CHAPEL HILL – To Roy Williams, the most important player on North Carolina’s team isn’t a grizzled veteran with thousands of game minutes or a ballyhooed freshman headed to next summer’s NBA lottery.
He’s not a former McDonald’s All-American or finding his name on any pre-season all-ACC teams, but Leaky Black is the quintessential x-factor for the Tar Heels. Don’t believe it, just listen to his Hall of Fame coach.
“In a lot of ways, he’s our most important player because he can do so many things…,” Williams said Tuesday at ACC Operation Basketball in Charlotte. “When he’s on the court, our team is completely different than when he’s not on the court.”
At 6-foot-7, the sophomore can do a little bit of everything. He loves passing the ball and does it quite well, his teammates will tell you, he defends really well, his coach says, and he’s a better shooter than a year ago, he declared.
Add to that Black is healthy after overcoming a high ankle sprain that cost him six weeks late last season, and his mind is right.
“Just more confident in getting to my spots and knocking my shots down,” Black said last week, when asked what elements of his game is most improved from last season. “I felt like last year I couldn’t pick up full, I could play deep, but I feel like this year I can pick up full court being healthier.”
Head. Spacing. Shooting. Full-court defense.
Just like Williams likes it.
“We’ve got to get him out there,” Williams said. “He’s better defensively than anybody else, he gets his hands on more balls, gets his hands on more offensive rebounds. The shot hasn’t been going in for him this year, but he’s got such a small sample size of shots he’s taken because he’s only play like 30-35 percent of the time.”
Black is dealing with a right wrist injury, but it will be fine in time and the ankle is one hundred percent.
In the six ACC games before his injury, which occurred in late January at Georgia Tech, Black played 63 minutes, scored 13 points, handed out nine assists versus five turnovers, grabbed nine rebounds and recorded five steals. He played in UNC’s three NCAA Tournament games playing 17 minutes grabbing eight rebounds and handing out two assists. On the season, Black played in 23 games averaging 2.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 10.3 minutes per game while shooting 46.9 percent from the floor, including 5-for-12 (41.7 percent) from the perimeter.
That season - the good and the bad of it – is in the past, though he turned the negative stuff into a positive.
Being out made Black love basketball in a way he hadn’t before. He realized how quickly it can be taken away, so he put the extra effort into rehabbing, the gym, every aspect of his game.
He got better, a lot better. And how his coach sees a very bright future for Black beyond his time in Carolina blue.
“Leaky can be the one, the two, or the three,” Williams said. “I really think deep down his future might be as a one more than anything… If he (gets healthy) he is going to help us in a lot of ways. I think before it’s over with Leaky is going to be an NBA player. That is how good he is.”
Black passes the ball so hard, a trade he learned watching Kendall Marshall years ago, that Garrison Brooks gets on him for firing lasers into the post. But it’s a quality becoming of a lead guard or a slasher in the mold of Theo Pinson, or maybe a bouncy, heads-up, long-armed, team-first baller who has the deepest respect of his legendary coach and teammates.
And before long, probably his opponents and everyone else, too.
