North Carolina alters its look with hopes of bringing back glory days

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Have you seen them?

The all-black-everything, alternate uniforms that will have North Carolina looking so Brooklyn when it plays UCLA next month in the Barclays Center.

Junior center Kennedy Meeks described the jerseys and shorts -- that maintain the trademark argyle pattern down the side in Carolina blue but are trimmed with gold -- in one word:

"Fire."

The Tar Heels will be wearing them at a time when North Carolina as a program is not that hot. The black uniforms are a small, symbolic makeover as Carolina tries to reignite its flame.

The Heels are back in familiar territory, ranked preseason No. 1 in the AP poll for a record ninth time. It marks the first time since the 2011-12 season they have been the top-ranked team.

The three seasons between ranking prosperity felt like an eternity in Chapel Hill, especially with a trifecta of Carolina blues playing out. Potential NCAA sanctions, recruiting strikeouts and a lack of success -- at least at the levels that the Tar Heels are accustomed to reaching -- have meant losing traction among the elite programs.

This is the season the Tar Heels are built to get it all back. The ACC regular-season title drought that has lasted since 2012. The ACC tournament title drought that has lasted since 2008. The Final Four and national championship drought that has lasted since 2009.

"We think that North Carolina is still North Carolina," coach Roy Williams said. "We think we're going to be pretty doggone good ... we're not adapting a woe-is-me attitude."

The Tar Heels return nine of their top 10 players from a team that reached the Sweet 16 last season before losing to national runner-up Wisconsin.

The Heels have a reminder of that loss this season. Williams had a list of the eight times they lost second-half leads -- most notably 18 points at Louisville, 10 points at Duke and nine points against Notre Dame in the ACC tournament championship game -- printed and put in their lockers.

Senior guard Marcus Paige, who will miss three to four weeks with a broken hand, believes those losses have intensified Carolina's focus on finishing games. He said watching the Blue Devils and Badgers play for the national title reiterated that Carolina was just a few possessions short of being a great team.

"Going into the season, it's hard not to think of anything but a trip to Houston being a success for us and anything less just not meeting what we're capable of," said Paige, on making it to the site of the Final Four.

The Carolina blues

It would take a Final Four trip to finally ease the frustrations of the past few years. The NCAA's investigation into academic irregularities that lasted nearly two decades at North Carolina continues to drag on. The school received a notice of allegations in June, but then discovered and self-reported two new violations in women's basketball and men's soccer in August that have caused yet another delay in the process.

The notice of allegations did not specifically mention men's basketball, although North Carolina was cited for lack of institutional control. With the new violations, the NCAA is likely to issue a new notice of allegations and Carolina would have another 90 days to respond before eventually going in front of the NCAA Committee on Infractions to receive whatever penalties are imposed.

That means the Tar Heels' saga is likely to stretch over the course of the season. Williams, however, doesn't think the short attention span of today's generation allows his players to be impacted by the wait to hear from the NCAA.

"It's easier for them to focus because they don't get all the negative stuff," Williams said. "They think Michael Jordan, who's that guy?"

The uncertainty over how the NCAA will rule and if men's basketball will be a casualty has been partly responsible for sabotaging Carolina's recruiting efforts of late.

The class of 2015 marked the first time since Williams recruited his first full class in Chapel Hill that he didn't sign a McDonald's All-American.

Meanwhile, Duke and Kentucky have separated themselves even among the blue-blood programs and become the top two schools elite recruits want to attend.

Both have had big success since the Tar Heels last cut down the nets in 2009. Duke has won two titles, including last season's with three freshmen in the starting lineup who were all first-round NBA draft picks in June. Kentucky has been to four Final Fours during that span and won it all in 2012, producing more NBA draft picks than any other program.

Despite those factors, Williams doesn't view this season as some kind of referendum on the program.

"In all honesty, I don't see a sense of urgency, 'Gosh we've got to do it now or holy Moses, they're going to close the doors,'" Williams said. "... I feel a sense of urgency for this team -- not what it's going to mean five years from now or six years from now -- to try to reach its potential. I think that's pretty doggone close to what I've felt with every team. Let's do what we can do."

A break from tradition

It's not just the NCAA investigation that has held the Heels back. Somewhere along the way, Carolina lost its cool.

Programs across college athletics change uniforms annually and, in the case of Oregon football, every game. Some have also turned to rappers and pop culture icons to help boost their standing with kids.

There's Big Sean taking pictures with Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh. Or Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj among the acts who have performed at Villanova's Hoops Mania. There's Drake shooting air balls in Kentucky's warm-up line. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski taking selfies with Beyonc.

That's not how it goes down at Carolina.

"Kids today go for more of the fame and all that stuff," Meeks said. "...This is a traditional school, you're not going to have all the extra stuff with you -- whatever it may be."

Traditional.

In this case it sounds more like a word with a scarlet letter than a badge of honor. That's why the black uniforms, however simple, represent such a radical step. Many Heels fans -- including Williams -- would rather just stick to wearing Carolina blue and white.

"But he made an exception for this game. We'll see if he lets us wear them ever again after this game," sophomore forward Justin Jackson said. "We're really looking forward to wearing it that one game and we've already asked [to wear it more than once]. He said it depends on how we play."

Losing ground

To understand how Carolina's stature has slipped lately, look no further than within the state.

