UNC Dream Team Part II The Reserves

Editors Note: Welcome to Part II of new prospect writer Bryan Finlayson version of the UNC Dream Team, for Part I click HERE.

Reserves: North Carolina has had so many great players over the years, which makes narrowing the list down to the best 12 a very tall task. The list of the seven players below are certainly up for debate, but I based my selection on accolades, position need, and specific skill set.

Sam Perkins — Pre Tyler Hansbrough, Sam would have been a shoe in to start at center for Carolina’s all time team.  Even though he won’t start the game I can only imagine what opponents would think when they saw him getting ready to check in off the bench. Perkins was a two time All American at UNC and was a member of the 1982 championship team with Jordan and Worthy. Sam is an ideal player for UNC to have as a back up front court player and would give players trouble with his famous jump hook.

Antwan Jamison — Watching that UNC basketball team in 1997-1998 still brings back some great memories from my childhood. I loved how dominant they were and Jamison was the key force. He had great players around him (i.e. Carter and Cota), but without Jamison’s 19 ppg and 9.9 rpg, the Heels wouldn’t have made the two Final Fours he was a part of. Jamison’s calling card was his quick release that was just about as awkward as it was effective and it was nearly impossible to defend. Having an athletic big like Jamison to come off the bench and bang in the low post would be an asset many teams would love to have including the Los Angeles Lakers.

Ty Lawson — And here is your backup point guard ladies and gentlemen. This was one of the harder choices to make figuring that Ty was up against the likes of Kenny Smith, Raymond Felton, Kendall Marshall, and even Ed Cota, but I had to do it. Lawson of course has the All American accolades and the 2009 NCAA Championship and is still to this day, the fastest man with a ball UNC has ever had. The ability to run the break and get to the basket was sensational and he did it with amazing speed. And all that speed is coming off the bench to boot! Is that Usain Bolt running the break? Nope! It’s Ty Lawson!

Jerry Stackhouse — Can you imagine trying to guard Charlie Scott and then have to deal with his more tenacious and athletically superior replacement Jerry Stackhouse?!  Stackhouse couldn’t shoot as well as some small forwards in UNC’s history, but aside from perhaps Vince Carter, he’s more athletic than any of them. Stackhouse was a human highlight reel and his ability to score and jump over opponents on the way to rim rattling dunks led UNC to a Final Four in 1995 and to an All American selection for himself.

Brad Daugherty — Just in case we find ourselves in foul trouble during the course of the game let’s throw in one of the extra seven footers we have lying around. When Daugherty wasn’t watching NASCAR, he was dropping buckets on peoples’ heads. Brad came to college as a 16 year old!   As he matured, he developed into an All American center and averaged 20 ppg his senior season before becoming the #1 pick in the NBA draft. Brad had an uncanny ability to play with his back to the basket, but also killed opponents with his excellent mid-range jumper.

Mike O’Koren — Mike would be a huge and I mean huge weapon off the bench for UNC. He is the ultimate utility player and can do it all on the floor. O’Koren is the only UNC player to this day to have at least 1,500 points, 800 rebounds, and 300 assists in a career. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the 183 career steals he has on his record as well. O’Koren would be able to provide solid offense and defense off the bench and had a motor for UNC that is still hard to match.

Walter Davis — I selected Walter Davis as a reserves for UNC purely based on his excellent outside shooting ability. It was a tossup between Davis and Al Wood, but went with Davis to serve as the big 3 point specialist off the bench to compliment an array of scorers similar to Wood. Davis played on the same Olympic team as Ford that won gold in 1976 and is famously know for hitting the buzzer beater shot against Duke to cap a comeback from down eight points with 17 seconds left to send the game into overtime which was eventually won by the Heels.

That’s my roster. There are a lot of good players left off of this list, but I feel like this is the best 12 UNC could put on an all time roster. As always, this list should be up for a fun debate. Who would be on your roster?