UNC Basketball 2013: Round Robin Season Preview

Oct 16, 2013; Charlotte, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Brice Johnson speaks to the media during the ACC basketball media day at The Ritz-Carlton. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

Myself and Bleacher Report’s Rollin Yeatts sat down to preview the upcoming season by answering YOUR questions! Rollin is a passionate and intelligent writer who has been covering UNC Basketball for several seasons now and is excited to be doing some collaboration work along with Keeping It Heel this season. Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @TSBRollin!

Zack Samuels: Where do we stand with Rashad Vaughn?

Bryant: Vaughn is scheduled to visit a game this fall, and I think we still have a solid chance at him. Many have lost hope, but Vaughn nearly committed and pushed his visit back so he could attend another game. There are a lot of things that go against him, but UNC isn’t out of the race by any means if you ask me.

Rollin: It’s been a while since we have heard anything as far as UNC is concerned. Iowa State and UNLV have both been making a push for Vaughn, and his current residence in Las Vegas makes the latter a concern for the ‘Heels. But I say as long as a decision isn’t made before his visit to Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels have as good a shot as anyone for the reason Bryant mentioned. If his parents had been with him the first time, he would probably already be a Tar Heel.

Alex Horton: Who do we expect to stand up and take the leadership role on the court. I know JMM and Marcus are the off the court leaders but do they carry that onto the court?

Bryant: Both in my opinion, and from what Coach Roy has said in the past, are the leaders of the team on and off the court. Paige has really matured and has great leadership qualities.

Rollin: Absolutely, in the case of Marcus Paige. He didn’t show a lot last season, but that’s understandable considering he was a freshman at the time. Now that he is more comfortable with the system and his teammates, he’ll be much more vocal in the leader role.

I’m not sure about James Michael, though. He just hasn’t been very vocal on the court. He does lead by example, though, and that may be enough. It would be good to see someone else step up, too, because that was something they were really missing last year. Everyone was just too quiet.

PJ could be that guy if and when he returns. Coach can take his leader title away, but he’ll have no problem with PJ leading on the court. We already know he’ll be the emotional leader.

Gary Taylor: Why has it taken so long for the NCAA to figure out how many games Hairston will miss? Also, how is it any business of the NCAA? It seems to me it should be up to the university!

Bryant: We had a few questions similar or identical to this so let me know it all out at once! I wish I really knew the answer to this, but I don’t. I think the NCAA loves to make an example of UNC and other ACC schools for some reason. It took no time for them to “punish” (I use that word loosely) Johnny Manziel and it seems its taking a year for them to decide on Hairston and McDonald. Of course if we just liked the Wolfpack we wouldn’t have to worry about this since CJ Leslie got away with it.

Rollin: Great questions, Gary. I wish we had an answer to the first, but I don’t think anyone does. The NCAA makes absolutely no sense at all. I do have to disagree with Bryant, though. I don’t think it has to do with the school itself, it’s just that they do whatever benefits them the most. They needed the Heisman back, but what difference would PJ make to them? Last I checked, his jersey wasn’t for sale. And which sports reels in more money?

To answer your other question, the reason the NCAA is able to get involved is because of the rental situation. And now that we just got fed another big pile of hearsay from and interview and a cow patty from Pack Pride, I’m sure the poking got turned up a notch. By the way, where were these investigative heroes last year with Leslie? Nothing against NC State fans as a whole, but it disturbs me that these particular guys are acting like they’re saving the world now when they were nowhere to be found when it involved their favorite program.