Behind the coaches and players.
In discussing UNC basketball we spend a majority of the time assigning blame and credit to the players and coaches for everything that goes on during the games. One vital piece of UNC’s program that has really only come to light his season is the work of stength and conditioning coach Jonas Sahratain. Besides all of the duties his title implies, Sahratain has also been responsible for helping players like Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough get past their respective injuries. During the Tuesday press conference, Roy was asked about Sahratain and how he came to UNC.
While Roy was still at Kansas he wanted to set up a strength conditioning program that was basketball focused. At that time the program overlapped with what the football team did and Roy wanted to change it because he felt the could focus it more specifically on basketball. After talking to NBA teams he retained the consulting services of Al Vermeil(brother of NFL coach Dick Vermeil) who was working for the Chicago Bulls. Vermiel came in to work with the staff at Kansas on a basketball specific program. Some time later Roy was looking to hire a new strength and conditioning coordinator and settled on Sahratain who was an intern for Vermeil at the time. When Roy came to UNC, he was not comfortable getting rid of much of the support staff(unlike his predecessor) so Sahratain remained at Kansas another year until the position actually opened up. Roy called Saharatain because he considers him the best there is at the job and also views him on the same level with his assistants in terms of trust and contribution to the team.
The impact Sahratain has had is two-fold. The first is he is basically the guy who really puts in the time to develop the players’ bodies to handle the game. Many players come out of high school lacking some of the strength and fitness they need to handle major college basketball. It is Sahratain’s job to help them get ready. Roy said at Kansas, Sahratain could do wonders with players who put in the time and those that did not he made them put in the time. As much as basketball is about bringing in the talent, this kind of work cannot be overlooked in terms of developing players and building a strong program. If you have a program like UNC has, it affords you the ability to really get the most out the players that commit to play in Chapel Hill. Tyler Hansbrough for all the skill and talent he brought to the table, also leaned heavily on Sahratain to help make him the player we have seen for four years. For that, Sahratain should be recognized.
Secondly, Sahratain is the staff member who ultimately manages the players when they are in the recovery phase coming back from an injury. It is his job to make sure they maintain fitness but also do the things necessary to get better. When Hansbrough had his shin problems, he worked with Sahratain on the recovery side to maintain conditioning. Marcus Ginyard has spent a great deal of time working with Sahratain on his road to recovery. Probably the most talked about situation Sahratain may have dealt with in his career was Ty Lawson’s toe. Aside from all of the other treatments, Sahratain ultimately found the magic remedy when he started putting Lawson in the pool to help him get his toe healed. Based on what we saw this past weekend, we should all be sending Sahratain thank you cards for his work to get Lawson back.
In the end, the contributions of Jonas Sahratain should not be overlooked. Yes players have to do the work and make the plays. Coaches have to game plan and make the right decisions. Before any of that happens, the players need to be physically ready to handle the game and having a great strength coach like Sahratain generally means that type of player development goes on. I also think it speaks to the excellence of Roy Williams in running the program in general. Paying attention to this position and staffing it with a person who interned for a man who is considered by most NBA teams to be the best strength and conditioning coach in their sport speaks volumes of the kind of ship Roy is running in Chapel Hill.
From top to bottom the UNC program at this stage has it all. The talent is here and keeps coming, the coaching is Hall of Fame caliber and even areas such as strength and conditioning is top of the line. The product of on the court reflects all of this and I sincerely hope that come Monday night we can see it fully manifested in a national title.
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Jonas has said before that he spends more time with Hansbrough than his wife. The dude is dedicated.
I feel the same way about this blog sometimes
Excellent write-up. I don’t know if others teams do it but Jonas is always asked to participate with the other coaches in cutting down the nets after champsionships. Just goes to show you how much he is considered part of the staff.
You can never overlook the importance of a good S&C program to the success of a team these days.
I compare how Carolina’s players look — Lawson and Hansbrough, in partricular — with how folks like Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley looked at State and there’s a big difference. Even compared to the teams Herb sent out on the court, State’s players today don’t seem in as good a shape. Kenny Inge and Damon Thornton were some beasts born out of solid conditioning.
I think our lack of conditioning played a role in how poorly we played defense this year, to be honest.
James, there are better days ahead for you. I really wish the big 3 could become the face of ACC basketball once again. I loved the 80′s!
You may have a point about that. Those guys you had are good basketball players with talent & skill. You do have the ask the question if more conditioning was in order. It may have been the deciding factor. Also, a Toney Douglas or Tyrece Rice would have made a huge impact on your season as well. Basically a similar team you have now w/o Atsur. Let’s see what CJ and Lorenzo Brown do next year. I will miss Courtney Fells, I can tell you that. Loved to watch him play, even against us.
