ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603180058
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Three of the eight NCAA Division I basketball teams with 27 or more victories this season play today at the Richmond Coliseum.
So does North Carolina.
Most years, the Tar Heels (21-10) would be among the elite as the NCAA Tournament plays the second round. This season, however, Carolina has been a very different - albeit successful - team by necessity.
Sure, some things never change. Dean Smith's 35th season on the Carolina sideline has brought a 26th consecutive winter of at least 20 victories and lengthened an NCAA-record streak of bids to 22. UNC also finished in the top three - third - in the ACC standings for the 32nd consecutive year.
However, the Heels skidded to a sixth seed in the East Region by losing six of their last 10 games before Friday night's NCAA-opening romp over New Orleans. Consistency and depth, usual UNC ingredients, have been missing.
Carolina has remained one of the nation's best-shooting teams. Its .494 percentage ranks seventh in Division I. However, UNC has lost four games in which it has shot 50 percent or better. How often in past years has that happened?
That isn't to say UNC should be awed today by Texas Tech (29-1) in a 2:40 p.m. East Region tipoff that sends the winner to a Georgia Dome regional with Massachusetts, Arkansas and the winner of today's 12:15 opener between Georgetown (27-7) and New Mexico (28-4).
Smith, unexpectedly, is trying to sell his team as an underdog. The Heels, however, are one of the country's best teams, if they play like they can - and did in the opening-round rout of New Orleans.
``For some reason, this team has trouble getting motivated,'' said freshman forward Antawn Jamison, who - appropriately on this team this season - has been surprisingly spectacular on occasion. ``It's kind of sad we have to wait until the NCAA Tournament to do it.''
If the inspired play at the coliseum Friday night was any indication, they've picked the right time to do it. And in a tournament where one of every four games has produced victory for a lower seed, should anyone be surprised Arkansas - the last team picked for the field of 64 say those who know - has reached the Sweet 16?
Carolina's experience this season is about more than one winter. What passes for a rebuilding year at the IBM of college hoops got its genesis two years ago today in the same East bracket, when Boston College ended UNC's run of 13 regional semifinal appearances with a second-round upset.
Smith had too much talent on that team, and when freshmen Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace displaced veterans, it not only unraveled the 1993-94 season, but also started the Heels toward their third Final Four trip in five years in March 1995.
Sure, Smith expected Stackhouse and Wallace to leave school early for the NBA - but certainly not both after their sophomore seasons. That left UNC no choice but to start two freshmen inside - Jamison and Ademola Okulaja - and the results have been anything but disappointing.
Jeff McInnis can be the nation's best point guard when he keeps his head out of the microwave. He's a taller version of Virginia's Harold Deane, with a better shot.
He's been up and down, however, as has shooting guard Dante Calabria. Heralded freshman Vince Carter has struggled in his adjustment from high school star to college chemistry. The Heels' 7-foot pivotman, Serge Zwikker, probably has produced more than anyone could have expected, considering his earlier years.
``We've gone through a lot,'' Calabria said.
They also picked a good year to do it. The ACC's balance and lack of an overwhelming team - a Carolina, for instance - has helped the Heels prosper.
So, who knows which Carolina team will keep playing in the NCAA Tournament - the one that lost to Villanova by two in November, or the one that lost to Villanova by 20 in January?
Some regard this season as one of Smith's best coaching jobs. Certainly, it's been one of his most patient efforts.
Carolina is one victory from where it's been 14 of the previous 15 years. The Tar Heels have proven this season that there are different ways to get where you're accustomed to going.
Surely, it hasn't been the rebuilding year many expected from the Tar Heels. When a program is that good for that long, rebuilding seem to take about a 20-second timeout.
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB