2009 National Champs

What a glorious day it is to be a UNC fan. Wayne Ellington, Danny Green AND Ty Lawson all officially announced they’ll be back for the 2008-2009 season. Their decisions make UNC the clear-cut favorite to cut down the nets next year in Detroit and I have no doubts that they’ll do just that. I’m not gonna do a full in-depth preview right now but they’re returning the core of a team that went 36-3 and the team will be loaded with upperclassmen to go along with the three incoming McDonald’s All-Americans and of course the reigning National Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough. The hype for this team will be unbelievable and it’s only a matter of time before people start asking if this team will go undefeated.

(I’m not saying they will but the question WILL be asked. But I will say that this year’s team will be one of the best college basketball teams on paper in recent history and definitely have the talent to go undefeated.)

Can’t wait until the season starts.

To read about the trio’s decision to come back, click here.

Danny Green

Coming back to Carolina. At least there is some good news today.  Something to get my mind off that Marko Jaric crap.  Anyway, great move Danny. See you in the fall. Hopefully we’ll see some more of this…

To read more about his return, click here.

Leslie McDonald

Leslie McDonald, a 4-star shooting guard (ranked #32 by Rivals) out of Memphis has committed to the Tar Heels!!!! Nice…this gives us a wing guard that we desperately needed to fill out the 2009 class. This could seriously be a Fab 5 type of class for UNC. Also nice to know he chose us after visiting Duke.

Kid’s got some hops…

To read a little about the committment and about the 2009 class, click here.

UNC Fans

After reading Gary Parrish’s article about Ty Lawson and his beef with UNC fans, I came to realize that there is this new generation of Tar Heel fans that have come up and are ruining the reputation that the older fans have built for us. I would say that a vast majority of UNC fans nowadays are just front-running, bandwagon hoppers that root for UNC because it’s cool to, they have nice colors, they have the most pros in the NBA, they’re always on TV, and they’re always good. And oh yeah, Michael Jordan went there. But that’s all fine. You can like a team for whatever reason. I just hate reading about these kids sending discouraging Facebook messages to Ty Lawson, bashing him for his decision to “test the draft waters” just because their team will have less of a chance to win a national championship. Because when times get tough for North Carolina basketball, these are the kids that are gonna start rooting for UCLA or Florida or…maybe even Duke. If you’re gonna root for UNC man or any team for that matter, live and die by them forever. And don’t send those stupid messages to these players you don’t know. If you’re going to send a message, send a supportive message or a message thanking them for bringing joy to your life these past two years. You support the team AND the athlete. These guys need to do what’s best for them and their family despite what you think or want them to do. And if you can’t live with that, please, go root for Duke because you’re better off doing that.

For the real fans…remember this legendary (missed) dunk?

Born Ready

There have been some rumblings recently that UNC has cooled on a couple prospects to focus on Lance Stephenson. Apparently Roy Williams had lost interest in the guy also known as Born Ready but I really hope these rumblings are true. I’ve watched Stephenson play a few times and with the lack or perimeter players committed to the Tar Heels in the next couple of years, I think he’d fit perfectly despite the fact he’ll probably be a one and done. He’ll provide that swagger that Tar Heel teams have been missing recently and also bring that Brooklyn toughness. He already has an NBA body and in college, that provides such a huge advantage given his skill level. His character has come to question but I think Roy would bring out the best in him and he wouldn’t really get into any trouble, especially with him being such a high level prospect, he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his NBA status.

Here’s a video of Lance in 8TH GRADE taking on another high level prospect, OJ Mayo, and proving at a young age that he can play with the best of ‘em.

And another video for your viewing pleasure:

Justin Watts

Welcome to North Carolina. Looking forward to watching you play. Now please Demar DeRozan come to UNC.

To read about Justin’s commitment, click here.

A video of Justin Watts (It’s kind of long):

Demar DeRozan…sick.

Alex Stepheson

I just wanted to take a quick moment to wish Alex Stepheson the best. As a lifelong UNC fan, I enjoyed the two years he was here as he struck fear into the other teams’ frontcourt players with his Adonis-like body. What I didn’t enjoy though was watching him drop every single ball that was passed to him. But that’s alright, he’ll only get better. Good luck to him and I wish him nothing but the best as he transfers to be closer to his family. I just hope he doesn’t go to UCLA. Then I’ll be pretty pissed.

To read more about his transfer, click here.