Jan. 1, 2007

By Adam Lucas

Sure, Ty Lawson has the best assist/turnover ratio in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He's in the process of having one of the best freshman seasons ever for a Carolina point guard and has amassed 59 assists and just 11 turnovers since moving into the starting lineup one month ago.

He has a laid-back attitude that belies his youth, and it's hard to rattle him on a basketball court.

Unless you ask him to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in front of 300 kids and their parents.

While the rest of us were curled up in front of the television watching college football, Carolina basketball players and coaches spent their New Year's Day participating in the annual holiday clinic. Due to popular demand, this year's event was split into two groups: first- through fourth-graders from 9-11 a.m., and fifth- through eighth-graders from noon until 2 p.m. That created the potential for a very long day, but Roy Williams signaled a warning to any players contemplating sleepwalking through the event.

"I've got intelligent kids," the head coach said after his team dispatched Dayton on Sunday. "They have to be here at 8:45 tomorrow morning with a smile on their face and extremely enthusiastic. And if they have a smile on their face for two groups of kids, two hours apiece, and do a great job, there's a great chance we might not have practice tomorrow. If they go out there and don't do a good job, we'll have a practice that will be beyond their wildest dreams."

Williams paused to consider the gauntlet he had just thrown down.

"I think tomorrow will be a great day for a bunch of young kids."

He was right in every way. Over 300 kids packed the first session of the clinic, and 260 packed the second session. The impact of the day will last far beyond New Year's, as all the money--approximately $17,000--collected from the $30 per person event will eventually be donated to charities chosen by the basketball program.

It was worth that much to watch the players interact with the kids and remember that there's not that much of an age difference between the two groups. Dewey Burke ran his dribbling station with a twist. He was essentially overseeing a dribbling relay race. But upon completing half the course, participants were required to drop their basketball and perform their best dance move.

The moves--especially one camper named Peyton who did the worm all over the Smith Center court--were sharp. But even more entertaining was the fact that Burke and assistant coach Steve Robinson usually couldn't resist the urge to emulate the best of the bunch. So while the next generation of Carolina fans was dribbling down the court, Burke and Robinson were proving recent Dancing with the Stars champ Emmitt Smith isn't the only athlete who can dance.

At a big-time college basketball program, it's easy to organize an event like this, stamp your name on it, and then sit back and let the managers handle all the details. That'll never be the way Roy Williams does business. He was in control of the entire day, from ribbing an ill-advised camper who wore a J.J. Redick jersey for the day's events (someone contact Social Services and have them check on that kid's parents) to freezing everyone in the gym just before the post-clinic autograph session.

"In a minute, we're going to go get autographs," Williams said over the Smith Center PA system. Predictably, the campers began edging towards their favorite players.

"Whoa who whoa," the head coach said. "I'm the boss in this gym. And I didn't even think about saying it was time to move."

Everyone stopped moving. Immediately.

Every player was assigned to a specific station. Marcus Ginyard and Tyler Hansbrough ran a clinic on the 2-on-1 fast break, with Ginyard providing the valuable tip that anyone making a layup should immediately thank the passer. This was, after all, a Carolina basketball clinic.

Brandan Wright, Wes Miller, Danny Green, Mike Copeland, Marc Campbell, and Lawson operated the shooting station with assistant coach Joe Holladay. Every rotation concluded with a quick shooting contest--players from 20 feet, kids from 8 feet. You might think this would be an opportunity for the players to let the campers win.

If you really believe that, you underestimate the competitiveness of Division I basketball players. Victories were met with high fives and chest bumps. Losses were met with stiff punishment from Holladay: the defeated players had to sing a song in front of the campers.

For some reason, after one particularly bad thumping, the players selected "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Evidently that's not a tune on Lawson's iPod.

"I didn't know the words or the hand motions," he said. "But I'm catching on. On a day like today, it's all fun."

Adam Lucas's third book on Carolina basketball, The Best Game Ever, chronicles the 1957 national championship season and is available now. His previous books include Going Home Again, focusing on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.