Tar Heels' Season Uncharacteristic

When it comes to college basketball, no team claims as much prominence these days as the North Carolina Tar Heels. The team has won five national championships, including two within the past five years, and North Carolina has been to the NCAA Tournament Final Four nine times in the past 20 years. Oh, there's also some guy named Michael Jordan who used to wear the No. 23 Carolina blue jersey. Word on the street is that he was above average.

That's why it is so striking that the 2000-2010 team is on the verge of setting itself apart in a much different way. With a loss to Virginia Tech on Feb. 4, the Tar Heels' record fell to 13-9, just four games above the .500 mark, and it made even hopes of a berth in the also-ran NIT tourney a far reach. What's more is that North Carolina is in jeopardy now of suffering the school's second losing season in more than 50 years. Since Dean Smith went 8-9 in his first year at the helm in 1961, only the 2001-02 team has had a losing season. That year, the Tar Heels finished 8-20, but that was under head coach Matt Doherty, who only lasted one more season before being replaced by current coach Roy Williams. In his first six seasons at the helm, Williams won 167 games, including a pair of national championships.

Certainly, it's not the quality of the coaching, and it's not recruiting. After all, North Carolina's roster features seven former McDonald's All-American players, including 6-foot-9 power forward David Wear and his 6-foot-10 twin brother Travis.

That group, though, is not that far removed from the prep game. The Wear brothers, forward John Henson and guard Dexter Strickland are freshmen, and 7-foot forward Tyler Zeller and guard Larry Drew II and Ed Davis are sophomores. That adds up to a lot of inexperience to go with all that talent. Plus, the team lost three of its top four scorers to graduation last spring, and those three included Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson. Both are now on their way to NBA stardom.

So the mood might be as blue as the uniforms in Chapel Hill this March, but the mood should improve substantially come November, when the baby Heels should be rounding into a power-packed team. North Carolina has seven guys averaging more than 15 minutes of playing time per game, and six of them will still be playing next winter barring some unforeseen turn of events. North Carolina also will be adding some of the top talent from the Class of 2010.