Chansky's Notebook: The Defender

Leaky Black just may be Carolina’s most valuable player.

It certainly is a wonder how the senior from Concord was not elected a captain of the Tar Heels, which generally goes to one of the longest-tenured players and most valuable. Black qualifies on both counts.

He is the only senior on scholarship, and the analytics show the Tar Heels have a much better chance to win with Leaky in the lineup. The last three games, all important wins at home, tell the story.

Black’s plus-minus for the hard-fought victories over Virginia Tech and Boston College and the blowout of N.C. State are +53, meaning the Tar Heels have outscored their opponents by 53 points with Leaky on the floor.

His season total is +212, best on the team with Armando Bacot next with +208. Black has had only four minus-games of the 20 he has started and played, all losses, with a total in those games of -48. Bacot has five minus-games, also all defeats, and his total is minus-79.

With Black on the floor, Carolina has allowed 91 points per 100 possessions. With Black on the bench, the number balloons to 116. Led by that defensive impact, UNC is outscoring opponents by 24 points per 100 in Black’s minutes while outscored by almost 12 points per 100 when he rests.

Black has played the fourth-most minutes (averaging 26) behind Caleb Love, R.J. Davis and Bacot. He is only fifth on the team in steals but is generally assigned to the opponent’s best perimeter player and much more of a lock-down defender than ball hawk. He is tied for second with 12 blocked shots, which speaks for his athletic and leaping abilities.

Leaky’s assist-turnover ratio is easily the best on the team, but he doesn’t qualify for the official ACC statistics that requires a minimum of three assists per game. His best floor game in the last three was against Boston College with 5 assists, 0 turnovers and 3 blocks.

Black’s versatility will be very important in who to guard against Duke on Saturday, since the Blue Devils have at least 4 guys who handle the ball in their basic 4 around 1 offense. He is likely to see time checking freshmen A.J. Griffin, Trevor Keels and even Paolo Banchero along with Wendell Moore.

That will be his, and the team’s, biggest ACC challenge of the season.

Photo via Todd Melet.

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Chansky’s Notebook: The Defender

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