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Tar Heels add more blue-chip recruits

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Currently enjoying an embarrassment of riches on the court, North Carolina coach Roy Williams insured his program's future success by stuffing five-star prospects under his mattress over the last year. The first blue-chip talent to commit was John Henson, a 6-foot-10, 200-pound forward from Tampa, Fla. Following suit, California twins Travis and David Wear added height (both are 6-9). Perhaps most important to next season's transition team is St. Patrick's (Elizabeth, N.J.) guard Dexter Strickland, a natural scorer who the Tar Heels are banking on to assist current frosh Larry Drew II with ball handling duties once Ty Lawson speeds off to the NBA.

SI.com

Roy Williams, AP Roy Williams, AP
December 16, 2008  08:25 AM ET

And the Rich get Richer

December 16, 2008  08:51 AM ET

I think we can agree UNC is college basketball's version of USC in football regarding blue-chip recruits.

December 16, 2008  11:07 AM ET
QUOTE(#2):

I think we can agree UNC is college basketball's version of USC in football regarding blue-chip recruits.

This. Roy is just ridiculous...

December 16, 2008  12:43 PM ET

These guys signed a while ago. Why is SI making this sound like a new development?

December 16, 2008  12:52 PM ET

Obama needs to make them spread the wealth. They're too rich in recruits, lol.

December 16, 2008  01:08 PM ET
QUOTE(#4):

These guys signed a while ago. Why is SI making this sound like a new development?

I was thinking the same thing. I guess its because they actually signed their LOI during the early signing period which was recently. But Strickland, the Wears, and Henson all verbally commited as after the sophomore year. Mcdonald was the last one. But it was this past summer.

December 16, 2008  01:42 PM ET
QUOTE(#6):

I was thinking the same thing. I guess its because they actually signed their LOI during the early signing period which was recently. But Strickland, the Wears, and Henson all verbally commited as after the sophomore year. Mcdonald was the last one. But it was this past summer.

good, at first i thought they had added to those guys, which they probably will

December 16, 2008  02:49 PM ET
QUOTE(#7):

good, at first i thought they had added to those guys, which they probably will

I doubt they will add anyone else to that class. They are expected to lose 6 at most. Ginyard, Hansbrough, Frasor, Green, Lawson, Ellington. They have those 5 coming in next year. And already have solid verbal commits from 2 of the top guards in the class of 2010. They are trying to keep atleast 1 scholarship open so they can take a shot at somebody in the 2010 class.

December 22, 2008  07:38 PM ET

as a fan of North Carolina this is great, but all college sports have this problems where only a handfull of teams get the top players and the rest of the teams have to deal with the scraps and hope they find the needle in a haystack. in my opinion, the coaches that can find the hidden gems in each class are the best coaches, not the coaches that win year in and year out with the high school superstars.

December 22, 2008  07:40 PM ET

for college football it's the coaches like turner gill for getting recruits to the cold of buffalo and out of the warm weather. those coaches deserve the high class jobs in college sporsts.

February 21, 2009  09:30 AM ET

Just because you have superstars doesn't mean you have a superstar team. UNC and Duke are great examples of that. When Coach K went out for back surgery, Duke was terrible. When Dean Smith retired, Gutheridge took over, and the team started their slide down hill. Ending streaks that they had held for 20+ years (finishing in top 3 of ACC). After that, Dougherty took over ,we all know how that turned out.... Yet Roy came in, took players that Dougherty couldn't coach, and turned them in to an NCAA championship team.

Yes, being a high caliber school makes it easier to recruit the all americans, but how did the school get to that status in the first place? It's a combination of everything, coaching, players, team playing style, prestige... if one of these is lost, a team can go down hill rather quickly.

February 23, 2009  09:38 PM ET

CAN ANYONE SAY DEFENCE? UNC WILL NOT WIN ANY KIND OF CHAMPIONSHIP THE WAY THEY ARE PLAYING. THEY MAY HAVE ONE OF THE BEST OFFENSIVE TEAMS IN THE COUNTRY,BUT DEFENCE WINS TITLES. ROY DID WIN THE TITLE WITH SOMEONE ELSES PLAYERS,BUT HE HAD TO LEAVE KANSAS FOR THEM TO WIN ONE. IF SOME OF THESE GUYS DON'T START PLAYING DEFENCE ITS GOING TO BE A BAD DAY ON DRAFT DAY AND A QUICK EXIT IN THE TOURNAMENTS. SOMEBODY SCORES THE FIRST 16 POINTS OF A GAME AGAINST YOU, YOU SHOULD BE EMBARRESSED AND SIT ON THE BENCH. ROY SHOULD HAVE SENT A MESSAGE AND BENCHED THE WHOLE STARTING FIVE JUST TO SEND A MESSAGE (MISSED TEACHING OPPURTUNITY)

February 25, 2009  05:44 PM ET

I AGREE WITH TARHEELSROLL, YOU DONT LET ANYONE SCORE THE FIRST 16 POINTS ON YOU. WERE WAS THE DEFENSE...........DEFENSE DOES WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS.

March 8, 2009  07:38 PM ET

UNC has been playing better defence in the last two games. Defence is important but the difference between winning and losing is quality of the bench. Great players need to sit during a game and get the overall view of what is going on while listening to the coach on how to improve. The bench has to be able to come in without a significant dropoff in quality. The coach can't pull a team not playing well if he can't trust his bench. Williams has some latitude, but he doesn't have the blue and white teams that Smith used to have, yet. He will grow the team and two years from now he will be able to platoon. Then watch his winning percentage increase.

 
March 10, 2009  09:19 AM ET

Why don't you learn to spell defense, you obviously didn't go to UNC.

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