Keeping It Heel’s UNC Mailbag
By mattstradley
Welcome to the first installment of the Keeping It Heel mail/tweetbag. If it somehow lucks into being something that’s fun, enjoyable and sustainable, I’ll continue it on a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly basis. I could approach a question in any series of ways, from ridiculous answers to truthful and research to just plain silly. I’ll adapt as you let me know what you like and/or want in this column. Feedback is crucial. And questions. Because without those, you’d get a lot of paragraphs like the one you just read.
Let us start with a question from Adam. “@strayUNC what is your perfect starting 5 of former UNC bball players?”
Me – Good question. Perfect in what respect? Most dominant or most likely to produce the “No way that just happened” moment? I’ll answer both ways. First, we will look at what I would consider to be the most dominant. PG is Phil Ford, with a nod to Ed Cota. As you may remember from my article last week, I have a huge soft spot for Ed. I also think he could absolutely run a team with 4 all time players on the roster. Still, the nod goes to Phil Ford. I’d run with Jordan at the 2. I know that I’m weighing his pro numbers more than his college numbers blah blah blah, but dude has his own shoe. And my team needs shoes, so… yeah. Jordan’s in. SF? Man. Do we go Carter? If we got Roy coaching, I do. If it’s Dean, I go with Worthy. Yeah, I’m playing Worthy at the 4 and Stack at the 3. Stack runs the F spot just because I never saw Rosenbluth play. Center? Perk or Tyler? Tyler. That’s debatable to me. I’ve deleted that last line 3… now 4 times. But I’m going with whoever I ended up writing. Most exciting is way easier. Here’s how the two teams would match up.
Exciting Successful
K. Marshall P. Ford
R. McCants M. Jordan
V. Carter J. Stackhouse
J. Peppers J. Worthy
R. Wallace T.Hansbrough
That’d be a fun game to watch. Successful would win. Exciting would have more plays in the top 10. Probably in the not top 10 also.
Lisa asked about Troy Williams – “@strayUNC @Keeping_It_Heel I would like to know if Carolina is still on the Troy Williams band wagon or have we moved on?”
Me – Interesting question. In my opinion, UNC has not moved on yet, because no one else has a scholarship offer that would take his place. The more interesting aspect to me is how his stock has dropped off along with his play over the summer. I talked to one source that thinks there are many voices in this young man’s life. Oak Hill will be a great place for Troy to enjoy his senior year. It will help him a lot, regardless of where he goes to school. I still think it is either UNC or Kentucky. His side has gotten quiet about the recruiting side. At this point, I could read tea leaves, but it’s all just speculation. My tea leaves say he wears a shade of blue in 2 years. (Yes, you may boo this prediction. Speaking of Boo, UNC still has that supporter as well as a bit more tradition with Oak Hill than does KY.)
Since this next question was DM’d to me, I’ll keep the name private, but the question was “if kensucky (sic) takes 4 of top 8 in 2013, will UNC be able to reload before they restart the rivalry? If so, who will they get?”
WARNING!!! This answer is only meant for entertainment value and humor. If you have no sense of humor or hate math jokes, please skip over this section and begin reading where you see THE NEXT QUESTION in caps.
Let’s say Kentucky does get 4 of the top 8 in 2013. Assuming out of those 4, 6 are one and done. (I know this is a complex math equation but bear with me.) Divide that by zero, and that’s the actual chance that in 5 years you’ll be able to find this rivalry game in the record books.
THE NEXT QUESTION
Chad wants to know who will start for UNC next year. (Chad, I’m saving your recruiting question for the next installment.)
Me – Here’s what I think…
Strick
Bull
Mac
James
JMM
I don’t know why I think that, but it’s what popped into my head.
Rickie asked “Favorite college moment”
Me – Probably the 2000 Final Four run because we weren’t supposed to go that far, it had the inspiration for the risers in the Snow Game (feel free to look through the archives for the article I wrote about that game), and Haywood. I can’t tell you how much I liked watching Brendan Haywood play basketball in college. He knew exactly what he was good at, and did it very well most of the time, which is a lot more than you could say about me on a basketball court.
Rickie went on to ask “What in the world is in that bag, what you got in that bag?”
Me – A couple a cans a whoop a**, you did a good a** job of just eyein me, spyin me Roll out. (Respect to Luda.)
Jason wanted to know “How is Roy and co.doing with our recruiting?”
Me – Well, it depends on who you ask. If you ask a State fan, UNC is in for no fewer than 7 years of pain and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Even within UNC, there seems to be a couple different factions (isn’t there always?) One camp seems to think that just because dude won two National Championships in the last 8 years, he knows what he’s doing. That argument definitely holds water. Then there’s the other camp that notes we don’t really have a true PG apparent for next season before we get another PG from the great state of VA. I mean, that makes sense too. It is almost impossible to be in the running for a National Championship year after year. I’m not completely convinced that UNC will have a National Championship caliber team next year, but I’m not totally sure they don’t. I think Roy has done a very good job in recruiting, and I would eye 2015 as being a special year, with outside chances at 2014 and a “Hey, nothing’s impossible” chance next year to win a National Championship. I’d give Roy an A, but my senior year was the “year of which we do not speak”, where our win column never notched two digits, so I’d be the first to tell ya I’m an easy grader.
No one in particular asked me “Hey. How can I get my question into the next installment of this column?”
Me – First, I’d like to thank myself for asking. You can either DM me your question on twitter, mention me and ask away, or if you’re not into the whole twitter thing, shoot me an e-mail at localsportsvoice@gmail.com
My free advice that is worth nothing this week – goldfish crackers are as delicious as you remember. Do yourself a favor and pick up a box.
Final thoughts – I’m extremely excited to see the UNC baseball team in the NCAA championships. Coach Fox has constructed a dynasty there and has come so close several times to winning it all. This year may be the karmic year he’s been waiting for. He’s due some amazing breaks at critical times.