ACC Country

Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, and Ty Lawson are all returning to Carolina.

The decision of each comes as a surprise to me, and all for differing reasons. Green’s flabbergasting decision to even put his name into the NBA draft gave me no confidence that he was getting good information from his advisors. Ellington testing the waters wasn’t much of a surprise, but the delay in withdrawing led me to believe that he was comfortable with his standing. Regarding Lawson, I’d always presumed he wanted out of school, and of the three, he seemed to be the only one in the first round – which comes along with the all-important guaranteed contract.

But Carolina announced today that the entire trio would be returning to school for the 08-09 season, joining National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough and making the Tar Heels the definitive preseason favorite to win the National Championship. In fact, the Heels now return everybody from last year’s ACC Championship and Final Four team except Q and Alex Stepheson (graduating and tranferring, respectively), plus welcome incoming freshmen Larry Drew, Ed Davis, and Tyler Zeller, all of whom are ACC-ready. That gives Carolina the depth to go 10-deep; no matter which way you do the math, the Heels are LOADED, perhaps as much or moreso than ‘07 Florida, ‘99 Duke, and ‘94 UNC.

Mind you, the latter two did NOT cut down the Final Four nets.

Personally, I see ZERO reason the team doesn’t have One Shining Moment in Detroit next April. Lawson is as explosive a PG you will find in Division I, Frasor is a smart player who can spell Lawson, and if injury finds Frasor again, Larry Drew should be capable of running the offense in spurts. When on, Ellington is among the smoothest shooters in the land, and the progression of Will Graves was among the more surprising stories for the Heels last season. (That and being down 28 in the Final Four, of course.) Hansbrough is 300 types of awesome and needs no more billing than that, and freshmen Davis (a banger) and Zeller (more versatile) should learn a lot from the NPOY. The question will be whether Danny Green will get the starting nod over senior leader and defensive stud Marcus Ginyard. Personally, I say you start with a small lineup with both Green and Ginyard, and bring Deon Thompson off the bench. Marcus has proven to be an excellent rebounder from the 3 spot, and Green, while a valuable asset off the bench, has earned the starting nod. Besides, this is the lineup Roy went with down the stretch in games, so why not start it that way, as well?

I know I’m insane, but this team shouldn’t lose a game this season. ZERO.