Back to the OP:
Don't know if it's the first year or one of the very rare occasions. What also hurts is that it comes on the back of a few misses in recent years: McGary, Randle, Wiggins, Vaughn, Skal, Zimmerman, etc.
There's two reasons from the view here in the cheap seats:
1. The "Scandal" and threat of sanctions
2. Playing time - relating to a crowded roster and Roy's preference for upperclassmen (real or perceived)
IMHO PT is a much bigger reason than any other. Modern top 10 talent wants to start and I don't think Roy could have guaranteed BI a starting role. I reckon he knew in November when Jackson was there for tip-off and he certainly would have known it when Jackson confirmed his return to play as a soph.
I don't understand why this is so hard for folks to accept, the recruiting is off for 2 major reasons, as Oz offers one of them is PT as it applies to this particular cycle, there just was not a lot of projected PT for these kids that think themselves one & done. WE are solid 2 deep at every position with the exception of the center position and we look strong in the recruiting area for that position in 2016.
While the NCAA stuff is widely discussed and now discussed to the point that the discussion is driving perception more than reality, the reality is no one really believes UNC basketball is going to get hammerred by the NCAA. Folk (UNC fans) look at what happened to Syracuse and because things have not gone well for us lately automatically assume the worse will happen, they assume Syracuse got hammered so we will as well, no maatter the circumstances are VERY different. The NCAA stuff is more a minor issue than major, there is another probllem that fewer want to discuss and fewer still want to even consider.
That "other" problem is the very real perception that UNC is just not the gretest place for a one & done level talent to play, that at UNC they don't feature their freshmen and a freshman that cannot be a feature player will see his one & done goals vanish.
There were a lot of people that watched Hansbourgh and saw him stay for the full 4 yrs and wondered why he wasn't one & done, saw what they thought his draft stock was drop well out of being lotto. Then comes JMM, assumed to be for sure one & done level talent and all the buzz was he was maybe top 3 pick after his freshman season only so see his draft spot drop out of the first round when he finally entered after his Jr season. Add in the drama of transfers and the PJ stuff and all that stuff brings a lack of belief that the better talents, the one & done level talents just don't thrive at UNC like they do at some other programs, like Ky, duke, Kansas.
Now it is a flawed perception, Hansbourgh for all he was to us was still a near 6'7" power forward that was not goingto translate his skills well inthe NBA. JMM< we all saw it, he wasn't nearlyt he player he was hyped to be, no offense to JMM but when you try to compare him to Anthony Davis the guy he battled for best in that class, it was not nearly a close call. Playing for Roy JMM became a better player in each of his seasons but he was never going to live up to the hype he was given before coming to college.
Look at Meeks right now, was hyped as 2nd or 3rd best center in his class, the kid couldn't dunk at 6'9" coming to UNC, a kid like that is not going to dominate at the center position. he has improved a ton since coming to UNC and still has a ton to go, he nor any payers we have had would have been any better as payers had they attended any of those 1 & done factory programs but the perception is different from the reality.
Piggy backing on this is the other fact, that UNC as a team just has not gone deeper in the NCAAT than expected for a while now. It is the notion of as a team, have we over achieved, under achieved, or achieved expectation. Duke for example blew away expectation this last season, I could suggest that Ky last season did as well, going from being a low NCAAT seed to playing in the title game. While we may have achcieved close to expectation if we were looked at with reality, the common perception, even amoung UNC fans is that we have under achieved as a team for the last few years, actually since out last natty. While I can site reason after reason for our finishes it does not change the perception of a blue blood like us not playing in final 4s, being considered under dogs when/if we get in to a sweet 16 game.
Now I look at things from the view that reallay since our last Natty we just have not had UNC level front courts, the Henson/Zeller front court was solid but JMM didn't give that front court a lot of back up until the NCAAT and that didn't happen until Henson was hurt. Look at us since Henson & Zeller left, our front court just has not been able to stop many of the opposing big men we have faced. Average big men last season gave us fits, that isn't UNC level front court play.
let's face it, the most prized recruits, the guys that every one wants, the guys who the NBA covet more than any others are the big men that have special talent. Guys like Ochafor, Towns, MIles Turner, Tarc, Ashley, those are the guys that change the game from the front court position and they were all dreaming of being one & done. Zimmerman believes he is one & done, clearly Ingram fully believes he is but the perception that UNC does not feature freshmen and that you are not likely to be able to be one & done at UNC kills our chances.
To turn this around we need to do something special, we need to have a season where we over achieve. If we do not make the final 4 next season, that perception will continue, even with a heck of a lot of PT to offer a really talented kid. 2016 is the recuiting class that we really need to score big in and things look good for exactly that right now but it is a long time before most of that 2016 class makes its college decisions, we need at least 4 top level players, we desperately need Bradley & Bam and either Dennis Smith or Matt Coleman from that class as a absolute minimum.
