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The 'Toe' Road: UNC's chances of getting to Final Four could come down to Lawson's health
AP Photo
Guard Ty Lawson hasn't played for UNC since the final regular-season game against Duke on March 8.
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2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT
Published: March 19, 2009
North Carolina's chances of winning the NCAA Tournament hinge on one right big toe.
It belongs to point guard Ty Lawson. He sat out two ACC Tournament games last weekend because of pain and stiffness in the toe, and said yesterday that he's still fighting stiffness. Coach Roy Williams said that Lawson is not expected to play today.
If Lawson, the ACC player of the year, can return, the Tar Heels could have a decent shot of making it back to the Final Four. If not, UNC might have to battle, as it was forced to do in two ACC Tournament games decided by three points each.
Bobby Frasor, who stepped in for Lawson at the ACC Tournament, is confident that UNC can bounce back, given that the national championship is at stake.
"There's no doubt in my mind," Frasor said. "There's no doubt because this whole season, we've been playing for this tournament coming up. It would have been nice to have had a chance to win (the ACC Tournament), but our ultimate goal starts now.
"That's what all the fans have been talking about. It's what Tyler (Hansbrough) came back for. We win that one, and no one will remember (losing in the ACC Tournament)."
UNC (28-4) is the No. 1 seed in the South Regional and will play Radford at about 2:50 today at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Williams has taken six teams to the Final Four as the coach at UNC and Kansas, but only one of those teams won a conference tournament, his 2008 UNC team. The next two weeks will tell if this team can follow the pattern.
"We've always had very tough kids that were very focused and could do away with the distractions that were around them and realize there's a new start," Williams said. "We realize that we're one of the teams that does have a chance to get there. I believe our team will be focused that way as well. There's no tomorrow now."
Lawson resumed practice on a limited basis Tuesday.
"I can run up and down and straight ahead. I'm still working on cutting back and forth. That's the hard thing right now," Lawson said yesterday. "It feels better than it did on Monday. It's just working slowly to get back together."
"I'm itching to get out there. I haven't been out there for a week and a half. I'm ready to get out there, but I don't want to injure myself even more."
Frasor, a senior, will start again if Lawson doesn't play. Freshman Larry Drew played two of his best games of the season in the ACC Tournament, backing up Frasor for 31 minutes with seven assists and only two turnovers. Williams sometimes played Frasor and Drew at the same time.
Hansbrough, UNC's senior center, is down to his last chance at a national championship. He also needs three points to supplant Duke's J.J. Redick (2,769 points) as the ACC's career scoring leader.
A second question for UNC, almost as important as Lawson's health, is how Danny Green will recover after struggling at the ACC Tournament?
Green, a senior forward, was one of UNC's most consistent players in the regular season but never got going in Atlanta. His outside shooting was off target, and he missed 11 of 12 shots, including five from 3-point range, in a 73-70 semifinal loss to Florida State. His only basket was a tip-in.
Green's shots were generally short, even though he took several with no pressure when he was open on the wings. He has no idea why his shots were off, whether it was the absence of Lawson's passes or whether it was caused by shooting in a domed stadium.
Green made only three of 25 shots in Atlanta and missed 11 of 12 3-point shots.
"I just couldn't find my touch," he said. "I couldn't find the basket. I couldn't hit any shots. I think that was a big reason why we struggled so much. I feel like I let my team down."
Green was intent on solving the problem before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
"I've got to get back in the gym; that's no secret," he said. "I've got to shoot."
Frasor believes that playing in Greensboro in front of supportive crowds will help the Tar Heels recover. UNC is 25-1 in NCAA Tournament games in state and was 4-0 last season in Raleigh and Charlotte on its way to the Final Four.
"Hopefully we'll get everybody clicking this week," Green said. "Playing in Greensboro will be like playing at home. Our fans will be there. More importantly it will get us -- if we have Ty in there -- playing together again and getting our chemistry going. We can get two good, key wins, and I think that will build our confidence."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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