North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he contacted 13 NBA teams about Harrison Barnes last spring, and all of them projected his dynamic forward to go anywhere from fourth to sixth in the draft. Even so, Barnes decided to return for his sophomore season with the Tar Heels.
Barnes was selected the preseason player of the year at ACC Operation Basketball on Wednesday, taking 57 out of a possible 59 votes. The other two votes went to his teammate John Henson.
Tyler Zeller, Henson and Barnes all were potential first-round picks in the NBA draft, but returned to school to give the Tar Heels one of the more daunting front lines in the nation.
North Carolina is projected to contend for its third national championship in eight years. On Wednesday, 57 of 59 ACC writers voted them No. 1 in their preseason poll, followed by Duke, Florida State, Virginia, Miami, Virginia Tech, Clemson, N.C. State, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Boston College.
Barnes was the last of those three Carolina big men to decide to stay in school, and the most critical.
“Ultimately the best decision was for me to come back to school and develop my game,” said Barnes, who has added 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason. “There was some uncertainty about the NBA [lockout], as well as coming back to a team that could possibly win the national championship.”
Barnes, Henson and Zeller all were named to the preseason all-ACC team, becoming the first three teammates to do so since Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy were named preseason all-ACC for Duke in 2001-02.
Krzyzewski near record
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski enters the season three wins from breaking Bob Knight’s record for all-time wins in men’s Division I basketball. He could break it as early as Nov. 15 against Michigan State in the Champions Classic in New York.
Krzyzewski won his 900th game in the second round of last season’s NCAA tournament before a loss to Arizona in the Sweet 16 prevented him from making a run at the record in last season’s Final Four.
“I’m hoping we do it in November so it doesn’t linger, but nothing is a sure thing,” Krzyzewski said. “The main significance for me is to share the moment with Coach Knight. I love the fact that he was my coach, I was his point guard and we were the first two people to win 900 games in Division I men.”
Krzyzewski played under Knight at West Point. He is 900-284 in 36 years of coaching (31 at Duke, five at Army) with no approaching end in sight. He is 64.
“I’m healthy, I’ve got a great school, a great family,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m one of the lucky people. And I still have my passion to prepare to be good. And we’ll see if we are good.”
Duke lost Kyrie Irving (last year’s No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft), as well as Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, but return three experienced post players in Miles and Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly, and are bringing in one of the top players in the country in guard Austin Rivers.
A taste of Philips
Tech is scheduled to practice only once at Gwinnett Arena, despite playing five of its home games there while Alexander Memorial Coliseum undergoes a major renovation this season. Tech coach Brian Gregory said he’s trying to get his team in Philips Arena for a few practices as well, but he doesn’t expect it to be many because of the expense.
“There’s no hockey and no basketball, but they’ll charge us,” he said.
So he’s taken steps to bring a little of Philips to the Yellow Jackets’ on-campus practice facility. They have recently installed new rims at the Zelnak Center similar to the ones used by the Hawks at Philips Arena.
“They’re stiff right now, but they’re starting to loosen up,” point guard Mfon Udofia said. “If you miss, it’s a hard miss.”
Expansion implications
The ACC is beginning internal discussions over changes it will make to the conference tournament when Syracuse and Pittsburgh join the league, but ACC commissioner John Swofford said Wednesday that based on feedback he’s getting, the league wants to include all 14 teams in the ACC basketball tournament, which likely will necessitate adding a fifth day to the event.
Swofford also said it’s likely the ACC will go to an 18-game regular-season conference schedule when the league expands. Syracuse and Pitt both are still bound by a 27-month exit timetable being mandated by the Big East, which would put off expansion until 2014-15.
