Roy Williams met the media in his annual summer press conference. The full video is here. Here are the highlights.
-Roy says prior to last season he did not think he would lose Kendall Marshall. Harrison Barnes and John Henson were expected to leave but Marshall he thought would be there another season. Losing those three plus Zeller, Roy said will put more pressure on the freshman to step up.
-One of the changes this season is coaches being able to work with players during the summer. They have had four such practices of 75 minutes each which involved drills and scrimmage. There will be additional practices once the freshmen show up.
-Called Joel James a "big rascal" and in a pick-up game during his official visit, Tyler Zeller said James hit him harder than anyone ever had at UNC. Nothing but glowing praise for James, especially for his work ethic and general personality.
-Injury report:
Marcus Paige-As far as he knows everything is going well.
Dexter Strickland-Released to shoot but nothing more. Should be available come August.
Leslie McDonald-Full speed now save a slight hamstring issue unrelated to the knee.
As present there is no reason to believe the players won't be ready come October.
-The N&O's Andrew Carter asked Roy about Harrison Barnes brand to which he said it was obviously important to him since he talked about but also said the way you build your brand is work hard and win. Carter then asked Roy what Barnes' brand to which Roy responded, "I have no frickin' idea."
-There was some concern James Michael McAdoo might go to the NBA. He did not think it was a good decision and was told that by most of the NBA teams he spoke with but at the same time would have still been a lottery pick.
-Roy is still undecided about going to the NBA Draft though he said Tyler Zeller threaten to beat him up if he doesn't go.
-He would not be surprised if NC State was the pick to win the ACC and said it probably "should happen."
-On the team being shaped by inexperience in the interior. Roy said there has to be an interior threat to keep defenses honest but clearly there is more perimeter shooting.
-UNC did not receive an APR award for basketball breaking a six year streak. The three transfers and dismissal of Will Graves before/in the 2010-11 season led to the lower number. The APR does not account enough for transfers according to Roy.
-Little publicized fact. Roy Williams coached the college select team that beat the The Dream Team. Then the next day the Dream Team beat the college players by 56 points.
-Roy would like to coach 6-10 more years.
-Quote: "Kendall had 351 assists with a team that didn't shoot well."
-Roy got on question about the AFAM academic scandal. Says he strongly feels it is not a basketball issue but a university issue. Roy says he is pretty aware of what his players take in classes. He emphasized multiple times he did not think it was a basketball issue.
-On the hiring of Hubert Davis, Roy says he actually drove my Davis' house twice with the intention of knocking on his door and asking him if he wanted the job but decided he couldn't do it that way.
-Roy says Davis has a lot of solid attributes including the ability to relate to players which he thinks will make him a good coach.
-Roy doesn't like pizza which might be the bombshell of the press conference.
For the most part it was routine. UNC obviously faces some challenges replacing multiple starters and integrating freshmen and two players recovering from injury. At this point it would appear there is a better idea of how this team will be put together vs 2010 when you had missing pieces and players out of position.