8 Basketball 'B6-87 Friday, November 21, 1986
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By EDDY LANDRETH
Staff Writer
It is the single word that can
become the worst nightmare for some
athletes: potential. Potential is a label
advertising probable greatness, but it
can become a ball and chain not
easily loosened.
Charles Dickens wrote "Great
Expectations," but UNC senior
David Popson has spent the last three
years living with them.
"Just coming in here, they labeled
me the next Bobby Jones," Popson
said. "That's hard to live up to.
There's only one Bobby Jones and
he's a great player."
In Popson's case, the expectations
were unrealistic, UNC coach Dean
Smith said.
"I can see why Dave's build
reminds one of Bobby," Smith said.
"But certainly, it's a danger to
compare someone to any one player."
Wipe away the prejudice created
by the initial predictions, Smith said,
and the true picture of Popson would
emerge from all the hype.
"If Dave hadn't come in with all
the publicity, everybody would be
able to see what I see and what Dave
sees, which is a great improvement."
Previous predictions aside, Pop
son said that he has worked hard to
correct the flaws in his game.
"I havent been pleased with my
concentration, and I worked hard on
that over the summer," he said. "That
affects the whole game."
The lack of concentration in the
past caused him several problems,
Popson said.
"Sometimes I'd just lose it (con
centration) when I'd get into a game,
in certain situations," he said. "A
player might make me mad. Some
times a ref would get to me. A ref
would call what I would think was
a bad call on me and I'd just lose
my head and start thinking, 'Why is
this happening to me?' I just cant
let that happen this year.
"I feel IVe progressed over the
summer and I'm more mature this
year."
Teammate Joe Wolf said that he
has seen Popson improve this past
summer.
"I expect him to play a lot better
because he's a lot looser now," Wolf
said. "He's playing with confidence.
He's definitely concentrating more.
I think he worked hard on his body
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Popson was compared to Bobby Jones coming out of high school
this summer and he's in great physical
shape, and his mind is also there. He's
concentrating so well."
Smith said that he's seen the effects
of Popson's mental preparation in
practice this fall.
"I think he's done that (improved
his concentration)," Smith said.
"He's concentrating on making the
easy play on offense and concentrat
ing at all times to go after the
basketball and become more
aggressive."
Before practice began this fall,
Smith said that Popson needed to
improve his rebounding and
strength. Now, after several weeks of
practice, Smith said that he can see
many improvements in Popson's
play.
"Dave's learned positioning and
he's gotten stronger," Smith said. "He
has demonstrated in practice good
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judgment on when to take a shot and
when not to. He has demonstrated
a consistent effort on the backboards,
which we were looking for.
"We're really pleased with his
preseason work. It's by far the best
he's played since he's been here."
Popson said his goals this year are
to rebound and play good defense,
and as with the rest of the team, to
avoid becoming too tense.
Toward the end of last season, the
team felt it had to win, which resulted
in a strained atmosphere. Popson
said that this year must be different.
"1 look at it this way," Popson said.
"This is one year, and weVe got a
great team here. The guys get along
great and we're just going to have
a lot of fun this year. The main thing
is to relax and don't feel like I have
to do this. That just makes you tense.
"We're going to try to make the
atmosphere a lot looser on and off
the court. Last year we did feel like
we had to win, especially in the late
season. It just made everything really
tense. We just didn't play loose.
Louisville, they played really loose
in that game (in the NCAAs against
UNC) and they came out on top."
Three years have passed for Pop
son and Bobby Jones he is not. This
year, David Popson would just like
to be himself.
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