Leadership

Found brings up an interesting point about this year's Heels basketball team, and I think it's a great one. I try to stay away from message boards and the like as much as possible, but when I do occasionally succumb to the temptation, I've noticed that a lot of people are calling out Larry Drew as the main problem with this year's team. And when I read this, I can't help but thinking that these people are watching different games from me.

Don't get me wrong- Larry Drew is certainly not an elite point guard on the level of Ty Lawson or Raymond Felton. But that's okay. The thing is, he's been at least as good as I expected this season- I never thought that he was going to be great. I do think he is going to be good, and if you take out a few games there's a solid argument that he has been good this season. Carolina fans are unbelievably spoiled (one of the main reasons there are so many ABCers out there) and think that every PG that walks through the door has to live up to the likes of those 2 guys. They're not going to, and we need to all be okay with that. Has Drew struggled the last two games? Sure. But he's also had several solid games this season, and at times he has been by far the most controlled player on the court.

As Found said, the biggest surprise for me with this year's team, and the main reason why I think they're struggling so much, has been the play of the guys I expected the most from. Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson, the two senior leaders who have started for Final Four teams, have been disappointing so far. Neither has stepped up to the level that they need to if this team is going to contend for a conference title and second-weekend birth in the NCAAs. To some extent, too, you could throw Ed Davis in that mix as well- he's been solid for sure, but in the two losses to Clemson and Georgia Tech he has been an afterthought on offense. Again, that sounds like the same thing I said about Drew, but Ed Davis is supposed to be an elite player- he's our "star." And he just hasn't played like it.

All of this leads me to another thought- leadership. It seems like as a Carolina fan I've heard that word a lot over the past 3 years. Any time a Carolina team is struggling (including last season following that 0-2 conference start), it seems like everyone wants to talk about how there's not enough leadership. What does that even mean? It's hard for us as fans to comment on whether or not there is enough vocal leadership in the locker room of any team. So I think I'm going to stay away from that. However, I will say that this team is missing that one (or two) guy(s) who, when the game is going south quickly, can get the ball in his hands and stop the bleeding. Hansbrough, clearly, was that guy. Also, toward the second half of last season, Lawson was that guy. This year's team has no one like that. Maybe that is leadership, I don't know. But I thought that Ginyard, Davis, or Thompson could be that guy. When Clemson starts pressing and they open up an 8-point lead, I want Deon or Ed Davis to post up and call for the ball, get it, and then power a move to the basket for 2 to stop the momentum. Great teams have that guy who can do that. This team doesn't. And maybe that's okay. You know, this team is very inexperienced and maybe they'll struggle. Realistically, that's fine. But I just think that this type of problem points to what Found said, that the struggles of this team have much more to do with guys like Ed Davis and Deon Thompson than with Larry Drew or Dexter Strickland.

Which leads me to tonight. Wake Forest comes to the Dean Dome. Clearly, this is an important game to me personally as a student at Wake for medical school, but it's an important game for the Heels as well. After tonight, UNC will have a 6-day break to get things right in practice and at the trainer's table (another understated problem with this year's team has been injuries) before two winnable games against State and Virginia. If Carolina can find a way, any way, to edge this one out tonight, I'll feel a lot better about our chances this season.

As for how the game might actually go, watch how UNC chooses to guard Ish Smith in this one. If he struggles, Wake becomes very inconsistent offensively, as Duke showed in forcing Smith to go 3-12 on Sunday night. In the second halves of the Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech games, the Heels played the kind of defense I believe they're capable of, and if they do that for 40 minutes tonight, I think they'll win easily. If they lose focus a little bit, Smith could really hurt them, and it will open up the Deacons' offense for their several other options as well.