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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > June > 17
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
NCAA championship will end on Tobacco Road
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Officially, the next men’s NCAA basketball national champion will be crowned near midnight on April 6, 2009. Realistically, the title was won shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, when North Carolina announced that three players — Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green — had removed their names from the NBA draft.
National championships have essentially been decided on Signing Day before — by choosing UCLA over Michigan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vouchsafed three consecutive titles to Westwood — but this marks the first time Draft Deadline Day has left such a massive imprint. Yes, Kansas just benefited hugely from Brandon Rush choosing to stay in school another year, but Rush was one guy coming off knee surgery.
This is three guys.
This is the equivalent of signing the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, only in this case you already know all three guys can really play and will fit your system.
This is the difference between Carolina finishing second to Duke in the ACC and maybe becoming the first undefeated national champ since Indiana in 1976.
The scrambling to find a preseason No. 1 just ceased. Carolina will be a unanimous choice. Louisville and Connecticut go from looking strong to paling by comparison. The Heels would have remained a force because of Tyler Hansbrough, and now the nation’s best player has the nation’s best supporting cast.
Along Tobacco Road, ACC watchers speak — sometimes glowingly, sometimes grudgingly — of “Carolina Luck.” Whether it’s a heralded recruit or an epic comeback or a fortuitous bit of officiating, the Heels have long seemed to get exactly what they need precisely when they need it. On Monday, that luck turned utterly outrageous. Three guys declare and not one leaves? Are you serious?
(Granted, Carolina did lose four non-seniors in one famous draft swoop — but only after winning the 2005 NCAA title. And Hansbrough arrived that fall.)
UCLA would have given the Heels a real run next winter had Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute stayed on campus, but they left. (Josh Shipp did remove his name, for what that’s worth.) Memphis could have been good enough to blow another title had Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts hung around, but neither did. (Though Robert Dozier of Lithonia removed his name Monday.)
Paul Hewitt has seen four Georgia Tech players — Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack, Javaris Crittenton and Thaddeus Young — declare for the NBA, and not one has recanted. “Once a guy gets caught up in [the process], it’s tough to turn back,” Hewitt said Tuesday. “They’re living the NBA lifestyle, putting on the gear, getting per diem.”
This was Hewitt’s reaction to the Heels’ non-exodus. “If you look at next year’s draft,” he said, “it’s a smart move on their part.”
Does he ever wonder why no Jacket has done a similar about-face? “We all work at different institutions. There’s a history of guys going pro at Georgia Tech. It’s been that way forever.”
Here’s another slice of reality: Tech must play Carolina in Chapel Hill next season, and the 2009 ACC tournament will be staged in the Georgia Dome. Asked if the Heels might be fairly decent when next he encounters them, Hewitt gave a little laugh. “Yeah,” he said. “They might be.”
Preseason Top 25
1. North Carolina: An even bigger favorite than Florida was in its second title run.
2. Louisville: Retained swingman Earl Clark and welcome forward Samardo Samuels.
3. Connecticut: Point guard A.J. Price must recover from a knee injury suffered in March.
4. Purdue: Baby Boilers nearly won the Big Ten last season and should do it this time.
5. Tennessee: Kept Tyler Smith, the best all-around Vol, and signed Scotty Hopson.
6. Pittsburgh: Toughness and defense galore, but is there enough finesse?
7. UCLA: Darren Collison didn’t leave, and another gifted recruiting class arrives
8. Texas:Lost one guard (D.J. Augustin) but retained another (A.J. Abrams).
9. Duke: Skilled on the perimeter but soft in the middle; same as it ever was.
10. Oklahoma: Power forward Blake Griffin is projected as the No. 1 pick in 2009.
11. Notre Dame 12. Gonzaga 13. Davidson 14. Memphis 15. Michigan State 16. Arizona 17. Florida 18. Arizona State 19. Wake Forest 20. Georgetown 21. Ohio State 22. Southern Cal 23. Minnesota 24. Ole Miss 25. Kansas.
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