Enjoy the Ride

"North Carolina is now the overwhelming favorite to win the 2009 NCAA men's basketball tournament."

"Heels loaded for '09 title bid"

"UNC will be loaded"

"Merry Christmas Tar Heel fans"


Those are just a few of the headlines after rising juniors Tywon Lawson and Wayne Ellington, along with rising senior Danny Green, withdrew from the NBA Draft and retained their eligibility for the 2008-2009 season. All in all, it was a great day for Carolina fans everywhere, as the Tar Heels will now be the pre-season number one team and has a very legitimate shot at their sixth national championship.

So why am I so grouchy? Three reasons: academics, expectations, and enjoyment.

In the official press release from UNC Athletic Communications, there is never a mention of academics. None. Danny Green is returning to (we hope) earn a degree in something. I say something only because tarheelblue.com, the official website of UNC Athletics, does not list his major. Or anyone else's, with the exception of the walk-ons (the Blue Team mind you). Of course they only list the majors of these walk-ons in order to make their bios look a little better. These guys are all student-athletes, a term the NCAA mandates they be referred to as. Any time you listen to a post-game press conference in the tournament, you will always hear the moderator call the players "student-athletes". It is a running joke that the only people who think these guys are actually students is the NCAA. Well, that joke is not funny. It's sad.

I'm not trying to come off as some academia apologist here. Anyone who knows me knows that I love college sports for the competition, work in the business of selling it, and want to see my team win. But, I do think that too many people lose sight of the fact that these athletes are also on campus to earn a degree. It is frustrating when the players (I said players, I know), the head coach, and the communications department all make comments and never once mention academics. Are we to assume then that none of these three players are planning on graduating? Are we to assume that they are here strictly to play ball? For as strong an academic institution as Carolina is, and with the NCAA's new system for measuring academic performance by its teams, one would hope that these guys are planning on working as hard in the classroom as on the basketball court.

*gets off the soapbox*

The expectations for the 2008-2009 edition of the Tar Heels are already through the roof. I never read message boards on any UNC-related website, but I will bet my dog (Pebbles!) that people are talking about things like "Final Four or bust, a perfect season, greatest team ever." One of my buddies told me that people in his office are saying similar things already. I will acknowledge two things here:

1. Carolina will be very, very good this season
2. The NCAA Tournament is the most unpredictable event in sports

Nothing more than that can be stated as close to fact right now. The translation of the above is that even if Carolina is very, very good, it is no where near guaranteed that the Tar Heels will win the national title, or even advance to the Final Four. Ask UNLV, circa 1991, and they were the defending national champs. I am fine with high expectations - I too expect the Heels to be very good (see #1 above). I am fine with being pre-season numero uno. What I am not fine with is people saying things like "National Title or bust." That is ridiculous. I cannot believe that in the original press release yesterday, it led off with "North Carolina is now the overwhelming favorite to win the 2009 NCAA men's basketball tournament." That's unbelievable to be coming from the school itself. Let ESPN decide that crap, don't promote it on your own.

What's more ridiculous is how everyone will react all season long. I promise you that there are people who really expect this team to go undefeated, who say "this season will not be a success if we do not win the title." Come on. Really? I'll say this: if you really have that high an expectation (not a hope, an expectation) then you don't know jack about college basketball. You cannot seriously expect a team to go undefeated. You cannot say a season is successful based solely on winning a national championship. Do you want that? Sure. But expect it? That's different. As Andrew told me, this is a year that the peripheral fans are going to be talking out their butts about "greatest team ever" and all that crap. I urge you, young reader, do not get caught up in it. Just...

Enjoy it. Keep it all in perspective. I acknowledged yesterday that this will be a tough season to enjoy for many fans, potentially myself included. With the trio returning, suddenly the Heels have gone from "celebrate Tyler Hansbrough, hope the young guys develop, we'll make the tournament, maybe the Sweet 16, anything else is gravy" to "we have to win it all, we have the best team, we're number one". Everyone, as mentioned above, will expect everything from the 08-09 team: sweep Dook, beat State by 50, undefeated in conference play, win the national title. Anytime one of those things does not happen, people are going to freak out. Don't. Just sit back and enjoy this. Celebrate Hansbrough - we'll never see another like him. Cry on his Senior Night when they hang his jersey on the front row of the rafters (right before we beat Dook again...just saying). Enjoy Marcus Ginyard being tougher than most players in our history, sacrificing his stats for the team. Enjoy every stupid joke Bobby Frasor makes and every three-pointer he hits. When Danny Green dribbles it off his foot out of bounds, then makes a big steal and dunk thirty seconds later, enjoy it. As Thompson blocks a shot, tips it to Ty, who zips by three guys down the court, then kicks it to Wayne the Rain for a back-breaking three, enjoy it. As Roy stomps and crouches and yells and nearly passes out, enjoy it (and make sure he's ok). Enjoy every night we hit 100 points and get Bojangles the next day.

There are not going to be many Carolina teams as talented, deep, experienced, or flat out good as what we are about to see this year. Baring a major injury or the team having internal strife over playing time, this will be a special group with a very real shot to hang a big banner during Late Night '09. It'll be the last season for the four seniors, plus Lawson and Ellington if all goes according to plan. So I urge you, beg you, and challenge you to just enjoy this. Once it gets March, sure, it's time to get serious. Put on that lucky shirt, drink a Coke for Roy, and don't let out the good pee. Do your part to make sure the last six games are wins. But during each game, thank God that we're lucky enough to be fans of this squad and get to see a great team play.

I realize this blog posting is a bit of a contrast. On one hand, I'm urging the university and the players to value their academics more. On the other, I'm urging us to all enjoy watching these guys play ball. It's really all the same thing though. Everyone needs to enjoy their college experience, as it is far too short to waste away with expectations and pressure. The saying goes "don't miss the forest for the trees" - do not ignore the big picture. Well, it works in reverse too: don't miss how beautiful each tree can be along the way to finding out what that big picture is. So buckle up Carolina fans, it's going to be a heckuva season; just promise me you’ll enjoy the ride.