Nov. 5, 2005

By Adam Lucas

Sadly, there were no training wheels.

It would have been the perfect symbolism. Bobby Frasor, Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, and Marcus Ginyard had just finished playing the type of game that will make them the talk of Chapel Hill for the next week. They accounted for over half Carolina's points in a 94-58 exhibition win over Fayetteville State, shot almost 60 percent from the field, and had a combined assist/turnover ratio of better than 1:1.

But just when you were ready to turn the faucet of optimism from trickle to gush, you walked into the locker room. Things were normal in the player's lounge--or, at least, normal for Chapel Hill. Past greats lounged on the leather sofas. There was Brian Reese checking his email. J.R. Reid was over by the ping-pong table. King Rice was talking, as usual.

There was also something not so normal: two bikes, one bright red and one blue. The red one belongs to Frasor, the blue one to Hansbrough.

They may have owned the basketball court Friday evening. But they still rode home on a bike, and that's a worthwhile reminder about this basketball team.

It's likely to have nights like Friday, nights when Frasor can complete an over-the-head pass to Green for a 37-13 lead late in the first half.

But there will also be some nights when that pass is simply a youthful mistake, nights when it gets intercepted and turned into an easy two points. Here's the thing, though: it's going to be a lot of fun every night.

For that matter, it's fun just to watch Hansbrough work inside. He swatted two shots in the opening minute against the Broncos, tallied his first chest bump and primal roar just a few minutes later, and generally looked exactly as advertised: a player Carolina fans will love who will be loathed around the rest of the league.

"Tyler plays with so much passion," Wes Miller said. "When the ball goes up, he sees it as being his ball. That's why we call him Psycho T."

Throughout the preseason, this has been a team shrouded in mystery. Only David Noel played meaningful minutes last year, and even though three of the freshmen were McDonald's All-Americans, they'd almost been dismissed. After all, they weren't Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Sean May, and Marvin Williams. How good could they be?

Plenty good, as it turns out. They might have been a mystery to Carolina fans, but not to Roy Williams. He recruited them as part of a grander puzzle of remaking Tar Heel basketball in the image he wants. This is his first team in Chapel Hill with a majority of pieces recruited by him, and he's clearly pieced together a whole unit rather than a group of individuals.

Just three weeks into practice, Frasor already bolts back to midcourt and signals the defense as soon as the Carolina offense converts a basket. Just three weeks into practice, the Tar Heels are already running full-tilt not just after missed baskets, but also after made hoops--the hallmark that separates a Roy Williams running game from most normal college running games.

There are some veterans around, of course. There may have been a misperception about Noel. As the returning leader, some might have expected him to hoist the most shots, to stand out on offense. He didn't. He took 10 shots, third-most on the team, and finished with what we've come to recognize as a typical Noel game over the past three years--a solid double-double, a spectacular dunk off a missed free throw, and quality leadership.

"I love to lead by example," he said. "If I have an open shot but see a better shooter open, I'll pass the ball. If the freshmen see me doing little things like that, they might repeat some of the things I'm doing."

It won't be this easy every night. There were just enough causes for concern--most notably a negative rebounding margin and some defensive lapses--for Williams to get his team's attention when they reconvene Saturday morning at 8:30 for the next practice. He has exactly two weeks to prepare them for a season opener against a pesky Gardner-Webb team. In less than one month, he'll take his team to Lexington, Kentucky.

It is no time for training wheels.

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. He is the coauthor of the official book of the 2005 championship season, Led By Their Dreams, and his book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about Going Home Again, click here.