As he joins the Tar Heels, Brady Manek will have someone from afar watching him closely.

The fifth-year graduate transfer met the local media for the first time this week, and the 6-9 shooter said some interesting things about why he left Oklahoma to play his final college season in Chapel Hill.

One, he is among the best big marksmen who ever played in the Big 12. And that is exactly what Hubert Davis was looking for, a player who could help modernize Carolina’s two-post offense.

Since Manek grew out his hair as a sophomore with the Sooners, people have kiddingly compared him to Larry Bird, another scraggly big forward who wasn’t shy about firing it up from anywhere.

“Shooting has always been a part of my game,” Manek said. “My parents played and they could shoot, my older brother could shoot. If I brought the ball up the court more, maybe I’d be better at it. I’m not a great defender but I am working on it.”

Manek said that Hubert Davis talked about “wanting to spread the floor” and he welcomes that. At Oklahoma, he often found himself in the biggest man role, playing the center spot and guarding bigger guys. For Carolina, Manek will be part of a new running revolution.

While Roy Williams forever wanted to play faster, his big guys weren’t always involved unless they scored off the secondary break. Manek and Marquette transfer Dawson Garcia can play down low, when Armando Bacot is out of the game, but their main roles will be stretching the offense up top and out to the sidelines.

And while Manek is doing that in his final college season, his replacement will be eyeballing him. Davis moved his first recruiting class to No. 1 in the country by landing 6-8 Tyler Nickel, a 4-star who looks and plays very similar to Manek. So how’s that for transition?

Before he leaves, Manek wants to play deeper into the NCAA tournament than he did at Oklahoma, which was a perpetual 8-9 seed in his career there.

“Win or lose, your next game was going to be against the No. 1 seed,” Manek said. “I wanted to improve on that, and I think I can do that here with all the guys we have.”

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