Coby White, photo via Todd Melet
Coby White is not the best UNC freshman ever – at least not yet.
After he scored 34 points against Syracuse and became the first Tar Heel freshman to go for 30-plus three times, some pundits and stat freaks are calling Coby White the best first-year player in UNC annals.
Numbers aside, Coby isn’t quite there. As a Dean Smith disciple from way back, I believe the best individual performance must culminate with something special for your team. And while Coby certainly has a chance to be on a great team, it is too early to tell.
Statistically, Sam Perkins remains the best Carolina freshman. In 1981, he helped the Al Wood-led Tar Heels to a second-place finish in the ACC, a tournament championship over Maryland in Landover and a trip to the Final Four, where Carolina avenged two regular-season losses to Virginia and Ralph Sampson before dropping the NCAA title game to Indiana in Philadelphia on the day Ronald Reagan was shot. Perkins was ninth in the ACC in scoring, fourth in rebounding and won Rookie of the Year easily.
White has a chance to finish among the league stat leaders, currently 11th in scoring and seventh in assists. But the hairy hare has had some very average games and still must quarterback the Tar Heels to a championship of some kind. In some ways, White compares to Phil Ford in the pre-ACC Rookie of the Year era who was the first freshman to win MVP in the 1975 ACC tourmament for the champion Tar Heels.
Of course, Michael Jordan hit the shot that won the 1982 national championship, and will forever be remembered for that. Michael also won ACC Rookie of the Year, but was more of a role player as a freshman on a team with senior Jimmy Black, junior James Worthy and sophomore Perkins.
Other great freshmen on stand-out Tar Heel teams were J.R. Reid, who was ACC Rookie of the Year in 1987, the second Carolina team in four years to go unbeaten in the ACC standings. But Reid did not play on an ACC tournament winner as a frosh or Final Four team ever.
Ed Cota was Rookie of the Year for the 1997 Final Four Heels. So was Joseph Forte in 2000. Marvin Williams, sixth man on the 2005 NCAA champs, also won ACC Rookie of the Year. Tyler Hansbrough was All-ACC and Rookie of the Year to begin a career that ended with the NCAA title.
Coby White won’t win the top rookie, which will go to either Zion or R.J. Barrett. But he can be among the best statistical Tar Heel freshmen on a team that proves to be championship caliber in the end.
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