Not so long ago, the Tar Heels virtually had first right of refusal for every elite player who was a Carolina native. Kids grew up visualizing themselves wearing Carolina blue before they even understood why.

"This is the team you see on TV, everybody watches Duke and Carolina so you look at games like that and say, 'I want to be a part of that,'" said sophomore wing Theo Pinson, a Greensboro, North Carolina, native. "That's what kids dream all the time."

Now it seems there's no telling what color uniform the player envisions himself wearing. It's not so much a given anymore that it's Carolina blue.

Brandon Ingram grew up in the fertile UNC recruiting grounds of Kinston, North Carolina, an area that produced Jerry Stackhouse, whose jersey hangs in the Dean E. Smith Center rafters, and Reggie Bullock.

Ingram may not have vaulted to being ranked No. 3 in the ESPN 100 had he not played on Stackhouse's AAU team. That's why many just assumed he'd follow the same path to Chapel Hill as those before him.

When Ingram chose Duke, it turned out he was setting forth a new one that circumnavigated UNC.

The state of North Carolina boasts three of the top six players in the ESPN 100 class of 2016. None of them will suit up for the Tar Heels.

Power forward Harry Giles, who ranks No. 1 overall, committed to Duke last week. Point guard Dennis Smith Jr., ranked No. 4, committed to NC State in September. Power forward Bam Adebayo, ranked No. 6, was not targeted by Carolina and did not receive a scholarship offer.

"I don't think it's the demise of the program by any means," said Bob Gibbons, a talent evaluator for nearly 40 years and the owner of All Star Sports basketball recruiting service. "It's just a difficult period they're enduring right now and they're not recruiting at the high level that they've enjoyed over the past years. They're having to work harder and reassure recruits."

Reality of perception

Potential NCAA sanctions haven't helped, but Carolina's current perception has arguably been more problematic in recruiting top players. The fact that players like Harrison Barnes (2010 No. 1) and James Michael McAdoo (2011 No. 6) had longer stays in Chapel Hill has given some the impression that Williams frowns on one-and-done talents.

"It's promoted that 'Oh, you go to North Carolina, Roy puts his handcuffs on you' and stuff like that," Williams told reporters at ACC media day. "... We fight myths all the time in recruiting."

Williams is quick to point out the Heels (tied with Kansas at 14) are second only to Kentucky for the most early entrants drafted since 2005.

Marvin Williams (2005) and Brandan Wright (2007) were the only Carolina players who stayed just one year under Roy Williams before turning professional. That doesn't mean he hasn't tried to get more of those caliber players.

Carolina made offers in the past to players like Andrew Wiggins; three of the top four ranked players in the class of 2015 including Skal Labissiere, who signed with Kentucky; and Jaylen Brown, who signed with California. It just couldn't get any commitments.

"I've always said that I don't want everybody on my team to be ready to leave after one year," Williams said. "But those guys Kentucky took, we tried to recruit those guys, too."

Same blueprint

Despite the success of one-and-done players, Williams doesn't believe the blueprint for building a national title contender has changed. He said it's only drawn more attention because freshmen are primarily involved now, but it's still about cultivating the most talent.

"The great teams that win national championships, there's a high percentage that have two or three or four [first-round] draft choices because talent wins," Williams said. "The most talented kids are usually the younger kids because the rest of them are already gone."

Carolina may not have multiple first-rounders in its rotation this season like it did on both of Williams' national title teams, but it's back at No. 1 in the polls because of the players who stayed.

Forward J.P. Tokoto skipped his senior year to enter the draft early and is the only major contributor from last season missing on the roster. His absence could have actually paved the way for sophomores Jackson and Pinson to have breakout years on the wing.

The Heels returned what Williams said might be the deepest frontcourt of his tenure led by Meeks, Brice Johnson and an emerging Isaiah Hicks. If that trio can again help own the offensive boards -- Carolina finished fifth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage, according to Ken Pomeroy -- then it could offset potential shooting struggles.

The Heels' biggest weakness on paper is perimeter shooting. Paige made more 3-pointers last season (94) than the combined total (90) of the rest of the team. What that stat doesn't account for was the late development of the freshmen.

Jackson shot 41 percent from 3-point range in the final 15 games of last season, making 18 of his season total of 28. Guard Joel Berry shot 44 percent from behind the arc over that same span, accounting for 12 of the 17 3s he made last season.

The addition of freshman guard Kenny Williams should also help address that deficiency, and he'll likely get playing time early with Paige out for up to the first month of the season with a hand injury.

Had Paige missed games last season, the team would not have been equipped to handle it from both a production and leadership standpoint. The Heels have a different mentality this season.

"Last year we talked [Final Four and national title] a lot but there would be practices where Coach had to get on us and try to motivate us and stuff like that," Jackson said. "This year I really don't see us really having those type of practices because everybody's mindset is so locked in."

Roy Williams has been a big reason for the change. He stopped short of comparing this season's roster to the title-winning teams in 2005 and 2009, when he just knew he had the best team.

"Coach has really had a different approach this season by telling us we are a team that could do it, that we have a chance to make it happen," Meeks said. "Last year, we thought we could do it, but this year we know we can."

Now the challenge for Carolina is to make its own perception of the program the new reality.