Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 1, 1993 TAG: 9311010095
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
That's difficult when three of your top nine players stand 7 feet, 6-11 1/2 and 6-11. It's tougher when you have four starters returning from a 34-4 NCAA championship team and three freshman recruits who will, he says in his typically downplaying fashion, "contribute."
UNC is so well-heeled in the bid to defend its national championship that when some keyboard jockeys sat down to consider their preseason prediction on the ACC race at Sunday's Operation Basketball gathering, they thought about putting Carolina first, Duke second and Carolina's bench third. The media settled for making the Tar Heels a unanimous pick to win the ACC title.
"I'll tell you how good I think they are," said Wake Forest coach Dave Odom. "They not only have the best frontcourt in the country, they have the best backcourt as well."
Then, Smith tried to tell one inquiring mind that the Tar Heels - "You just never know" - might not even make their record 20th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
"He really said that?" said Kevin Salvadori, a UNC backup center. "Well, that might be a little crazy, but I guess I've seen crazier things happen."
That might have been at the Tar Heels' opening day of practice Saturday. Backup guards Jeff McInnis and Larry Davis got a little too heady in their play and cracked noggins. Davis got a concussion; McInnis, one of the star recruits, seven stitches. Senior forward Brian Reese also has a severely sprained ankle.
So, what does that mean as Carolina prepares for its Nov. 17 Dean Dome opener against Western Kentucky in the Preseason NIT?
"It does allow us to work in some other people in practice," said Smith, beginning his 33rd year at UNC with great expectations. "That's when having the depth we have is good."
No, Carolina's depth is great. One sign is the Heels' ability to give 15 personal fouls at center in 275-pound Eric Montross, a stronger and improved Salvadori and heralded freshman Rasheed Wallace. McInnis' former Oak Hill Academy teammate, Jerry Stackhouse, is the other rookie.
He won't play like one. By midseason if not sooner, Stackhouse figures to be filling the starting job at forward held for the past three seasons by alumnus George Lynch of Roanoke. The last UNC freshman who started as regularly as Stackhouse should was J.R. Reid, in 1986-87.
Starting guards Derrick Phelps and Donald Williams are big little men. Add Montross, Reese and Stackhouse as starters, with Salvadori, senior forward Pat Sullivan, Wallace and McInnis. That's nine, and probably backup guard Dante Calabria's inferno.
As the Tar Heels blend into the season, Smith wants to play an eight-man rotation. "That means there will be some very good players who won't be playing," he said. "We'll have more bodies who will think they should play than ever before, so chemistry will be important."
Asked about Stackhouse, Wallace and McInnis, Smith said, "We've only practiced one day. I should be able to tell you more after about two or three weeks, but I have a hunch I'm going to like all three of them. . . . They'll contribute this year. They'll be in the top nine, maybe the top eight."
Carolina will start the season at the top of the national polls, but the Heels likely won't play with their heads in the clouds. And in the bid for a fourth consecutive NCAA title for the ACC, it won't hurt that the Final Four will be a bus ride away at the Charlotte Coliseum.
Virginia forward Junior Burrough, remembering the Cavaliers' three losses to UNC by a 60-point total last season, said these Tar Heels probably will use something besides talent to carry them toward a 14th successive NCAA Sweet 16 date.
"Carolina is Carolina, and you learn to deal with it," Burrough said. "What you have to do is try to play up to their level, and that's difficult not only because of their ability.
"They always come to play. They play hard all of the time. I remember watching them on TV last year, when Wake was really beating them [88-62] and Carolina kept playing hard, didn't quit, even in a losing effort. That's there every game, and I can't say that about ourselves. Catching Carolina's intensity would help any team."
The best way for any team to catch Carolina might be on television.
by CNB