What happened to North Carolina this year?

[Norm]

Just got done watching the UNC - William & Mary game and couldn't help but think "what happened to UNC this year?" Granted, they lost Hansborough, Frasor, Wright, Lawson and Ellington from last year's champions. But, they still had a roster chock full of McDonald All Americans and Top 100 players.

Here's their roster this year (not including walk-on's)

5th - Marcus Ginyard 6'5" G (RSCI #29) 6.1ppg 28GP - 26GS
Sr - Deon Thompson 6'8" C (#43) 11.7ppg 32GP - 32GS
Sr - William Graves 6'6" F (#79) 11.1 ppg 31GP - 29GS
So - Ed Davis 6'8" F (#9, McDonald's AA) 10.1ppg 23GP - 23GS
So - Tyler Zeller 6'11" C (#18, McDonald's AA) 6.5ppg 22GP - 0GS
So - Larry Drew 6'0" G (#44, McDonald's AA) 8.8ppg 32GP - 31GS
So - Justin Watts 6'4" G 0.2ppg 20GP - 2GS
Fr - John Henson 6'10" F (#5, McDonald's AA) 6.6ppg 32GP - 7GS
Fr - Dexter Strickland 6'3" G (#24, McDonald's AA) 5.7ppg 31GP - 4GS
Fr - David Wear 6'9" F (#37, McDonald's AA) 3.1ppg 27GP - 2GS
Fr - Travis Wear 6'9" F (#38, McDonald's AA) 4.3ppg 27GP - 1GS
Fr - Leslie McDonald 6'4" G (#44) 4.0ppg 29GP - 0GS

Yes, it is a fairly young team, with 9 underclassmen on the roster. But these guys are supposed to be studs. Did they get hit bad with the injury bug? Just have bad chemistry? Were the other teams in the ACC dominated by upperclassmen?

It just seems odd that a team with that much talent didn't make the NCAA's.

[Shanunu]

I feel like the North Carolina situation is similar to what happened at Georgetown last year, and to some extent this year. They both had a ton of talent, but a lot of those kids are leaning towards being one-and-done types. They want to increase their NBA stock and don't really care about the rest of the team, and the chemistry suffers for it. It took Georgetown, and especially Greg Monroe a year of not making the NCAA's and losing in the first round of the NIT to buy into the concept of the team, and even this season they were seriously inconsistent.

So maybe the Tarheels of next season will have a group of players who are truly committed to the team. It makes me wonder about getting highly touted recruits if a guy like Roy Williams and Rick Barnes can't get them to win.

[bma725]

Couple of things hurt them this year.

The lack of big time guards hurts them.  Ginyard is what he is, a limited offensive player who is good defensively, they knew that.  But Larry Drew wasn't ready to take over for Lawson, and Strickland and McDonald haven't lived up to the advance billing.  Both were supposed to be all world, both have been mediocre.

Injuries have been a problem as well.  The only guys not to miss time are Thompson, Drew, and Henson.  Everyone else has missed at least one game.

[texaswarrior74]

Lost 4 starters who are all in the NBA...three first rounders.....over 75% of their scoring.  No effective PG to run Roy's secondary break offense....Larry Drew just didn't live up to his potential, no outside shooters....horrible from the three point line.... and the team never jelled....they were painful to watch after the first of the year. Played well enough to beat MSU and OSU and everyone thought they were only going to get better with a little time.....then like Texas, they fell apart except unlike Texas, they weren't 17-0 at the time. There are lots of rumors swirling on their boards about the possibility of several players leaving/transferring including Drew. They also had a rash of key injuries; Ginyard was hurt for a lot of the season and played with a bad back most of the year, Zeller missed a bunch of games and Davis was lost for the season a while back.

Three of the top 10 seniors in HS coming in next year including HSPOY Harrison Barnes-all McDonald AAs....and if several players (other than the seniors leave) they may be trying to add a true center (if Davis leaves) and another PG. Roy already has commitments from the #2 and #4 players in the 2011 class.

It's going to be a very interesting off season in Chapel Hill.