^ I appreciate the kind words. I miss the 80′s, too, primarily because I was just starting to get into ACC basketball at the time and frankly missed most of our good years (I was 11 in ’89, so little league and Nintendo was more important to me at the time, I guess).
We’ll be thin up front, minus Costner and McCauley, but Lorenzo looks like the truth and Richard Howell could contribute as a freshman.
For what it’s worth, Sidney is mining the talent-rich state of Georgia pretty well, identifying and securing commitments from players early on. You know about Hickson from two years ago, but take a look at the AJC’s All-State team this year:
Player of the year: Lorenzo Brown, Centennial (State signee)
Coach of the year: David Boyd, Milton
First team
G: Trae Golden, McEachern, 6-2, Jr.
G: Ryan Harrow, Walton, 6-0, Jr. (State commit)
C: Richard Howell, Wheeler, 6-8, Sr. (State signee)
F: Lorenzo Brown, Centennial, 6-5, Sr. (State signee)
F: Ari Stewart, Wheeler, 6-6, Sr.
For someone who had never recruited prior to 2006, he’s doing quite alright. Now, if he can stop spending so much of his resources recruiting guys like John Wall and Derrick Favors and focus, instead, on guys that are still good talent but more likely to commit, I think he could start building a very dangerous roster.
Lowe better hope Georgia botches their coaching hire. He is getting a freaking pipeline of recruits out of there.
He digs those Georgia peaches!
Still seems like NC State would be an easy task to build up. I mean, they are in the heart of basketball country, the Triangle. Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill. Need I say more? Who wouldn’t want to be in part of college basketball’s biggest rivalries?
James, I hate you got to miss out on the 83 season. Talk about something that tugs your heart. What an inspirational story of a bunch of kids toughin’ it out and surviving the dance. Loved Lowe’s comments about how it didn’t set well with him watching Drexler and Olajuwon strutting around like the championship was theirs. Truth be told, everyone including them thought it would be. I like it when hard work, dedication defeat arrogance & swagger. Reminds me of UNC vs Duke as well.
I lived in Cary at the time, and after the game, all you could hear were car horns blowing all over the place. It was rockin’ hard!!
Hope you get to experince that before much time passes, as long as it isn’t at UNC’s expense!
“Still seems like NC State would be an easy task to build up. I mean, they are in the heart of basketball country, the Triangle. Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill. Need I say more? Who wouldn’t want to be in part of college basketball’s biggest rivalries?”
Well, (and maybe this is the State fan in me) the ACC, the NCAA and the vested TV partners all seem content to see the ACC as a two-team league. The amount of hype the UNC-Duke game garners these days far out-shadows anything generated for the rest of the teams in the league, and even for the ACC Tournament itself. It’s ALL about UNC-Duke, and it has been to the detriment to the league overall, in my opinion.
Rivalries are great, and they should be fostered, but when two teams in the league are placed on a pedestal above the rest, the rest of the teams in the league lose a bit in the deal. The ACC stands to lose its reputation as the greatest basketball conference in the land, and when the draw of the ACC no longer carries any weight, the overall talent level (and therefore the quality of all the teams other than Duke or UNC) in the league will drop. It’s a slippery slope from there.
I don’t think the ACC will ever wind up behind the Pac 10 in stature, for example, but the Big East has eclipsed the ACC, due in part to the fact that there aren’t any two teams whose rivalry has been placed above the league itself. The Big East values ALL of its great, natural rivalries that exist which ebb and flow over time.
I hear all the time from Carolina fans, “State is NOT our rival.” Hell, I spotted kids in the student section of the Dean Dome this year wearing shirts that said as much. Why is State not a rival? They should be. Do Syracuse fans try to put down Pitt fans, claiming only UConn is their rival, for example? No. All three teams this year were good, and all the games were great.
It’s on State to get better and become more relevant to restart the rivalry talk; I get that. But the promotion of Carolina and Duke as THE two programs by the ACC, the local and national media and by the fans has created a talent cycle that benefits these two teams abnormally. Top players in the area no longer want to be just apart of the ACC — they want to be a part of the Duke-Carolina game because of all the attention it garners. I heard on the radio yesterday that there are 14 McDonalds AAs on Duke and Carolina’s rosters. 14! For 10 starting spots on the two rosters! That’s great for y’all, but I think both teams serving as talent black holes has hurt the other teams in the region to a certain degree. Were the wealth spread out a little more evenly, say 4 apiece to Duke and UNC, and the other 10 sprinkled amongst the other league programs, I think the ACC overall would be stronger.
