We are a long way from this aren’t we?
Inside Carolina has a nice piece on the fairly unacknowledged rise of Wayne Ellington during the most important games of the season. Ellington, who struggled earlier this season with his shot, has taken the bull by the horns and is on pace to turn in one of the more incredible tournament performances in UNC history should he and the Heels continue. Over the past three games dating back to the loss vs FSU in the ACC Seminfinals, Ellington has scored 24, 25 and 23 points. He is shooting 57% from the floor and 50% from three point range. Yes all the attention is on Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough which is probably how Ellington wants it. The junior shooting gaurd lit up LSU’s Garrett Temple on Saturday night despite Temple’s reputation as the guy who shut down J.J. Redick in 2006.
Even beyond the shooting, Ellington looks like a more complete player on offense. Once relegated to simply being a shooter, Ellington has morphed more into a scorer over the past few games. There has been an aggressive nature that was previously absent as well as an ability to not only drive the basket but finish once he gets there. Ellington also has become a rather reliable rebounder averaging 4.8 rpg for the season. Perhaps the biggest one so far was the tip out to Danny Green against LSU that led to a three pointer which broke the Tigers’ back. With the loss of Marcus Ginyard’s knack for doing the same thing, that part of Ellington’s game has been indispensable.
As the IC article points out, no one in the media is really talking about Ellington’s play. In fact the local and national media alike has been ga-ga over Ellington’s high school teammate Gerald Henderson at Duke despite the fact Ellington might actually be playing better basketball right now. Since the beginning of ACC play on January 4th, this is how the two former high school buddies match up:
Wayne Ellington: 17.7 ppg, 50% FG, 42% 3P, 5.5 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.4 A/TO
Gerald Henderson: 19.0 ppg, 45% FG, 33% 3P, 4.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.1 A/TO
Starting with ACC play, Ellington has been statistically better than Henderson in ever category except points per game and slight behind in assists per game. Ellington shoots better, rebounds better and takes slight better care of the basketball. Henderson is a better defender averaging more steals and blocks per game but on the offensive end Ellington is better. A brief look at the Pomeroy stats for both sheds more light on the issue. Ellington has a season offensive rating of 124.0(one of four Tar Heels with 120.0 or better) Henderson’s offensive rating is 111.7. Interestingly enough, Henderson is a larger part of Duke’s offense according to possession and shot percentages than Ellington is for UNC yet Ellington is more efficient.
The point is Henderson is given a great deal of attention by the media. Some of that has to do with the fact he is one of the “Big Three” on Duke’s team which ironically he rates as the least of that trio in ORtg behind both Jon Scheyer(124.6) and Kyle Singler(112.3) Henderson was named to first team All-ACC while Ellington was put on the 3rd team. Not much we can complain about there in the THF community since most of us voted the same way here. However looking at the numbers now(which includes data not available at the time) there is a clearer picture. Do not misunderstand me. Henderson has been a great player this season and possibly will end up being a better NBA player. Quite frankly he is a freak of nature as an athlete and deserves many of the accolades thrown his way. Ellington got off to a slow start and does not exhibit the same kind of athleticism as Henderson though I think that part of his game is underrated. Looking at these numbers it is clear that Ellington may actually be a better player and certainly has been a huge factor in UNC’s two NCAA Tournament wins. The problem Ellington faces is UNC has two ACC Player of the Year recipients on the roster so in many respect they absorb most of the attention. Ellington, meanwhile, just toils away playing the best basketball of his career at UNC.
As I said, a far cry from all the questions we were asking on this blog two years ago.
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Well, you could make those comparisons for folks such as, say, Ray Allen and JR Smith. Smith is a better athlete in terms of getting off of the floor, but Ray Allen is a better shooter, and can do some of those same things JR does. I would personally rather have Ellington on my team. If our records with Duke were flip flopped, I might think otherwise.
This was a great piece on Ellington. What I think is this:
UNC’s expectations have been so high, so that when Ellington didn’t measure up in his first two seasons, he was thought of as one of the reasons why. Even though, his stats may have not been any worse than some stars on other teams.
Duke on the other hand, wasn’t considered by some to be a premier team, but overachieved, in large part, because of coaching, teamwork, and Gerald Henderson.
You also have to add to the fact that the media has a love fest, and ability to forgive, when it comes to the Dukies. 2nd, there will always be some flaw in UNC’s game, no matter how successful we are, when it concerns the media.
Ellington hit one 3-pointer coming off a curl in the LSU game and I swore the spirit of Donald Williams had entered Wayne’s body.
I know. Let’s hope he finds a good home in there!!
Now, back to the media and their disdain for UNC. I will be willing to bet 5 years from now, the media will be talking & writing pieces about UNC’s inability to gut it up when it comes to injury and playing though, every time a Lawson situation arises. They will spin it to look like that is some historical indication of how UNC is when confronted with injuries. We have already earned the stigma from them. They have painted us in their own image. We will become what they want us to become. Why? Because we have. In spite of Lawson playing through his injury, Hansbrough and Zeller as well, we have listened to stories of how we can’t gut it out. While we remain good checks & balances here, we need more help from the mainstream sports media to eradicate our image concerning health/injury matters.
I read, or at least attempt to read, just about everything I can find during basketball season from all the major sources, and I really think the mainstream media treats UNC very fairly and with due respect. Some of the exaggeration we have been hearing lately comes from fairly minor players.
Such as Jay Bilas, “UNC is the most vulnerable team”
Of course, you may have others that go overboard in the other direction with UNC. Vitale the past 3 seasons “UNC is going all the way Baby! There will be celebration on Franklin Street come March!”
