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Super Sub: Frasor steps it up at just the right time
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Senior Bobby Frasor has provided depth and stability for the Tarheels at point guard this season.
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2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT
Published: March 20, 2009
GREENSBORO -- Bobby Frasor, North Carolina's senior point guard, took a long nap Wednesday afternoon, and there he was about 2 a.m. yesterday: wide awake, with nothing to do 12 hours before the NCAA opener.
Naturally, he turned on the computer and searched for himself.
"I saw some highlights of Brandon Wright -- my sophomore year -- so I looked under his name," Frasor said. "I saw myself throwing him a lob and coming off some screens, feeding him the ball. So, there's almost everything on the Internet if you want to look for it. I just couldn't sleep. I was bored. I guess I just wanted to prove to myself that I can still play the game."
The reassuring replays helped some. Frasor's crisp performance during the 101-58 rush past Radford helped more.
With Ty Lawson still nursing a jammed big toe, Frasor led an organized offense that scored 25 points in transition and played the kind of technically superb defense that has won him more best-game awards from tape-grading coaches than any Tar Heel. He contributed seven points on 3-for-4 shooting, two steals and three assists, with a single turnover.
He had fun again, executing a 180-degree turn from last year. "I wasn't even playing," Frasor said. "Now, I'm starting."
That could change in the second round. Coach Roy Williams remained mostly noncommittal, saying that a solid practice today might prompt him to push the Lawson button against quick LSU. "But if he's like he was (Wednesday), I'm not going to play him," Williams said.
Lawson, saying he feels better each day, speculated that he will play Saturday and might have played against Radford in a tight spot. "I guess that's why coach had me taped up," Lawson said. "At the ACC, he didn't."
Frasor prefers a healthy Lawson. "I'm happy that's Ty's back -- don't get me wrong," Frasor said. "My minutes go down, but Ty gets the best team on the floor. He gives us the best chance to win, so I'm not going to go complain or go talk to Coach Williams about my minutes going down."
Nobody mistook Frasor for Lawson, the junior speed dribbler voted ACC player of the year, but Frasor provided the foundation for Carolina's second-largest NCAA victory margin. The biggest: 45 points against Rhode Island, 1993.
"When Ty's out there, he can get the ball," Frasor said. "He's at the basket. He's blowing by nine other guys on the court and getting his layup. I was, unfortunately, not born with that breakaway speed. I try to use my head, I guess, as best I can -- pitching the ball ahead, getting the ball to the guys in position to score, just forcing the tempo."
Different style
His way works. Frasor says, quite correctly, that no matter how fast Lawson dribbles, a pass can cover the same distance faster. Frasor passes relentlessly, with a two-handed flick that looks like poetry flowing from a coaching clinic. He plays and thinks like a coach because his father was one, winning 398 games in 27 Illinois prep seasons. Once he quits playing -- perhaps in Europe -- Frasor hopes to land a college job.
A coach's extreme attention to detail was reflected in a play midway through the first half. With Radford inbounding the ball under its basket, Carolina defenders stuck to their men, leaving the passer -- Frasor's man -- no obvious option. Frasor had his back turned for four seconds, shading one way or the other to block passing lanes, and then he spun around and harassed the Radford guard until the refs called a five-second violation.
Frasor made similar plays as a freshman starter, when the youthful Tar Heels won 23 games the first season after Sean May and other stars from the 2005 national champions bolted for NBA money. Frasor's favorite game remains his 10-point, five-assist gem in a win at Duke.
Lawson and a foot injury knocked Frasor's sophomore season for a loop. Then he tore a ligament in his left knee about a month into the 2007-08 season, which required surgery and extensive rehab.
"The only thing I've lost really, I guess, is my ability to jump off my left leg," he said, a grin forming. "I can't jump as high. I was able to easily dunk, I guess, before."
He jokes about everything -- including roommate Tyler Hansbrough -- but the injuries weren't funny.
"Last year was brutal," Frasor said. "Every time we'd win, I'd be happy for the team, but I'd be cringing on the inside because I wanted to be out there and I wasn't a part of it."
Williams senses the torment, insisting that he has never coached a player who handled so many injuries so well. Frasor averaged 2.7 points and 1.5 assists this season. Before the first ACC Tournament game, a win over Virginia Tech, Williams told Frasor that he had a chance to do something great.
He probably still does. Lawson could return Saturday or next week, but a fickle fat toe comes without guarantees. Lawson might not carry the same load. He might not stick around for the finish.
Frasor, the Illinois night owl from the only American city named Blue Island, might wake up another day and find himself running the Carolina show in the biggest college show of all.
■ Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com.
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