Comments on: THF Countdown #26: 2003

By: Santiago

Santiago — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:59:13 +0000

IIRC, UNC beat at least 4 top-10 teams that season: Kansas, Duke, UMd, and UConn. That’s indicative of a turnaround, if you ask me. Personally, I think the fix was in long before the ‘Heels didn’t make the NCAAT, and Doherty was already a dead man walking by mid-season. Dean never wanted Doherty for a job he was ultimately not ready for–which only helped to fulfill the prophecy that he wasn’t ready for it, even though Doherty had to coach Guthridge’s poor recruiting classes–and was probably working Roy–who didn’t like the new AD at Kansas anyway–to ride in on his white horse. (Hope my freshman comp prof never reads that last sentence.)

The seasons between Dean leaving and Roy returning are difficult for me to make peace with, not because back-to-back teams missed the NCAAT and broke every streak save Clemson in Chapel Hill, but because they showed how dysfunctional the “Carolina Family” could be.

By: ed geth lives

ed geth lives — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:01:14 +0000

One more thought about that season. Though it was obviously a drag to play in the NIT, the crowds for those games were amazing. It was general admission and it the G’town and Wyoming games were among the loudest non-Duke crowds I have ever heard there.

By: keithunc

keithunc — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:33:01 +0000

I went to Chapel Hill to see the first two games that year (Davidson/Iona) the Heels played and I remember what a stud McCants was. He was exciting to watch and he only a Freshman.

By: C. Michael

C. Michael — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:26:10 +0000

Ed is right. It was his metatarsal (3rd, I believe).

By: Tar Heel Fan

Tar Heel Fan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:18:59 +0000

That is also a lot of pressure for such a young team. Three freshman and four sophomores saddled with the expectations of restoring the UNC legacy? Tough task in 2003 but in 2005 not a problem.

One thing I really did not touch on is how much 2003 really fed into making 2005 possible. These guys were motivated to overcome one of the worst periods in UNC history and it really made them battle tested.

By: ed geth lives

ed geth lives — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:15:45 +0000

Thanks for doing this. A minor quibble. I think Sean May broke his metatarsal, which I think means basically his foot. Indeed, I think one of the reasons that him and his family were upset with Doherty was that he felt that he was pressured to return for Round 2 of the ACC tourney against Duke.

I agree completely with your ranking of this team but let’s not forget how incredible that Kansas win seemed at the time. It really marked our return back to prominence as we really crushed a good team. Of course, that true return was not to come until Doherty was finally let go, but still it seemed things were on the mend.

As a matter of fact if I were to rank our top non-conference regular season wins during the years that you are going by, I’d go:

1) 2002-3 Kansas
2) 1988-89 Syracuse (Tip off classic with out JR Reid and revenge for the year before)
3) 1981-82 Kentucky (1 vs. 2)
4) 2005-2006 Kentucky, a young team blows out Kentucky in Rupp.
5) 2003-2004 UConn (beat the eventual national champ and #1 team)

Probably too shaded to recent years, might also consider James Madison 89-90, Kentucky 90-91, and Arizona in 07-08.

By: wb3

wb3 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:34:29 +0000

Personally, I found this season more disappointing than the 8-20 season. In the 8-20 season, we didn’t have any good players (with the loss of Forte/Curry/Peppers), so the expectations were low in my book. When McCants/Felton/May came in, I got excited again, but we obviously had no inside game when May got hurt.

I believe THF is right about Doherty being forced out. The truth is, Doh lost 2 teams in 3 years, because the 2000-01 team fell apart at the end of that season. When it happened again at the end of 02-03, UNC had seen enough.