What did Maui teach us about the Tar Heels? It’s all good.
I’m not quite ready to declare this Carolina basketball team the best in the country, although it may be playing the best right now; and it is certainly not better than the 2008-09 Heels, which may be the best in school history. But the way they dismantled the Maui field has them way ahead of schedule in proving their prowess.
They never trailed for a second in Maui, blew out three increasingly better teams as the tournament went on and showed they can play fast, which we know, but also grind it out like Arnold Palmer on the back nine at Augusta. They only scored 71 points in the championship game against Wisconsin but had the Badgers down 25 with two and a half minutes to play and held the Big Ten bullies to the lowest point total (56) in the history of the Maui title game.
Neither team was sterling on offense, because both were so good on defense. But whereas Carolina used its size to crush Oklahoma State in the semifinals, it was Joel Berry’s perimeter play that broke open the game late in the first half. The MVP of the classic not only had 22 points and three assists, he was even better when Wisconsin had the ball, dogging the Badgers’ best scorer Bronson Koenig into a 1 for 13 shooting night and 0-5 from three-point range.
Kennedy Meeks made all-tournament but could have easily been MVP, as well. He averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds in three games and had a double-double in the first half against Wisconsin. Meeks and Isaiah Hicks, with 14 points and five boards, were so good that freshman Tony Bradley finally did not get into double figures.
So when you call the Tar Heels a team, you’re not kidding. Justin Jackson was great in the semis but couldn’t buy one in the finals. Nate Britt, Kenny Williams and Brandon Robinson combined to go 0 for 7 from the field, but Berry picked all of them up.
UNC is 7-0 and more than halfway to the 2009 team’s start of 13-0. Those Heels also won the Maui Invitational and that team went on to win the NCAA championship. Not so fast, now, but a nice start.
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