UNC, Williams hold media day as season nears
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- For the Tar Heels Men's basketball team this season, there's just more -- more talent, more balance, and with that, even more expectation.
"There is more balance, and now we've got to play like it," UNC Head Coach Roy Williams said. "I want the perimeter guys to play really well and the post guys to play really well, and then you have a really good team."
A lot of this momentum rides on the only returning player from last season's All-ACC first team: Marcus Paige.
"That is our best player," Williams said, "and don't everybody forget that."
Paige led the team in scoring last season, averaging 17.5 points per game, not necessarily because he wanted to but because he had to.
"If I have to do that to help my team win, I have no problem doing that," Paige said, "but I'd rather just blend in and have a balanced approach."
Williams also mentioned that the team's additional balance has caused an interesting competition inside, particularly for three players who post an interior threat -- returning starter Kennedy Meeks, star sixth man Brice Johnson and sophomore Isaiah Hicks.
"Our practices inside are pretty vicious. There's some guys wanting to play, and they're not taking many names nor just taking prisoners," Williams said. "One or two or three of those guys has got to step up and say, 'I'm going to be a big time player.'"
"We all need to just be able to show coach that we're going to be that one person or those two people that can start for him down in the post and not give him options like, 'Oh, is he going to show up this day or is he going to show up for this game?' We want to able to be consistent with it," Johnson said.
UNC will also look to lean on its incoming freshmen, and the team's opening scrimmage during this year's "Late Night with Roy" already provided some big flashes from the fresh faces.
"Theo [Pinson] offensively can knock down the three-point shot, and he gets to the rim pretty easily. He uses his length," said junior returning starter J.P. Tokoto. "Justin [Jackson] is the same way [with] one or two dribble pull-ups."
These new players also provide much-needed relief for Paige.
"I think the addition of our freshmen gives us backcourt depth that we didn't have last year" he said. "It alleviates pressure that I have scoring the ball from the outside."
Of course, there are butterflies associated with a season's start, but this Tar Heels team hopes to turn its current promise and potential into a big performance that leads them back into a deep run in the NCAA tournament.
"I see this team going as far as we want," Johnson said. "We put our minds to it, we can go wherever we feel like we can go."
