North Carolina Basketball: Are the Tar Heels Losing Their NBA Pedigree?

I have been a fan of North Carolina basketball since 1980-81. I was just a kid when I fell in love with Al Wood, the first Tar Heel I ever knew. He was a senior shooting guard that year, with one of the smoothest strokes in the history of Carolina basketball, and when I saw him shoot I was hooked.

I have followed the Tar Heels ever since as a devoted fan, and oftentimes as a harsh critic. And I have followed the careers of members of the Carolina family as well, both players and coaches—and the players who have become coaches.

I always got a great kick out of seeing Tar Heels move on from Chapel Hill to the NBA and blossom. I mean, there's not much better than being able to say that the greatest basketball player of all time, according to none other than Oscar Robertson, is an alum of the mighty Heels!

But recently the Tar Heel pedigree in the NBA has really started to slip. Where once you could hardly glance at an NBA roster without spotting one of Blue Heaven's Finest, many big-time players for their respective squads, now it's hard to find a whole lot of our boys on NBA rosters.

And when you do find them, rarely are they the types of difference-makers that Tar Heels fans have grown accustomed to seeing in the league.

There was a time when you could count on Carolina turning out guys that were starters, All-Stars, NBA champions. Now, looking at the list of Tar Heels in the NBA, you find a collection of good to middling players, but no one that a team could really build a franchise around.

I mean, I liked Danny Green at Carolina, and I'm happy that San Antonio seems to be a good fit for him, but he's not exactly representative of the legacy that Carolina basketball has had in the NBA.

I understand that some are wondering just what this has to do with the teams at Carolina and just what the success that former Tar Heels have in the NBA has to do with success in Chapel Hill. Well, I believe that the two are very closely linked. The way I see it, the success of former players at the next level has an impact on recruits that the Heels get today.

We are living in a world now where players no longer are willing to play for the laundry, so to speak, but make their college choices based on the school's ability to prepare them for the next level.

There is a reason that a school like Kentucky manages to pull in the top recruiting classes in the nation year after year—they have a reputation among recruits as a place that gets guys into the league, usually as a lottery pick.

That's not to say they are necessarily prepared better as players or people by going there, but most young players aren't really interested in that. They're interested in getting to the NBA as quickly as possible and going as high in the draft as possible. And it seems that for many of them, Chapel Hill isn't viewed as the best place to make those dreams come true, especially with Roy Williams as the coach.

There is no doubt that Roy Williams deserves his spot in the basketball Hall of Fame and that Carolina is darned lucky to have him. He has had great success in turning around two iconic programs at Kansas and UNC, and his two titles since returning to Chapel Hill only served to cement his coaching legacy.

But if you look back at the history of his players at the next level, it is not such a sterling history. In his time at Kansas, "Sugar Roy" turned out a great deal of solid NBA players like Greg Ostertag, Jacque Vaughn, Nick Collison and Kirk Heinrich. But the only really dominant player from all his years at Kansas to become a truly big-time player at the next level was Paul Pierce.

That trend line at Carolina may have even gone down some. There have been some great college players come through Carolina since Roy has been there, but none have become top-level players in the NBA.

Ty Lawson has a chance to be that, but for the most part the players have just been solid players; players that are good at playing a role, but none that you could build a franchise around.

However, as much as I would love to see more franchise-type players come through Chapel Hill, I am more than happy with what Roy Williams is doing. He has pursued players who will help the university compete for national champions on a yearly basis, even if it means not having the top recruit sign with the school.

Coach Williams has done a fine job of both recruiting top-level players to Carolina and finding players who want to succeed at the college level.

But it wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit to see another Vince Carter or Michael Jordan come through Chapel Hill on their way to lighting up NBA arenas!