Carolina Searching For Its Identity

For the remainder of the regular season, North Carolina will play nothing but ACC opponents. One league game is in the books – a win three weeks ago at Georgia Tech – and the next 19 are against ACC teams.

Twenty, if you include at least one game in the conference tournament in Brooklyn.

So, 12 games into the season, what is UNC’s identity? Do the Tar Heels even know?

Yes, and no.

First, the “yes” part.

“We all know how to play basketball,” forward Brady Manek said, following the Tar Heels’ 70-50 win over Appalachian State last Tuesday night at the Smith Center. “We’re all really good basketball players and we all know what we’re supposed to do. One thing we’ve been emphasizing on is we all know how to play but we also need to come ready to play.

“That’s going to be our biggest challenge, just being here and ready to go.”

Now, the “no” part.

“I don’t know what the identity of this team is, I know what I want the identity of this team to be," said UNC Coach Hubert Davis. "I want the identity of this team to be a team that comes every day with energy, effort, and toughness. I think that’s the only way we can achieve, or have a chance to achieve, our individual and team goals.”

Sitting at 9-3 with a 21-point win over Michigan and that triumph in Atlanta on their resume, the Tar Heels really aren’t sure who they are and what they will become. Nobody really is. It is unanimous, however, they have confidence in where they are headed.

Just days after a 29-point loss to Kentucky in Las Vegas, sophomore guard RJ Davis believes they can be “really good,” which has been the case a few times this season. But it is the wild ebbs and flows in performance that has many onlooking scratching their heads in wonderment.

“We’ve got to learn to come out – it doesn’t matter what opponent we play – every game we have to treat and come out and compete,” Davis said. “There can be no days off, and we’ve got to play together. I think we can go a long way.”

As the Heels speak, something of an identity begins to take shape.

They cannot avoid the loss to UK as well as what happened against Tennessee more than a month ago in Connecticut. That 89-72 loss wasn’t supposed to happen again, but it did. And it was worse against the Wildcats.

Missing in those losses were a fortified toughness that appeared as if the team’s true DNA lacked the necessary brawn to contend for anything tangible. But in the wins over the Wolverines and Yellow Jackets, which took place four days apart, the Heels displayed a ruggedness and sharpness that appeared to mark their hoops and competitive DNAs.

And maybe that is the team’s identity as New Year's approaches. Hubert Davis kind of sees it that way, at least with respect to what he wants Carolina’s identity to morph into as league play kicks back in for good when Virginia Tech visits the Smith Center on Dec. 29.

“For us to be able to compete against the Purdues and Tennessees and Kentuckys and Michigans, and for us to be able to have a chance to win the ACC regular season and tournament, and get to a Final Four and win a national championship, we have to have that blue collar mentality where we’re diving on loose balls, where we’re very physical in boxing out, and rebounding, and doing all the little and dirty things that you have to do every day just to put yourself in a position to be successful,” he said.

“I don’t think our identity is that right now. I don’t think we have an identity other than we can score, we can shoot, we’ve got versatility on the offensive end, but I will say that’s what I want our identity to be.”

With a machete in hand, the Heels find themselves wading through the forest, not sure whether to turn right, go left, or keep forging ahead in their quest to meet Davis’ wishes and expectations. But they are hacking away, which is the only way they can find a clear path to full self-discovery.

So, Carolina’s quest for an identity is an on-going venture, with an end result to be determined.