Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks will each close out their four-year journey as Tar Heels with a national title. (Todd Melet)
It’s seems like a different kind of Carolina-Kentucky game, doesn’t it?
The Tar Heels, who for the fourth straight year start three upperclassmen on a nationally ranked team, face a Kentucky program that can’t seem to figure out what its recruiting philosophy is these days.
The Wildcats were the first to wholesale one-and-done freshmen at the start of this decade, and they won a national championship (2014) and reached three other Final Fours. But since 2015, Kentucky and Duke have remained the preeminent one-and-done programs despite failing to reach the Final Four.
Carolina has a couple of freshmen who have the talent to enter the NBA draft, but how Coby White and Nassar Little develop over the rest of the season will determine their places on the mock draft boards and their decisions to return for their sophomore years.
Of Kentucky’s top nine players, eight are freshmen and sophomores and none were ranked in the top 10 of their freshman class. Three freshmen turned pro last season for a team that went 26-11, 10-8 in the SEC and under-performed on the way to a Sweet 16 loss to Kansas State. The current Wildcats are under-performing again and none are household names like the Duke freshmen who routed them in the first game of the season.
Kentucky’s two best players appear to be freshman forward Keldon Johnson and graduate Stanford transfer big man Reid Travis, who strongly considered the Tar Heels and likely would be starting for them had he chosen UNC. While Roy Williams’ latest edition is a work in progress, it is built how Carolina teams have been for decades. With a core of what Williams calls experienced talent and some gifted youngsters trying to play their way into the rotation — a formula that produced two Final Four teams since either Kentucky or Duke had their last.
So far White has been the starting point guard and second-leading scorer. Little averages 12 points playing about half the game, doesn’t start but is usually on the court at the end, which is a sign of his growing importance to the team.
The normal Carolina-Kentucky hype isn’t there because these two teams are trying to do it the old fashion way, which isn’t as sexy as a lineup of freshmen sucking the oxygen out of the room as they lay over in college basketball on the way to the pros.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Bailing OutRoy Williams probably had reasons for the soft statements. Carolina fans reacted strongly to the video of a team party after the win over Duke. Only Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were in the video, but a statement from players and managers said it was supposed to be a closed event that other students and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Please, Go In!UNC men's basketball faces what is an early season must-win at Georgia Tech. Art Chansky says a look at the statistics is painful, but not terminal.
Chansky's Notebook: Leaky Steps UpDean Smith used to say he’ll be happy with a one-point win. The legendary UNC basketball coach struggled spiritually between playing well according to his teachings, regardless of outcome, and winning no matter how poorly you play. Since his job was to win and he was so competitive, he chose the latter. If he was […]
Chansky's Notebook: Rock(et) StarBen Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game. When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play. He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar […]
Chansky's Notebook: Goals and AmbitionsGarrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure. On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes. A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s […]
Chansky's Notebook: A COVID DebateClemson was livid that Florida State wouldn’t play the game. Let’s be lawyers, and make a case for each of the teams that did not play its scheduled game over the weekend. Clemson had traveled to Florida State when it learned a player with mild symptoms who had practiced with the team all week tested […]
Chansky's Notebook: Draft DodgersCarolina and Duke players have lost ground in the NBA draft. Like everything else with sports in the COVID era, the NBA draft goes off tonight after being postponed for five months. And if you look at the various mock draft boards, certain things jump off your screen. First of all, about half the names […]
Chansky's Notebook: A Two-Thirds Bet?What if Phil Mickelson and Mack Brown amended their bet? With the Masters being moved back to this weekend due to COVID, perhaps the three-time champion should revisit the fun bet he made with Carolina’s football coach back in 2003. The famed lefthander was still seeking his first Green Jacket when he partnered with the Texas football coach at the […]
Chansky's Notebook: Kudos To CarolinaUNC teams did a commendable job beating the odds. Who among us thought the ACC would be playing football and other fall sports last summer? With the pandemic upon us and the medical experts still learning, the seasons looked like a long shot. While other conferences pumped the breaks and/or called off football, the ACC […]
Chansky's Notebook: Extra MotivationCarolina’s schedule could be working to its advantage. When the COVID-revised list of games came out, it looked troublesome for the Tar Heels with Virginia Tech and Florida State basically bookending Notre Dame and Miami with four rivalry games in a row right in the middle. Coaches usually don’t like that because it takes a […]
›
