Lucas: The Family Game - UNC Athletics

Story Links

By Adam Lucas

I don't know how they settle heated pickup basketball disagreements at other courts in the United States, or even elsewhere in the world.
            
But there's a very simple way they are resolved at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, and it happened again on Tuesday evening.
            
A team of alumni was facing a team of current players. Brandon Robinson went down on the baseline with a hand injury, which caused the ball to trickle out of bounds. Robinson thought the injury happened before the turnover, and play should have stopped. The current players, to put it nicely, disagreed.
            
There was some back and forth. The game was headed toward that awkward moment when each team stands at their end of the court, hands on hips, refusing to move.
            
It was Theo Pinson who ended the stalemate.
            
"At the end of the day," Pinson informed the current Tar Heels, "he's got a banner."
            
And that settled it. The 2017 championship banner hanging at one end of the Smith Center was the ultimate decision-maker, and play continued. At other schools, perhaps these disagreements just continue in perpetuity. In Chapel Hill, there are banners to fix those thorny problems.
            
And that was a fitting way to solve problems on Tuesday, which began with Phil Ford addressing the current team. It's unlikely very many of the 2022 Tar Heels have seen any Ford highlights. But they immediately understood what it meant when Hubert Davis pointed to Ford's number-12 jersey in the front row of the retired and honored jerseys.
            
"When I was in sixth grade, I was going to an all-African American school," Ford told the Tar Heels. "Integration hadn't even happened yet. That's when someone named Charlie Scott showed up at Carolina. He was the first African-American to play basketball at Carolina. Every person at my junior high school wanted to be Charlie Scott."
            
Sure, maybe you know the basics of that piece of Tar Heel history. But imagine receiving it directly from Phil Ford while standing at midcourt at the Smith Center. It just feels a little different in that environment, like you're standing right beside history instead of observing it from afar.
            
That's the kind of interaction that was missed last summer during the pandemic. There were none of the generational conversations that occur every day during pickup. Where else are you going to see Tyler Hansbrough exchanging hugs with Ford, who greeted him with, "My man!" Just the two leading scorers in Carolina basketball history hanging out on a typical weekday afternoon at the Smith Center.
            
And the benefit of those interactions happens on the court as well as off the court. Immediately after the alums won another game, Pinson explained to RJ Davis a nuance he'd used to score moments earlier. You simply can't underestimate the value of spending your summer playing against players who get paid to play basketball, who spend every minute thinking about how to get better at basketball and want you to be as good as possible because you're all Tar Heels. 

Justin Watts and Tyler Hansbrough weren't the two most athletic players on the court on a day when enough players were in attendance to run two simultaneous courts of pickup games. But their communication, both verbal and non-verbal, was so perfect that it led to an easy pick and roll dunk over a couple of flat-footed current Tar Heel defenders.
            
Even on a day when the alumni team went undefeated, the youngsters still had their moments. The crafty Kenny Williams abused freshman D'Marco Dunn on one end, creating some space on a drive with a subtle shoulder to Dunn's chest. But on the very next possession, Dunn pump-faked Williams (an echo of Roy Williams from practices past could still be heard shouting, "Shot fake, stay down!") and drove to the basket for an easy score.
            
The newcomers don't have the benefit of years of experience just yet. But they're getting there, as was demonstrated when Caleb Love hit Justin McKoy for a three-pointer, and McKoy responded by pointing to Love to thank him for the pass. It was a perfect illustration of part of Ford's message. "If you're a selfish person, it's difficult to play here," the great point guard said. "To be successful the way we play here, you have to accept coaching. The better you are, the better you make the team, and that's what is important."
            
Everyone understands the end goal. And just in case they didn't, they heard it directly from one of the player's all-time legends.
            
"I would trade that number-12 jersey for Joel Berry's any day," Ford told the team. "Because he won a championship. And that's why you are here."
            
 

Print Friendly Version

Adblock test (Why?)

https://goheels.com/news/2021/7/13/mens-basketball-lucas-the-family-game.aspx

2021-07-14 02:01:35Z
CBMiTWh0dHBzOi8vZ29oZWVscy5jb20vbmV3cy8yMDIxLzcvMTMvbWVucy1iYXNrZXRiYWxsLWx1Y2FzLXRoZS1mYW1pbHktZ2FtZS5hc3B40gEA

Bagikan Berita Ini