Chansky's Notebook: Seventh The 7th Man

Seventh Woods against playing for the Tar Heels against Michigan. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Seventh Woods became a victim of today’s circumstance.

Perhaps the pinnacle for Carolina’s back-up playmaker was his eighth-grade highlight tape when he was hailed as the best 14-year-old basketballer in the country. He was a four-star recruit and wound up a perennial point guard coming off the bench for Roy Williams.

In his three seasons at Carolina, Woods played two years behind All-ACC Joel Berry and one year behind future first-round draft pick Coby White. He had his moments but could never get significant playing time.

So when Cole Anthony committed to UNC, Seventh ran out of chances to make his mark as a Tar Heel. Whether he sits out a transfer year, gets a waiver to play for another school next season or goes to a small college where he might be a star, Woods obviously did not want to keep riding the bench in Chapel Hill.

Had Berry not made a late decision to return for his senior season, Woods might have developed into a starting point guard and played alongside White, and that could have changed Anthony’s plans. So, in the age of one-and-dones, when top programs would rather have them than play against them, Woods remained the odd man out. Today’s high school stars are simply better than they used to be.

Like all players with big reps coming in, Seventh wanted more minutes and was very gracious in the statement he made about leaving school with one season left. But what he termed as “struggles” will likely make him change his priorities of becoming an NBA player to some alternate path for success, perhaps a career seeing the world overseas.

In the Dean Smith days, highly sought players were rarely recruited over returning players in Smith’s seniority system. Phil Ford was the first freshman to start in 1975, when the Tar Heels desperately needed a point guard and Ford was the No. 1 prep star in the state.

Mike O’Koren was the next freshman to start in 1977 because he came in with the same rep and talent, and Smith could fit him into a lineup that had lost Mitch Kupchak, and the Heels went to their first in Final Four in five years.

Michael Jordan started because Al Wood’s spot was open. Same for Kenny Smith, replacing the graduated Jim Braddock. But other ballyhooed freshmen like Sam Perkins, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace did not start right away over returning starters. Seventh never got higher than 7th man, a valuable sub behind better players, whether upper classmen or one and dones of the new era.

So he made a hard choice that, hopefully, will turn out well for him.