ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180094
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The ACC's Operation: Basketball preseason media poll had Maryland first, Wake Forest second, Virginia third, North Carolina fourth ... Clemson ninth?
Oops.
OK, cut us some slack. Not even a coach with 843 career victories knew Antawn Jamison would elevate his game so quickly.
``He's been a pleasant surprise,'' Dean Smith said of the precocious pogo-stick of a freshman. ``He's quicker than I thought he was.''
Jamison was the first Tar Heel to reach 20 rebounds in 17 years, and North Carolina soared over Virginia 67-53 on Wednesday night.
Mike O'Koren was the last Heel with 20 boards. Jamison's teammates compare him to a higher being, however.
``We've started calling him `Dennis Rodman,''' Carolina point guard Jeff McInnis said of the rookie who already has seven double-doubles in his first 16 college games. ``The ball's up there, and he gets it.''
McInnis made it sound so simple, and for Carolina in a building where it had lost its past two visits, it was. The 10th-ranked Tar Heels shot a season-low 39 percent and still romped.
It was Virginia's worst loss in 54 games, dating to a February 1994 setback here against Wake Forest. It also was the closest scoreboard margin in UVa's past five losses to UNC.
It wasn't that close.
The difference can be explained by comparing Jamison's board work with that of Virginia's 7-foot-4 Chase Metheney. The Cavaliers' center has eight inches on Jamison, but had 19 fewer rebounds.
Metheney's only rebound came with 10 seconds left. Long before that, the only question to be answered was how long Smith would wait to empty his bench.
Coming off an impressive offensive performance on the same floor in Saturday's triumph over Duke, the Cavaliers ran their Candace Bergen offense.
Jeff Jones' club kept dialing long distance, but then UVa wouldn't have known if it had an inside game. The Cavaliers never looked for one. You could sum up Virginia's offense in two words:
Curtis Staples.
Now the Cavaliers (7-6 overall, 2-3 conference) go on the road, where it appears their season is likely to take a turn for the NIT. They visit Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and then play Connecticut at Hartford, the nation's insurance capital.
With eight of its final 13 regular-season dates out of town, a collision policy might be expensive by then.
Carolina (13-3, 4-1) also is on the road, but seems headed in a different direction. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Heels, and maybe it is, but then Smith has a guy like Jamison grabbing bricks off the glass and putting them back.
The Tar Heels are headed for their 32nd consecutive finish of third of better in the ACC's regular season, and their 22nd straight NCAA berth. Without early NBA entrants Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, it wasn't supposed to be this easy.
Smith, who has won with players who have been listening to music from the Beatles to the Blowfish, plays only a seven-man rotation. He appears be enjoying this team as much as any he's coached.
The Heels are playing more zone than in the past. That cuts down on the margin for error by a young team still learning where to go in Smith's beloved jump trap.
Carolina funnels penetration toward 7-foot-2 Serge Zwikker in the middle. Because UNC has better quickness than it's had in years, it works, even though Zwikker can be plodding.
Offensively, the Tar Heels are using fewer sets than Smith's teams have, but the shot selection is heady as always. And with Jamison and fellow frosh Ademola Okulaja bouncing over opponents, the second- and third-chance opportunities are plentiful.
This week's Ratings Percentage Index says UNC is playing a schedule ranked sixth-toughest in the nation, in a league that has four clubs in the top 10 on that list (UVa is 10th).
It's also a conference in which, through five games, Smith's team has outrebounded foes by 65.
Yes, the ACC is down a bit, but Carolina's stock keeps rising.
Clearly, these Heels aren't as tarred to the floor as even some deans of the dribble thought they'd be.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB