Louisiana: Antawn Jamison

(Note: THI is naming the greatest former UNC football or basketball player from each of the 50 states. The criteria is the player had to live in the state he represents at some point before arriving at UNC. The duration doesn’t matter, he just had to live there. College and pro careers were factored with a lean toward their UNC accomplishments.)

Ask Antawn Jamison what his fondest memories are from playing basketball at North Carolina and he first mentions the relationships established with teammates before quickly segueing to being a part of Dean Smith making history.

Jamison’s smile is broad and refuses to break when discussing Smith, the all-time wins record he was a part of and his overall Carolina experience. And this from a guy who is one of the top players in the fabled program’s history and whose on-court accomplishments would take eons to appropriately lay out.

The whole experience and enormity of Smith passing Adolph Rupp in 1997 as the all-time wins leader after UNC defeated Colorado in the second round of the NCAA Tournament is so easy for Jamison to recall as if it was just last month.

“I especially remember playing in Winston-Salem at the time and so many of the greats came back,” he recalled. “James Worthy, Mitch Kupchak, and it felt like every player that put on that uniform we were representing that whole night. A lot of the guys that came before us, to know they were (there) to watch this particular team give him the most wins in college basketball, it as an unbelievable feeling.”

Jamison was recruited to UNC while standing out at Providence High School in Charlotte, but he’s our Louisiana representative because he spent the first 13 years of his life in the Shreveport area. He was much more Louisianan than Carolinan when he showed up in Chapel Hill in 1995.

In three years as a Tar Heel, the 6-foot-9 Jamison was a three-time All-America, twice on the first team, three-time first-team All-ACC, the 1998 ACC Player of the Year, the consensus national Player of the Year in 1998, led UNC to two Final Fours, was named the 1998 East Regional MOP and won the ACC Tournament MVP in 1998.

Jamison was the first player named first-team All-ACC as a freshman, sophomore and junior, he was named 1998 ACC Male Athlete of the Year and his No. 33 jersey at UNC is retired.

His total college numbers: 1,974 points; 1,027 rebounds; 93 assists; 85 blocks; 57.7 FG percent.

Supremely quick, especially with his second leap, Jamison played 104 games as a Tar Heel starting every game as a freshman. A misnomer at the time was that Smith didn’t start freshmen, though Phil Ford, Mike O’Koren, Michael Jordan, Kenny Smith and J.R. Reid would disagree.

But he was never in a situation where he had to start multiple freshmen out of sheer need until Jamison’s class came along. It included Vince Carter and even Ademola Okulaja started 14 games that year as a freshman. That gave them a special bond right away, one that is ongoing today.

“We still talk,” Jamison said. “A lot of those guys are great friends – we had fun. It was a time of transition when coach Smith never allowed (multiple) freshmen to start, and I think that class was the first one to start that. Getting an opportunity to start for Coach Smith was amazing.”

The No. 4 overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Jamison played 16 seasons in the NBA. He played in two NBA All-Star games, was on the All-Rookie team, and in 2004 was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.

Jamison averaged 20 or more points a game in five NBA seasons with a high of 24.9 in 2001 and in four other seasons, he averaged between 19.5 and 19.8 points. In 11 seasons, he averaged 18 or more points per game, and in 46 playoff games, he averaged 17.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest.

He averaged 10.2 rebounds in 2008 and averaged 8 or more in seven different seasons.

Jamison finished his career with 20,042 points (18.5 average), 8,157 rebounds (7.5) and 1,716 assists. At this time, he’s the only player to ever reach those numbers without making it into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Jamison averaged more than 20 points per game 11 times over a 12-yer period, and the year he didn’t, in 2004, he was the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.

His total numbers: 20,042 points; 8,157 rebounds; 1,761 assists; 1,048 steals; 421 blocks; 1,163 made 3-pointers.

Jamison had a terrific run in the NBA and could very well end up in the Naismith Hall of Fame. But this is more about his UNC career, one he’s happy to discuss, but can’t do so without thinking about what could have been.

The 1998 Tar Heels were by far the best team in the country. They should have won the national title but didn’t, falling to Utah in the Final Four. It was the second straight trip to the Final Four for the group, and second straight time they lost in the semifinals.

“When I look back and see my whole career, I wouldn’t change anything, I wouldn’t go back in one particular moment except my junior year when we lost to Utah in San Antonio,” Jamison said. “I felt like that might have been in discussion as one of the top (college) basketball teams to ever lace it up, but we just came up short.”

They may have come up short that one afternoon, but as a whole, Jamison’s career is one that will be long remembered more for his amazing accomplishments than his final game