Chansky's Notebook: The Maye Creation

Luke Maye is the prototypical Carolina Tar Heel.

If you were in a lab somewhere underground building robots, the perfect UNC over-achieving athlete would be based on a physical and mental model of Luke Maye.

First of all, you need blood lines. And Maye had them, with a football star father at Carolina and a mother who was a high school hoopster, herself. Because of them, Maye had size and desire to overcome a few kinks in the prototype, like quickness and hops.

Next, you need a vision of what you want to become. Maye was not satisfied with a scholarship to middle majors or also-ran ACC programs. He would play for the best, the team that was in his heart since his childhood hearing about his Dad’s big-time passing arm.

And any good robot would be both smart and crafty, so Maye studied hard in high school and even harder when he was a seldom-used freshman on Roy Williams’ 2016 Final Four team. By then, Maye had the grades to be an honor roll student.

You would want your robot to have courage, and Maye certainly showed that when the opportunity came at the end of his sophomore season. Alone with the ball in a tie game against Kentucky, Luuuuke didn’t flinch. He released perhaps the most perfect shot of his college career with the right lift, aim and spin.

The shot heard round the basketball world put Luke Maye on the map, and made him the ideal target of critics to be a one-trick pony, the kid who couldn’t do it again as a junior. With that challenge dancing in his head, Maye spent another relentless summer in the gym and, just like any good Tar Heel, all he saw was red.

On his way to first team All-ACC and All-American, Maye became the biggest N.C. State killer in Carolina history. Thirty points and double-digit rebounds, almost robotically, were his results three out of four times out against the Wolfpack, home and away. That endeared him to scientists in the lab and fans in the stands.

At the end of his junior year, he won the first of two awards as the ACC’s top student-athlete. A senior, with all the game-planning now stacked against him, Maye beat the odds again and played with even more heart. Another academic and all-ACC season and then the ultimate UNC prize, a Patterson medal, the best a Carolina kid can be.

No lab concoction can create anything like Luke Maye.

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Chansky’s Notebook: The Maye Creation

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