Yeah, JB, one sort of has to view it like the Olympics judging system where you throw out the extreme highs and lows. But I never really view someone who makes a credible criticism of us, one that is backed up by some evidence or facts, as having a UNC bias. I know I don’t think so, but Bilas may be right, we may be the most vulnerable team. The questions about Ty and our overall defense would be some legitimate concerns. The exaggerations I referred to were more in the area of the off-the-wall toe comments.
J,
Bilas said that not because he thinks UNC is weak but because UNC got a tough draw. UNC could be forced to play back to back top ten teams if they win versus Gonzaga then play Oklahoma. That is much tougher than UL has it facing a #12 seed then facing the Kansas/MSU winner. UConn has Purdue then the Memphis/MO winner and Pitt has Xavier then the Duke/Nova winner. UNC has the tougher road and with Lawson’s toe not being 100% certain I can see where they look more vulnerable though you are talking about to a very small degree.
It strange, but I could really see any of the 8 games on Thurs. and Friday going either way. We could have a weird ending to this tournament.
Agreed, THF. Bilas is by far one of the most favorable analysts towards UNC. I don’t have a problem with what he said.
As for Ellington, it should not be lost on us that if he comes back next year he very likely will pass Phil Ford on UNC’s all-time scoring list. For all of the adulation that Tyler got for doing the same thing, I hope Wanye is appreciated equally, because that would be a truly special accomplishment.
I really do not take any issue with Bilas’ comment about that. It is probably the truth, given our defensive lapses and the fact that Gonzaga has good guard play. And then we have to face Syracuse/Oklahoma winner. I did take issue with him 2 years ago going with Georgetown over us. Yes, they did win, but not because of the premise he had which was UNC can’t stop Hibbert down low, and the multi-faceted game of Jeff Allen. I thought we did a good job on those, but lost due to our end of game shot selections. Bilas was right, Georgetown won, but not because of the reasons he outlined pre-game.
From Andy Katz’s blog:
“Seth Curry, who led the nation’s freshmen in scoring with 20.2 points a game for Liberty University this season, wants to play at a higher level, notably in the ACC and in the state of North Carolina (NC State, Wake Forest, Duke or North Carolina).”
This will be very interesting to watch. UNC does have a scholarship open for the 2010-11 season, but if Curry were to transfer in, it would mean Ellington would have to go pro, or Graves’ scholly would have to be not renewed.
I know a lot of folks lament the Cinderella-less Sweet 16, and I have always pulled for one or two underdogs, but I also like to see the best teams and the best competition. (The selection committee members backs are probably sore from all the pats they’ve been giving each other.) 14 of the top 16 seeds and 1,2,& 3 from every region….. that’s pretty incredible and makes for an exciting weekend. And I still can’t decide who has the toughest route because they all look tough to me right now. But whoever wins it is going to earn it.
One thought about Wayne. His athleticism has never been lost on me and he has probably won my jaw-drop test for plays as much as anyone. My family could attest to all the times I’ve said, “Wow! Did you see that? He started from beyond the free throw line, took two steps, and laid it in!” He has to have some of the longest basket-finishing strides I’ve ever seen. And he has some vertical to go with it. I would love to have him back, but if his trajectory continues this way through the tournament it’s not nearly as likely it once seemed.
JBowling – I hear you about the ferrets of the press but I learned a long time ago not to be bothered by their prejudices. If you think about it our personna with the media probably stems from the way Coach Smith chose to deal with them. Coach Smith never went out of his way to coddle them rather spending his time and energies toward developing and presenting a superior product year after year.
I never cared what Billy Packer thought although I detested his reportage viz Carolina. I believe it would be a big mistake to court the press as others do and I far prefer that we “tend to our knitting” while beating hell out of dook and the rest and let the simpletons write whatever they choose. I prefer for Carolina basketball to be above the frey where the pundits are concerned.
Remember, we are a scant few games away from being the winningest college basketball team in this nation (Kentucky is losing as I comment). Why should we care what the “newsys” write?
Well written Wizard. What they think really doesn’t make a difference as to what we accomplish. If anything, I hope it is an extra motivating tool for our players.
Ellington is amazing when he is playing well. It was great to see him trying to put out against Henderson in the last Duke game; there he played and looked better than Henderson.
I cannot conceive of Ellington deliberately smashing another player in the face with 13 seconds to play in a certain loss.
Ellington makes the most of his accelerations and screen runs, especially when he is motivated. He can score in important spots, and he usually stays pretty calm.
He may be playing himself out of college in the next few weeks, but he has had an inconsistent season. And his inconsistencies have followed the outcome of games.
He is playing well now, and all credit to him for bringing it now!
It seemed like Wayne’s freshman season, he would play well against teams we already distanced ourselves from, but in close games, didn’t show up. He has turned that around, and may be the difference in key stretch runs.
Those stats were eye opening for me. You know how a player can have a “quiet” point total. I’ve (of course) watched every game this year, but it was a surprise to see that Wayne has had a “quiet” 17.7 ppg since Jan.
Maybe one reason he doesn’t get noticed relative to Henderson is the quality of the players just behind him in the offense. Compare the attention that Green/Thompson/Davis get relative to Smith/Thomas/Paulus.
AZACCFan — The good news is that, the way Ellington is playing now, we could well be headed to the national championship. The bad news is that, for the same reason, he could be headed for the NBA. As LarryS notes, Ellington is a great athlete, and has turned into a great scorer. None of that should surprise those who have been following his career from the outset.
How good would ‘Nova be this year if WE and Henderson had done what most expected and both gone there? Granted, they still would have no bigs…