Yeah I remember Roe being a last minute miss. What about that UCLA guard? I believe we landed LDII after missing out on him. But maybe we were never really in it anyways. Either way, I wish someone tracks the success rate, I can’t imagine anyone (without shady dealings) getting anywhere close to coach Roy on that metric. Also, how can anyone say we missed on guys who skipped college altogether? Doesn’t make sense at all!

If you’ll recall, for those of us who followed that recruiting season, there never really was much of a chance for Love to come to Chapel Hill. For one, he had several connections to the UCLA program…sources are missing here, but I remember the UCLA staff feeling pretty good about his commitment for most of that recruiting season. Two, the kid was going to play on the west coast, regardless. Keep in mind, his recruitment got pretty ugly behind the scenes (with all of the seedy agents getting involved)…at some point Roy would have pulled out anyway.

The one recruit, recently, that really did get away was Delvon Roe. The flipside to that equation is that Roy landed Ed Davis. A lot of people called Davis Roy’s “Plan B” at the time, but it never seemed that way to me. Samardo Samuels, Delvon Roe, and Ed Davis were all being recruited by Roy. Roe chose to stay close to home and Samuels went with Pitino and what looked to be a loaded Louisville squad.

ABCers are now (on the boards) citing several “missed” recruits as proof that Roy does not land every recruit he goes after. I believe that this is an act, for many, to further amplify their anti-UNC sentiments should Harrison Barnes go to Dook, or elsewhere. Call it ammunition if you will. The funny thing is, is that these individuals are citing names like Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and then the likes of Samuels and Roe. First and foremost, Roy was never really in the game for either James or Howard;rather, both stated that, in retrospect, UNC is a place where they would have liked to play college ball. If you consider Anthony to be a miss, then add about 25 other D-I coaches to that wiff list, as basically everyone was recruiting him (and he pretty much left that recruitment wide open for a long time).

Anyways, I know that this thread is about our boy John Henson, but I’ve been craving basketball talk and I needed to splurge just a bit. Please forgive my ramblings…I just really want the hoops season to begin.

No, Ed Davis did not but if Henson starts at the 3 spot and pans out as productive as expected, he’d be high lottery. As good as Hansbrough was, henever had to forego such a projection.

We’ll see but in the 2nd year, couldn’t Leslie McDonald fill out to be a prototypical college SF? I think the Wears at he 4 spot will be more than serviceable to go with Zeller.

The big recruit I remember coach Roy missing out on for a bagel of a recruit year was Kevin Love.

^Because they are FREAKING MORONS.

Well, I trust Roy…perhaps he does feel good about Barnes coming to UNC. I just get the sense that it’s like 70/30 right now, and we’re on the 30 side. Again, I hope I’m wrong.

With Leslie out of the picture, it would seem all the more likely that John Henson would come back after next season. If that is indeed the case, perhaps he transitions into more of a wing/SF combo.

Best Scenario for Carolina Fan: Land Barnes and Henson Stays for Yr 2 although he has a good enough year to be drafted in the lottery
Next Best Scenario for Carolina Fan: Miss out on Barnes and Henson stays for yr 2
Worse Scenario: Graves and a 3 guard line up (Bullock, McDonald, or Strickland @ SF) required to hold down the SF position.

At this point with where Roy has built the program, it is nice that with the Worse Case scenario we’re still talking about a talented basketball team and we’re just debating on which level of talent Carolina could have in 2010/11. Now look at Duke’s scenarios and it is not as pretty of a picture, which makes the Barnes decision even more intriguing.

Roy probably feel great about his position with Barnes but I think in the end it basically a toss-up.

So:
1) Roy feels pretty good about his position with Barnes
and/or
2) Roy feels pretty comfortable that Henson will be around for 2 years
and/or
3) Graves is the next Danny Green

My money is on a combination of 1 and 2……….

I really believe that John Henson will be around for two years. Two very important issues: one, he will need to physically mature…look no further than the Brandan Wright template. Two, he is going to need to evaluate his first year, kind of like how Ed Davis has done (love that dude), to see which areas (both offensively and defensively) will need the most fine-tuning. IF, Henson comes back after this year, here’s what we will look like going into the 2010/2011 season:

PG: Drew II/Marshall/Strickland
SG: Strickland or Bullock/Watts/McDonald
Wing: Henson/Graves/Wears/McDonald/Bullock/Watts
SF: Wears/Henson/big name recruit that Roy will land
PF/C: Zeller/….hmmm?

Wow, that’a a total reversal of our current roster in that the guard/wing spots will be loaded, but the frontcourt might be thin…?…? NO WAY, Roy Williams would NEVER allow for a team of his to be thin in the front court…NEVER.

Again, I believe that Henson comes back for 2010/2011. I hope that either Harrison Barnes or C.J. Leslie are there too.