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By Joel Welser
jwelser@collegehoops.net
North Carolina Tar Heels
Atlantic Coast Conference (28-6, 11-5)
Seed: #1
East Region
RPI: 3
Big Wins:
11/24 vs Tennessee (101-87), 11/29 Ohio State (98-89), 2/7 at Duke (79-73)
Bad Losses:
11/22 vs Gonzaga (74-82), 2/3 at NC State (79-83), 3/1 at Georgia Tech
(77-84)
Last NCAA
Appearance: 2006, Second Round loss to George Mason
Coach:
Roy Williams (42-16 in 17 NCAA appearances)
Probable
Starters:
Ty Lawson,
Freshman, Guard, 10.1 ppg, 5.6 apg, 1.5 spg
Wayne
Ellington, Freshman, Guard, 12.0 ppg, 2.2 apg
Reyshawn Terry,
Senior, Forward, 9.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg
Brandan Wright,
Freshman, Forward, 14.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg
Tyler
Hansbrough, Sophomore, Forward, 18.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg
Key
Roleplayers:
Wes Miller,
Senior, Guard, 2.5 ppg, 1.3 apg
Danny Green,
Sophomore, Guard, 5.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg
Bobby Frasor,
Sophomore, Guard, 2.8 ppg, 1.8 apg
Marcus Ginyard,
Sophomore, Guard, 4.2 ppg, 1.6 apg, 3.1 rpg
Deon Thompson,
Freshman, Forward, 4.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg
Alex
Stephenson, Freshman, Forward, 2.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg
Why They Can
Surprise:
North Carolina
averages over 87 points per game, which is second in the nation. Coach Roy
Williams will push the ball at every opportunity and he has the depth to do
it. Wes Miller, Bobby Frasor and Marcus Ginyard were all at least part-time
starters last season and are almost exclusively coming off the bench this
year.
The Tar Heels
are not running and gunning and taking bad shots. They are getting to the
basket and feeding the big men. They are shooting an amazing 50% from the
floor. North Carolina has quite a few players that can hit the three ball
when they need to, but they will look inside first and average under six
attempts per game from beyond the arc.
Why They Can
Disappoint:
Turnovers can
be a problem, but considering UNC will always push the tempo and have an all
freshmen backcourt, 14 turnovers per game is actually pretty good. It is
those freshmen that again will raise concerns in the NCAA Tournament. Can
Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson handle the pressure of college basketball’s
biggest stage? The youth and inexperience is shown on the defensive end as
well. More often than not, the pure athletic ability and strength is enough
to get by, but once the other elite teams start popping up in the
tournament, North Carolina will have to improve their team defense.
Who To
Watch:
The experience,
relatively speaking, is with the forwards. Sophomore Tyler Hansbrough
averages 18.2 points and 8.0 rebounds and is extremely difficult to stop
when he is being active. Brandan Wright joins Hansbrough in the paint and
has had an amazing freshman campaign and can put up big time points with his
nice touch under the basket. Small forward Reyshawn Terry is a defensive
nightmare for the opposing small forward. At 6-8, Terry can battle inside,
get to the basket and hit the outside jumper with ease. Led by that trio,
the Tar Heels outrebound their competition by over eight boards per game.
Joel’s
Bracket Says: Sweet Sixteen loss to USC
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2007 NCAA Tournament Bracket
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