Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Dec. 4, 1980, edition 1 / Page 12
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Basketball 0-81 The Daily Tar Heel 5 n n n n n n S " l I fit! flfi nil v li U iLti ( S Carolina's a young team this year, but the tradition is thick and Dean Smith is still coach, so everyone expects a -Jot from Tar Heel basketball. By DAVID POOLE f 7' HOUGH University officials aren't likely to admit it, the first thing people around the nation think about when they hear "University of North Carolina" is not the institution's fine academic tradition. , Nor do their thoughts run to visions of the Old Well, the Bell Tower, South Building, Old East, the Davie Poplar, McCorkle Place, Morehead Planetarium or any of the other architectural or geographical landmarks on the Chapel Hill campus. No, the name conjures up images of Carolina Blue-clad basketball players racing up and down the floor or visions of four of those same players standing in the four corners with one man "killing time" dribbling in the middle. North Carolina is, whether Dick Crum and his successful football team or Christopher Fordham and his fellow administrators like it or not, a basketball school. The tradition is here and it's as thick as the ivy on the walls of some of those campus structural landmarks. A lot of attention is paid to that tradition, and . especially to the part Dean Smith has played in building it. Carolina teams have won 407 games in Smith's 19 years coaching, but Smith emphasizes that the players, not him, have scored every basket, captured every rebound and played defense in each of those 407 wins. "Basketball is still a player's game," Smith says. "It's more than X's and O's. A coach might have a play and you miss a 10-foot jump shot off of it, and one of your fine players gets the rebound and scores." But fans still expect a lot from a basketball school like Carolina and the 19S0-81 team's ability to continue Carolina's winning ways depends mainly on an inexperienced group of young players. Only one Tar Heel, Al Wood, has the kind of. experience around which championship teams are often built. Wood is thought by many to be the key to Carolina's season. The 6-foot-6 senior from Cray, Ga., has gained 20 pounds since his freshman year and he will be counted upon for leadership both on and off the floor this year. "In the past, I have been a follower," Wood says. "I sat back and looked at what came instead of making things happen. In the past, we've had a lot of people who could take over. Now the guys will , look to me to take charge more. I like that." The mantle of leadership has been passed to Wood after five seniors John Virgil, Jeff Wolf, Rich Yonakor, Dave Colescott and Mike O'Koren finished their careers last year. Smith says he hopes Wood won't be at a loss when he looks inside and sees those five missing. "I don't think Al should change a thing in the way he's playing just because he looks and doesn't see O'Koren, Yonakor or any of that group," Smith says. "We expect everybody else to carry his share of the load." A big share of that load will fall to James Worthy, a sophomore coming off a broken ankle that forced him to miss the second half of last season. Worthy was playing his best basketball just before he slipped on a wet spot against Maryland and his health he also had trouble with his achilles tendon in preseason drills will be a big factor. . - OOD and Worthy are two definite starters A and a third is probably point guard Jimmy X Black. Black, back much, sooner than expected after breaking his neck in a car accident this summer, will take over the quarterbacking duties in the Carolina attack. "My primary responsibility is to get everyone else going," he says. "If I'm loose, everyone else will be loose. I don't know how other people in the conference feel about me, but I know I can play in this league. I don't play to impress the people up in the stands, I play to help us win." Pete Budko, also a senior, will be a fourth starter, working at center. Smith has said that Budko worked hard ail summer, but a stress fracture in his leg has limited Budko's preseason workouts and his health also is a question mark. Junior Jimmy Clack: quickness in the back court The fifth starter is likely to be Mike Pepper, a Vienna, Va., senior who prior to last season played onJy when games were already won or lost. "He's developed as much as anybody we've had here," Smith says. "We expect a lot out of Mike." "I'm very eager to contribue; it was a long first two years," Pepper says. "Last year, a lot of things came together and I felt that I was contributing. It was very gratifying." As usual, Smith will play more than five players, and he feels a nucleus of eight players the five probable starters plus Jimmy Braddock and freshmen Sam Perkins and Matt Doherty will all get the most playing time. Braddock, a 6-1 sophomore from Chattanooga, Tenn., played in all 29 Carolina games last year as the Tar Heels went 21-8. There is reason to believe that Perkins and Doherty may do the same as freshmen and both may start before the season is too old. Perkins, a 6-9 recruit from Latham, N.Y., and Doherty, a 6-7 player from East Meadow, N.Y., have picked up the Carolina system well and both were impressive in an exhibition game against the Windsor, Canada club team last month. The reserves will include veterans Chris Brust and Eric Kenny and freshman Cecil Exum, Dean Shaffer, and Timo Makkonen as well as walk-on Jeb Barlow. "If we can have Worthy and Budko healthy the health of those we are counting on, since we're not that deep the inexperience will become experience and I hope we will improve as the season goes along," Smith says. "We can do very well," Pepper says. "How we come along defensively will tell that." No. Name list. Wgt Age Class 10 ALVVOOD bVi 192 21 Sr. 32 ERIC KENNY ....... 6 210 21 Sr. 44 Matt Doherty 6-7 200 18 Fr. 45 CHRIS CRUST '...WS'4 222 20 Jr. 50 Cecil Exum . : W 190 18 Fr. 52 JAMES WORTHY 6-8 203 19 So. 34 PETE DUDKO 6-8VS 212 21 Sr. 41 Sam Perkins ..6-9 215 18 Fr. 51 TimoMakkonen 6-11 210 18 Fr. 11 MIKE PEPPER 6-3 181 21 Sr. 21 J IMMY BLACK 6-2 1 60 20 Jr. 24 JIM BRADDOCK. 6-1 157 19 So 33 Dean Shaffer .6-3 1fi0 18 Fr. CAPS Denote letterman Hometown Cray, Ca. Asheville, N.C. East Meadow, N.Y. Babylon, N.Y. Dudley, N.C. Castonia, N.C. Luthervilfe, Md. Latham. N.Y. Lahti, .Finland Vienna, Va. Bronx. N.Y. Chattanooga, Tenn. Durham, N C. rirU Gob ft Throw Rebound PowH Player C M A Pet M A ftl No. Av. - No. A. Al Wood 29 216 378 571 118 154 .766 1S1 $2 5"iO 190 M.keO'Koren 29 163 298 547 99 152 651 216 7 4 425 14 7 Jame Worthy 14 .74 126 .587 27 45 600 104 74 175 125 DaveColcwoU 28 80 1fe5 485 49 70 700 27 0 9 21J9 7 Rich Vonakor .28 59 126 468 47 64 734 112 4 0 165 $9 JohnVtrg.l 29 7 J 127 531 23 35 651 47 1 6 169 5 8 Jimmy Black 27 46 102 451 42 62 677 1 5 0 5 1M 50 Jeff Wolf , 28 38 75 507 1 4 30 467 102 3 6 90 3 2 MJ.e Pcppe 29 35 74 473 10 15 667 1 3 0 4 80 2 8 Prti- Budko 29 27 49 551 5 18 278 65 2 2 59 2 0 JtfnBraddocli . 29 1 9 51 .373 10 11 909 6 0 2 48 1 7 trie Kenny .26 5 15 313 3 11 273 11 05 11 05 ChmBv 17 J 7 429 1 2 500 6 0 4 7 04 TGTAlS n 818 1 60 1 523 448 fcf.9 fcTo 944 32 5 2124 712 .Ofponrot 29 78 1610 4 J75 542 h12 861296 1971 680
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Dec. 4, 1980, edition 1
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