Two future Heels receive accolades
Here is some tidbits about two players that will be coming to Chapel Hill and join head coach Roy Williams and the basketball program. First, Harrison Barnes, who is the top recruit for the incoming class, has been named as Sporting News 2009 High School Athlete of the Year. During the `09 year the 17 year old who picked UNC over Duke and others, averaged 19.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists. The other player that will don the Carolina Blue that was just honored is James McAdoo, who will be in Chapel Hill a year after Barnes arrives. McAdoo has been named the 2009 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year. The 16 year old had an average second best 16.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and team’s best 2.0 blocks.
This is what McAdoo said about the honor:
“At first it was an overwhelming experience,” McAdoo said. “It really didn’t hit home until I received the letter from USA Basketball that had the names of some of the past recipients, like Michael Jordan and the Dream Team. Just to see my name mentioned in the same sentence as them shows me the potential I have and what could come in the future. It was just an overwhelming feeling of happiness and joy.”
“It is a very humbling experience to travel and see different cultures, to get away from home and do what I love to do most, which is play ball and kick it with some of my best friends,” McAdoo continued. “The people you play with can definitely make you better, and playing in Argentina, I think that was probably the best ball I have ever played in my whole life. Getting to practice with pretty much the best 16-year-olds in the world with great coaches really helped us all hone our skills. The competition was top of the line every day.”
While Barnes told this to the media:
“After being recruited three years, and all the research that went into it, all the relationships that were made, everything my family had gone through and I’d gone through, to be completely confident in my decision was — and is — unbelievable,”
When you are a Tar Heel die hard (like myself) you will know about the past of the basketball program, and you know that it is filled with talent. The present, with two national titles in five years, including last season, is also filled with a lot of talent, now with great classes this year and the years to come, it sure seems that the future of this 100 year old program is looking to be just as good as the past and the present. The ABC’ers/haters can say what they want, but there is no denying that when it comes to recruiting head coach Roy Williams has done an amazing job, the fact that he has won over 80% of his games and two national titles since he came back to UNC shows that his coaching skills are just as good!
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