together, coaches and players, they can be achieved. You are right now at a intersection, either keep following your instincts, or give them up and follow the instincts of one of (if not the) best coaches in the business, and more important, of someone that has been there before and has your best interest in mind. The choice is yours, but before making it, look back at where you have been and then think “more of the same or a different look”. I would pick the latter, I hope you do as well.