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Difficult to tell whether three Heels will be back
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Freshman J.J. Hickson of N.C. State has declared for the NBA Draft without an agent.
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Published: May 8, 2008
C flat and other notes:
When Coach Roy Williams tested the NBA waters for his leading undergraduates, the waters evidently were just a few degrees warmer than North Carolina's shooting touch in the Final Four.
Junior Tyler Hansbrough, the consensus national player of the year, stayed put. Wing guard Wayne Ellington, point guard Ty Lawson and guard-forward Danny Green stuck their toes in the NBA Draft pool. Because the players refrained from hiring agents, they can work out for NBA teams, assess the feedback and withdraw without penalty by June 16, 10 days before the draft.
All three want to turn pro, but the pros might not want them enough to offer the guaranteed contracts available to the 30 first-rounders and some second-rounders. Scouting opinions fall into two broad categories. No. 1: It's too soon to tell about any ACC underclassmen, including freshman J.J. Hickson of N.C. State, also without an agent. No. 2: Ellington and Lawson could go in the late first round or early second round, and Hickson could go sooner if he shows some maturity and the capacity to learn quickly.
Congestion worsens the odds. The early-entry chart features 69 U.S. collegians and 22 international players. When you add the senior class, the roster grows longer than the invitation list to the important Orlando tryout camp in late May.
Scouts disagree on the NCAA Tournament's impact, but modern collegians ride short-term waves, often egged on by families and so-called friends. The Final Four delivered 14 undergraduate draft candidates, four each from Memphis and UCLA, three each from Carolina and Kansas.
If last impressions matter, the 84-66 semifinals loss to Kansas dropped Lawson and Ellington quite a few spots. Lawson hit 2 of 9 shots, failed to finish plays inside and got burned on defense. Ellington led the Tar Heels with 18 points, but he hit only 8 of 21 overall and 1 of 9 3-point attempts. Green scored 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting but committed five turnovers, matching the Lawson-Ellington total.
In the 2007 East final, when Carolina folded against Georgetown, Ellington, Green and Lawson hit 4 of 26 shots. They weren't ready for prime time then, and they might not be ready now. The early line: Hickson will go, Ellington and Lawson most likely will go, and Green probably will return. In that movie, Green would inherit lots of jump shots next season playing beside point guard Bobby Frasor.
Carolina has recruited another Tyler, 6-11 Tyler Zeller, a thin running machine from Indiana who made an A in all his classes and actually passed the ball in the McDonald's All-Star Game, thus setting some sort of record.
The other two freshmen, strong forward Ed Davis of Richmond and point guard Larry Drew of California, have role-player profiles.
One odd twist: If all three undergrads leave, Hansbrough could face the basket a lot more and even take a few turns at small forward.
Bad big toe
The Carolina Panthers are draping a lot of expectations on the muscular shoulders of top draft pick Jonathan Stewart, a 5-10, 235-pound running back from Oregon. Others aren't so sure. Is Stewart the next Adrian Peterson (the NFL's foremost rookie of 2007) or DeAngelo Williams (the Panthers' top choice in 2006)?
Williams inherited the No. 1 spot when the Panthers jettisoned DeShaun Foster, but Stewart has been portrayed as the savior since the draft. Because the savior wears a medical boot and skipped the team's first workouts, another question permeates the Queen City: What's going on with the big right toe?
The injury, characterized as turf toe, occurred during the 10th game. Stewart stubbed his toe at Arizona, yet played the next three games. He broke the Sun Bowl rushing record with 253 yards against South Florida and finished the year with 1,792 yards.
Stewart worked out at the NFL meat market known as the combine, where he ran 40 yards in 4.46 seconds and jumped 36½ inches vertically. He also encountered physicians who promoted surgery as the best option. Stewart headed to the operating room, which probably cost him several draft positions.
The other question: Because turf toe is typically associated with artificial turf, how did Stewart suffer that injury at Arizona? The Wildcats' field is ranked among the nation's finest natural carpets, Bermuda grass transplanted from Tucson National Golf Club in the 1970s when the course added cart paths.
Short shots
Kenny George of UNC Asheville led all Division I players in field-goal percentage (69.6) and height (7-7). The 360-pound mountain dunked the ball without jumping and blocked shots standing still. Hansbrough considered a dunk over George his finest individual play of the year. George presumably led the nation in shoe size. He wears size 28. Lots of really tall players wear 14s….
Coach Jerry Moore, the ageless genius behind Appalachian State's three straight national championships, has a calendar full of speeches. The travel sometimes gets old, but he enjoys the talking part. That's good, because the phone never stops ringing. The favorite topic: ASU's spread offense, which is based on Urban Meyer's Utah model but involves nuances that Moore's staff learned while visiting West Virginia as guests of Coach Rich Rodriguez. "Since Rodriguez got the Michigan job," Moore said, "I've had calls from every other school in the Big Ten."…
Barack Obama created a stir last week scrimmaging with the Tar Heels. Judging from the taped highlights, Carolina resorted to the same matador defense that it used against Kansas, but lefty Obama missed his floaters and jumpers. He shot much better Tuesday.
■ Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com.
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