CHAPEL HILL
Coach Roy Williams took his North Carolina assistants on a retreat last Sunday to prepare for the opening of basketball practice.
One thought dominated the meeting for the program that will begin defense of its 2009 NCAA Tournament title tonight with its first practice at the Smith Center.
"The biggest conclusion was, ‘We don't know,'" Williams said. "We don't know what we have. We've got to wait (to find out) until we get started in practice."
UNC has one starter returning from last season's 34-4 team that won the program's fifth national championship.
Gone are some of the best players in school history: Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green.
Little experience is available in the backcourt. Larry Drew, a sophomore, would be the starting point guard right now after spending last season backing up Lawson.
Marcus Ginyard, a senior who missed almost all of last season because of a foot injury, could play point guard or shooting guard or small forward.
Williams has told Drew that he shouldn't feel that he has to be another Lawson for UNC to win. "Me and Ty are two different players," Drew said. "Coach knows that. He told me he didn't want me to be a good player, he needed me to be a good player."
Ellington and Green were last season's top 3-point shooters. Will Graves will likely be the player who will have to fill the role at least early in the season until one of the freshman guards, Leslie McDonald or Dexter Strickland, gets comfortable.
Graves missed the last 18 games last season after being suspended by Williams for breaking at least one team rule, however, and will have to show that he is a dependable player this season.
"I hope he understands that he missed a wonderful, wonderful time in his life, and you can't get that back," Williams said. "So don't screw up anymore and miss another opportunity. I hope that he still has a hunger."
The backcourt situation makes Williams think that his team's experience is out of balance. The frontcourt has Deon Thompson, the returning starter, plus Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller.
John Henson, a 6-10 freshman, will start out in practice on the perimeter, as Williams had planned. Twins David and Travis Wear, both 6-10, are capable of helping in numerous ways.
A third unknown also concerns Williams: the lack of a leader.
Ginyard, the obvious candidate, understands much work must be done but doesn't think that UNC will be rebuilding significantly.
"It's definitely a completely different situation," Ginyard said. "There's no doubt that a lot of pieces are missing from last season's team, just as there was from the 2005 team.
"There's no question we are returning more guys who contributed last year. There are some guys on this team who have been through more. We understand we have the potential to do great things."
bcole@wsjournal.com.
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