Wasn't it great back in the day before all the recruiting gurus and recruiting sites told us who the best High School Big men, Forwards or Guards, were?....When I was younger, I never even gave a second thought to who we were recruiting because I had the faith that Dean Smith and Gut would teach them all they needed to know, and learn to be effective in our system that focused on getting the ball down low for the higher percentage shot, or how to use the drop step and post, or how to box out and rebound, or other important fundamentals of the game of basketball....
Nowadays, we can't even discuss Carolina basketball without first having a discussion on what recruiting services and gurus are saying about what the potential is for our recruits, based on THEIR star system....
Yeah, I know, it's all about the championships?....
I look back, and think about the Mitch Kupchecks, the George Lynchs, the Brendan Haywoods, and a lot of other big men back in the day who I didn't even know anything about until they got to Carolina....Nowadays, it's if some Carolina fans have already determined that our recruits SUCK before they ever even step on campus, which IMO discounts the abilities of those young men, and the ability of our Coaching Staff in teaching these new perceived SUCKY recruits how to actually play the game to the best of their ability, and develop into a player that none of the recruiting services or gurus thought possible when giving out those beloved STAR RATINGS before they became a member of our team?....Whoever would have thought that Luke Maye would hit a jump shot to beat the OAD stars of Kentucky, and send the Tar Heels to the Final Four when he arrived on campus, raise your hand?
Of course, we all as Tar Heel fans want the best players that we can get because we've had the Michael Jordans, the James Worthys, Tyler Hansbroughs, the Bob Macdoos and the list goes on and on, and we are all a little spoiled because of that, but we have also been blessed through the years to have coaches who have had the ability to mold and develop talent that has kept us in the National spotlight on generally a yearly basis....
I Honestly never thought that we would win as many championships as we have won when Dean Smith retired, but we now have a Coach who was his assistant who has now won more championships than the Master was able to win, and yet some of us are still not satisfied?
It's hard to believe that Carolina has now won 3 titles since the turn of the Millineum, and lost another on a buzzer beater, and still we find ourselves arguing over the potential of a recruit that people outside our program tells us those kids are not the so-called cream of the crop....
Honestly, I could care less whether other people think our kids are any good or not because most of them have NO clue what it feels like as a fan to have your team win as many titles as Carolina has in the last 17 years.....
Think I'll go put on one of my recent Carolina Championship shirts.....Hmmmmm, which one will I wear today, my new one, the one from 2009 or the one from 2005, or maybe it will be the shirt I bought just before we won the National title this year that says, "Carolina Blue, "Til the day I'm Through"?
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....Go Tar Heels!
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