Oct. 27, 2008

After an intense recruiting weekend that included the annual Late Night festivities on Friday, the UNC women's basketball team was back in the Smith Center Monday afternoon. Following a few days off for the school's fall break, the Tar Heels began full practice on Oct. 19.

Sharing Space: Head coach Sylvia Hatchell is fond of saying that her team has some of the shortest, most intense practices in the country, and the Tar Heels pack a lot into their two hours on the floor. This season they will need to be even more efficient, as the Smith Center and adjacent practice gym are being shared by the men's and women's basketball teams as well as the volleyball team and the men's JV basketball team.

Getting Up To Speed: One of Hatchell's concerns so far has been the choppy nature of the team's early practices.

"We're having to stop and teach so much that we're not able to keep our intensity level up like I want to," Hatchell said. "I'm going to try to do all of our teaching right at the beginning of practice, and then the last hour have a lot more intensity through scrimmaging."

In addition to full scrimmages and the two preseason exhibitions, Hatchell said she likes to use short, four-minute games at the end of practice to help sharpen the skills developed in drills.

"A lot of times you can do something right in a drill, but you have to do it in a game situation, and that's our next step, getting to that game intensity."

Powell Adds To Deep Group Of Newcomers: In addition to the highly-touted freshman class that includes Laura Broomfield, Chay Shegog, She'la White and Candace Wood, Carolina also added a sophomore walk-on in guard Nicole Powell. Powell, a former teammate of senior Rashanda McCants at Asheville High School, spent last year as a full-time student at UNC after turning down several Division I scholarship offers out of high school.

Powell is a sharp-shooter who impressed onlookers at the nightly pickup games in UNC's Woollen Gym during the last year. One of those observers was Coach Hatchell's son, Van, who brought Powell to the attention of his Hall of Fame mom. Hatchell remembered Powell from her high school days along side McCants, and expects her to be a valuable addition.

"She came in this summer and worked our camps and has been a really nice addition to the team as a walk-on," Hatchell said. "She is a legitimate Division I player."

Throughout the preseason, TarHeelBlue.com will bring you updates on the Carolina women's basketball team as it prepares for the 2008-09 season. Coming off a 33-3 season in which they went undefeated in the ACC, the Tar Heels will begin game action on Nov. 4 with an exhibition against Carson-Newman.