A Season to Forget: UNC 2009-10 (Part 1 of 2)

Only a season removed from a national title, North Carolina made the 2010 ACC season its two month-long walk of shame.

Pick a game. The 32-point loss at Duke is a good choice. Or maybe the 21-point beatdown at the hands of the Maryland Terrapins. Those are only two examples of the embarrassment that was the Tar Heels’ 2010 conference run.

Still M.I.A. is the team that beat Ohio State and Michigan State, and nearly knocked off Kentucky in the first month of the season.

There were times when Heels fans had to wonder if the players were being coached by Roy Williams or (gasp) Matt Doherty.

Memories of the Jason Capel-Kris Lang era were fond ones. That’s how bad it got.

The tires began to spin in a showdown with Texas, where the Longhorns exploded for 54 points in the first half en route to a 103-90 win. There were signs of disaster on the horizon in that game. Carolina rarely allows teams to top the century mark in a 40-minute game. What was worse was the missing sense of urgency throughout the game. There was no Tyler Hansbrough picking up his charges; no Ty Lawson going coast-to-coast, coming up with a clutch basket to spark the team.

Instead, the leadership responsibility fell on the shoulders of Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson. The pair of seniors graded out with a big fat “F” in that regard.

Can you blame them? For their entire career until this year, both players were overshadowed by legends. There was no need for them to act as leaders. They simply never learned how.

Marcus Ginyard went on record earlier this week to say the team was “screwed from the beginning.”

Even considering all the circumstances of the season, do you think those words would come out of Hansbrough’s mouth? Maybe it is unfair to compare Ginyard to the ACC’s all-time leading scorer, but at the same time it is completely reasonable. Ginyard is the senior leader for the University of North Carolina basketball team, and that figure never talks about how his team was screwed. Ever.

I don’t know what the opposite of retiring somebody’s jersey is, but anything the program can do to make sure Ginyard is completely forgotten would be appropriate.

There was no player perhaps in the country under as much scrutiny as Larry Drew II this season. The sophomore point guard finished third in the ACC with six assists per game, but also turned the ball over nearly twice per game.

Hearing people come to Drew’s defense this season is more annoying than hearing Tim Brandt say “splash” every time someone makes a three-pointer.

“Larry Drew is Larry Drew. Don’t ask him to be Ty Lawson,” is all I hear from Drew backers.

Sorry, but I’m going to ask Drew to by Lawson, and so is any other Tar Heel fan that shares the same standard for excellence as the program. Drew is an average point guard in the ACC, and that is not what the Tar Heel program was built on, especially under Roy Williams.

The Carolina offense is built around lightning fast point guards that handle the ball exceptionally well and make plays in transition. Drew fits the bill for none of that.

If Drew is satisfied with being an average ACC point guard and doesn’t want to hear all the criticism, he can go play across the highway in Raleigh, or down in Tallahassee; the standards are much lower there.

As long as he is carrying the load at the point for the Heels, he will need to improve tremendously before next season or the pressure on his shoulders will only grow.

Those are the biggest reasons why Carolina fell from greatness in 2010: zero leadership and poor point guard play.

There are plenty of other reasons the Heels finished lower in the ACC than ever before, but it started with those.

The other culprit who has fallen through the cracks of criticism so far this year is Ed Davis. Davis was expected to be a hands-down All-American this season, and he acted like it.

There has not been a post at UNC in decades that play as selfishly as Davis – except maybe Thompson (surprised?). Davis commanded the ball on many possessions, and along with Thompson often clogged the lane, ruining the Heels’ offensive rhythm.

When Davis went out for the year with a broken wrist, it allowed freshman John Henson to step into his more natural position at power forward. Henson was far less demanding on offense, and after adjusting to his starting role, began to produce nearly as effectively as Davis with half the headache.

Henson provided a similar shot blocking and rebounding presence as Davis, but proved to be a much better passer. Henson is also a better jump shooter, but never really showed it this season.

Collectively, Ginyard, Thompson and Davis failed to meet the standard level of basketball at North Carolina this season. For that, they will forever be remembered as the worst nucleus in program history.

The best way to move on from the debacle that was the 2009-10 season for Carolina is to tell Ginyard and Thompson to not let the door hit them on the way out, and give Davis all the encouragement he needs to turn pro.

One Play Said It All - North Carolina Ousted at ACC Tournament

Talk about one giant nutshell.

With one play late in North Carolina’s 62-58 loss to Georgia Tech Thursday night, the Tar Heels’ season was summarized perfectly.

Trailing by four with 1:30 left in the game, point guard Larry Drew tossed a soft pass across the perimeter, which was intercepted by Tech’s De’Andre Bell.

As Bell sprinted toward the opposite basket, he was stopped only by a foul on Drew.

Nevermind that for 38 minutes, Drew had reversed the fortunes of a forgettable 2009-10 season.

At one point in the game, the maligned sophomore had seven assists and only two turnovers. He finished with eight assists, and five turnovers, none more devastating than the pass to Bell.

The game had much more buzz than many would have thought halfway through, when Carolina led 34-24 at the break.

Bodies were hitting the floor. Runaway Tar Heels dove for loose balls and deflected passes left and right, creating a scene unfamiliar to anyone who followed the team this season. Most of the time, the hustling culprit was 7’1’’ sophomore Tyler Zeller.

Zeller played the best game of his career, bar none. He finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

On the other side, however, Zeller and the Heels had no answer for Jackets’ freshman sensation Derrick Favors. Favors hit his first seven shots en route to 18 points while also adding nine rebounds.

He dominated in the post. He blew by defenders off the dribble. When it was all said and done, Favors left little doubt that he should be a top-five pick in June’s NBA draft. His blocked shot on a Zeller fast break lay-up attempt helped thwart a late push by the Heels.

Meanwhile, Gani Lawal manhandled Deon Thompson, frequently beating the senior Tar Heel to rebounds on both ends of the floor, and taking the ball right at Thompson’s chin with the ball in the paint.

Lawal and Favors exposed Carolina’s big men for what they are – long, athletic, but weak.

Both teams received performances from their backcourts that can only be described as shaky at best.

Will Graves obliterated Carolina’s hopes with a one-for-eight mark from three-point range. Most of those shots were open looks that were simply off the mark.

In limited minutes, freshmen Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald provided much more consistent play than Graves. At the very least, the rookies played energetic defense, something Graves has never been known to do.

The Yellow Jackets saw guards Iman Shumpert and Glen Rice, Jr. make an equal number of outstanding plays as awful ones. Both players hit big shots during the early second-half comeback, but they both forced several shots at inopportune moments late in the game.

Even after Tech erased the double-digit halftime deficit, Carolina hung tough until the end.

It all came back to that Drew turnover and subsequent foul. High hopes thanks to an outstanding first half were unfulfilled, in similar fashion to the entire season. With a late glimmer of glory seemed within reach, a lazy, ill-advised, poorly timed turnover effectively ended the game, as it did the season.