Title-Winning Tar Heels Turned-Pro League Prospects

The likes of Tyler Hansbrough, Ed Davis, Tywon Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green won the NCAA Tournament, holding a large advantage of size, speed and overall talent against the Michigan State Spartans. The game itself was marked by large leads and simply better overall play on North Carolina's part. While Hansbrough, Ellington, Green and Davis all did their parts, as well as Bobby Frasor, Deon Thompson and Tyler Zeller, Lawson was the main difference, and he was able to keep the Tar Heels from ever coming into the clutches of Michigan State. For North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, this is his second NCAA championship in six years, after repeatedly being failing to win a championship for Kansas University in his more than 10 years spent at the school.

What is more telling about North Carolina is that the roster could be losing every star player and a few contributors as NBA first-round draft picks in June. Hansbrough is likely to be a definite first-round pick, though, the longer he has stayed in school, the more NBA scouts have been able to see his flaws and project him less as a star and more as a professional role player as a power forward. Lawson, the dynamic point guard, will most likely be a moderately high selection in the 2009 NBA Draft, despite concerns about his injured feet. Ellington, the team's starting shooting guard, could also overcome early doubts about his professional career, and it is possible that he may be a first-round selection as well, but he is more likely to be a second-rounder. Green is in a similar category with Ellington, though Green seems to have more attributes and a better chance of really moving up in the draft.

Though only a freshman and having come off the bench, Davis has been reminding some people of former Tar Heel and current Atlanta Hawks forward Marvin Williams, who only played one season (also off of the bench) but was a key factor in North Carolina winning the 2005 NCAA Tournament; he later went on to be the No. 2 pick of the 2005 NBA Draft. Davis is very much like Williams, and it has been thought that Coach Williams has been trying to hide the young big man amongst other players in the lineup, to deter scouts from collecting valuable information on the prospect.

While it's doubtful that Davis will actually go professional this early, the Tar Heels will still have a good chance at competing for a consecutive championship in 2010. Larry Drew II will most likely be the team's starting point guard, with redshirt senior guard Marcus Ginyard as his backcourt mate. Including a possibly returning Davis as a starting forward, Thompson will likely be joining him again with a fully-mended Zeller filling out the starting forward lineup. A key caveat of the next squad will be the addition of talented combo forward John Henson, who is versatile enough to play guard at 6'10", but will most likely be a small forward and occasional power forward and the Wear twins, Travis and David, a pair of 6'10" forward/centers who might size and length a major strength on the Tar Heel bench; interestingly all of the above players for the 2010 Tar Heels are moderate to big-time NBA prospects as well.