Just my two, incredibly-lengthy cents.
I completely understand your sentiments. One thing though, Maryland seemed to make a case for themselves as Duke’s biggest rivalry in spite of the “state of affairs” that you spoke of. It is possible that NC State does the same with a newcoming class. The task isn’t easy. I also think you guys get crapped on in terms of close game officiating as well. Winning a few close games here & there could be extremely valuable for a team that is in the situation NC State is in.
JIWS,
Seriously, this lame argument again?
How about having the rest of the league beat Duke and Carolina on a regular basis, so the “ACC, the local and national media, and fans” have something to hype and promote besides UNC vs. Duke. Until then it is just another lame excuse for lousy basketball out of ACC schools not named Duke or UNC.
For Pete’s Sake the ACC and ESPN tried to hype Maryland and Duke as the next best rivalry in college basketball earlier this decade. I’m tired of hearing the excuse that the hype Duke and UNC get out of their rivalry is one of the reasons State sucks, can you sing a new tune or try another excuse please because this one is beyond pathetic.
Maryland filled the void left during the Doherty years. After Gary won his title, he started mailing it in recruiting-wise when he should’ve been raking in top-talent.
“Seriously, this lame argument again?”
You reckon there’s a reason you keep hearing it?
sc, for one, I approached this from the get go as a reason why the ENTIRE ACC is down, not just State. I even mentioned in my comment, “It’s on State to get better and become more relevant to restart the rivalry talk” (you probably skimmed past that part looking for the Haterade).
Please don’t try to paint what I posted above as some lame excuse why JUST State is struggling to compete with Duke and Carolina. EVERYONE is.
“How about having the rest of the league beat Duke and Carolina on a regular basis, so the “ACC, the local and national media, and fans” have something to hype and promote besides UNC vs. Duke. Until then it is just another lame excuse for lousy basketball out of ACC schools not named Duke or UNC.”
Can’t you see this is the very point I’m arguing? The rest of the league CAN’T compete with Duke and Carolina; not in the league’s current state. What you said basically amounts to, “Hey, you missing the two legs, stop being so lazy and get off the floor.”
The NCAA tournament showed just how much separation there is between 1 and 1A and the 10 dwarfs this year.
James, state will look better going forward. They have to. A couple of recruits here & there, and an overachieving team can get you back in the hunt. Maryland did it from the ground up, but failed to capitalize on their success. State, while they do need a grass-roots effort, shouldn’t have to rely on ground-up work to get it done, as they DO have a resume to offer. I wish you luck in future games, and as always, as long as it isn’t at the cost of UNC!
The ACC had two teams in the Final Four in 2004 and won the title in 2005. The Big Ten had three teams in the final 8 in 2005 and two teams in the Final Four that year. The SEC had 2 teams in the Final Four in 2006 and won the title in 2006 and 2007.
The Big East now has two teams in the Final Four in 2009 and somehow that makes a new trend?
Where were the Big East teams last year? All of this stuff is tiresome and thank goodness Louisville lost so we didn’t have to go through a week of it.
“Can’t you see this is the very point I’m arguing? The rest of the league CAN’T compete with Duke and Carolina; not in the league’s current state. What you said basically amounts to, “Hey, you missing the two legs, stop being so lazy and get off the floor.””
You are arguing that the Carolina vs. Duke Hype Machine is the CAUSE of the other ACC teams stinking up the joint. When in actuality the other ACC Teams stinking and not beating UNC/Duke consistently are the reasons that the same type of hype is not shown for other ACC matchups.
Using your argument, then Virginia and Clemson would be playing in the National Title game in three years if ESPN and the national/local media would only hype their yearly contests as the “Battle of the Oranges” and shine the spotlight the same way they promote the Duke and UNC matchup. That is just asinine and a bunch of bunk. The hype is a result of success not vice versa.
If the UNC vs. Duke Hype machine is such a detractor from the success of college basketball programs not named Duke or UNC then why is the epidemic only associated with schools in the ACC? Why wouldn’t this affect other programs outside the ACC?
Virginia and Clemson would be playing in the National Title game in three years if ESPN and the national/local media would only hype their yearly contests as the “Battle of the Oranges” and shine the spotlight the same way they promote the Duke and UNC matchup. That is just asinine and a bunch of bunk.
It is. Thank God that isn’t my argument. What a completely absurd conclusion to draw from my assertion.