Plenty of Newness, Yet Heels Have Already Built Chemistry
CHAPEL HILL – Newness abounds inside the Smith Center, and with it comes the challenge in developing chemistry that is shared on and off the court.
A college basketball season is long and laced with roadblocks, rough spots, and the daily grind of the workload while seeing the same faces and hearing the same voices almost every day for six months. Really, in today’s era, it’s more a ten-month deal.
Players are constantly around one another, so it helps if they actually like each other. And then, if they mesh on the court, good things can happen.
So, with UNC bringing in seven new players this offseason, five of whom are transfers having played in different programs, Hubert Davis tasked himself whipping this team into shape in just several months.
If the early returns mean anything, so far, so good.
“A lot of the guys come from different programs, and we have freshmen as well,” senior guard RJ Davis said. “It’s new, but I think the main message for us was to embrace that newness and come together as a team and establish a new culture, a new mindset, because last year is last year.
“And I think we have a new team with a different goal in terms of just trying to get to know each other, and I think the main thing this past summer and this preseason was to get a feel for each other’s games. And so far, the chemistry has been great on and off the court.”
Only four scholarship Tar Heels remain from last year’s club that went 20-13 and did not receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament a year after mostly the same group played in the national championship game.
It wasn’t always a harmonious locker room. Issues surfaced that exacerbated on-court struggles, which reflected a serious lack of chemistry. As noted, that often goes hand-in-hand.
Davis acknowledged the newness was needed, and veteran big man Armando Bacot did as well, noting the new Heels don’t know anything about what happened last season. So, they didn’t carry that through the summer or into the start of practice last month.
Thus, the newbies’ experiences have been from May and on, long after the many departures that took place in the spring. And they’re giving everything a big thumbs-up.
“We have so much more fun on the court, we’re having fun,” said junior and Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram, who said he watched a lot of film of last year’s team once he committed. “We’re genuinely having fun, we ride or die with each other, like we’re generally best friends.”
Cormac Ryan had a pretty good feel for the Tar Heels the last few years as one of Notre Dame’s top players. He has faced Carolina six times in his career, so it was easy for him to reach out to Bacot and Davis before committing to UNC.
The conversations were honest and helpful, and helped Ryan decide on playing in Chapel Hill. And as a former captain, one of five on the team who had that role at their respective schools last season, Ryan says the make-up of the Tar Heels is laced with maturity and self-policing.
“We have guys on this team who have been captains and played a lot of college basketball,” Ryan said. “So, we’ve done a great job of building the fabric of culture and accountability and guys leading each other. And I’m happy to be part of that and share what I can.”
While limbering before practice, the comfort the players have with each other is easily noticeable. Graduate and Brown transfer Paxson Wojcik laughing it up with freshman Elliot Cadeau. Louisville transfer Jae’Lyn Withers joshing around with sophomore Seth Trimble. Ryan cracking jokes worthy of Bacot’s approval. And so on.
The head coach has seen it plenty.
“This group genuinely enjoys being around each other, whether it's on the court or off the court, they just enjoy the experience of doing this together,” Hubert Davis said. “That's something that I've really enjoyed being a part of and watching over the last four or five months.”
And he hopes it continues for another six months.