Awesome.
The basic premise of the article by Dan Wiederer at the Fayetteville Observer(who is probably sad he does not get to talk to Danny Green, Sr. once a week this summer) is Roy not only recruits great talent but you are hard pressed to find a player who did not measure up. And when I say "hard pressed" I really mean you cannot find a player who did not measure up:
So consider this my deep-breath step back to acknowledge the ridiculous five-season run Carolina just completed, one punctuated with Monday’s field trip to Washington, D.C.
The Tar Heels’ resume over the last five years: a 157-26 overall record, 64-16 in the ACC, four regular-season conference championships, two conference tournament titles, four trips to the Elite Eight, three Final Fours and two national titles.
Indisputably, this is a run — even in a program as storied as Carolina — that historians will look back on 25 or 30 years from now and marvel at.
The foundation: Williams’ dogged and almost error-free efforts on the recruiting trail.
No, UNC hasn’t gotten every player it’s wanted over the last half-decade. But of the players that have come through Chapel Hill to play for Williams, it’s hard to find any that could be classified as total busts.
Here’s a look at the 17 players Williams has successfully recruited to UNC (and who have played) since the coach’s return in 2003. And I’m categorizing them by their impact on the program or the impact they’re expected to make.
Jersey in the rafters: Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson.
Difference-makers: Marvin Williams, Brandan Wright, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller.
Successful role players: Marcus Ginyard, Bobby Frasor, Deon Thompson, Larry Drew.
Spare parts: Quentin Thomas, Alex Stepheson, Mike Copeland, Will Graves, Justin Watts.
Failed to meet expectations: None.
Read that last sentence again.
That’s an argument as convincing as any to explain Carolina’s recent success, unparalleled by any team in the country.
In six seasons at UNC, Williams hasn’t had a single player that’s registered as a real disappointment.
What a difference a year makes in this though. At one point last May I was running a post through my head that would basically chronicle what a disappointment the much touted recruiting class of 2006 ended up being in the event Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington chose to leave. If those two leave a year ago we would have been left wondering why that class was down to Deon Thompson and zero national titles. Of course they came back and fulfilled the expectations in possibly the most impressive way possible.
Not to be repetitive but a week does not go by whether you read an article like this or simply think: "It's great to be a Tar Heel fan!" Even more than that, you look at the body of work under Roy Williams and realize that even losing a crop of key players does not spell the end of the world. UNC is in a complete reload cycle which means they will be in the mix year in and year out.