(THI continues taking a look each day at a different part of Roy Williams' summer press conference from Tuesday. His full presser is posted before this article.)
CHAPEL HILL – Roy Williams’ annual summer press conference Tuesday at the Smith Center was chock full of different topics, many of which we have already profiled here at THI in parts one and two of our breakdown of what the North Carolina coach had to say.
There weren’t many questions about this next year’s team, though, as only the names of five players came up, and two were with respect to ongoing injuries.
In our third breakdown of the presser, we take a look at what Williams said about incoming freshmen Cole Anthony and Armando Bacot as well as sophomore Leaky Black,
Here’s a link to what Williams had to say about the injury situations junior Sterling Manley and freshman Jeremiah Francis are dealing with.
*Asked if he had any conversations during this past year with incoming freshman Cole Anthony about possibly playing this next season with Coby White, who departed for the NBA.
“Very little because I didn’t think he would come back,” Williams replied. “But that was the premise of, ‘Hey, I don’t think Coby’s going to be here.’ And when Cole and Coby played together on the USA Under 19 team last year and got along great. If that had happened (them playing together at UNC), I’d have been a better coach. We just talked about how I didn’t think he was going to be here.”
*It’s no secret the Tar Heels have lacked a true post presence the last two seasons, but incoming freshman Armando Bacot is that kind of player and could fill a valuable role this coming season. What kind of conversations has Williams had with Bacot regarding his game and that potential role?
“Well, he just got here Sunday, so I said, ‘Mondo, how you doing,” Williams said, lightly laughing. “He said. ‘Good coach, how are you?’ I said, ‘Alright, I’ll see you.’
“That’s all our conversation has been so far. But, I think Armando is a tremendous prospect and I think he can really being able to help us score and defend basket, which we haven’t had. We haven’t had any discussions or anything yet.”
How about homework given to him prior to arriving in Chapel Hill, things Williams wanted the 6-foot-10, 235 pounder to work on?
“Not really. I tell high school coaches ‘I’m not coaching them when they’re playing for them so I’m not going to give them advice, because when they come play for me I don’t want their butts giving my players advice. So, I wait until they get here and try to talk to them at that point.
“But they’re not dumb. He knows he needs to run. He did a fantastic job over the last year changing his body. He’s an impressive looking kid and I think there was a lot of improvement in his body and that translated into a lot of improvement in his game and we’re excited about having him.”
*Leaky Black missed about six weeks this past season with an injury and barely played after returning in the NCAA Tournament. In 23 games, he averaged 2.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 10.3 minutes per contest. He had some flashes but didn’t get a great deal of experience because of the players in front of him. Now, the 6-foot-7 multi-purpose sophomore will get a lot of time on the court and asked to handle a variety of roles and positions.
“That’s what he would be probably,” Williams said. “We need him to get healthy, that ankle bothered him a lot longer than anybody thought it would. But Leaky can be the one, two or the three. I really think deep down his future might be more as a one than anything.
“But just getting healthy, and if he does that, he’s going to help us in a lot of ways. And I think before it’s over with, he’s going to be an NBA player, I think that’s how good he is.”