North Carolina 2007 NCAA Tournament Capsule

North Carolina Tar Heels - ACC (28-6, 11-5)

Seed: #1 - East Region

Big Wins: 11/24 vs Tennessee (101-87), 11/29 Ohio State (98-89), 2/7 at Duke (79-73)

Bad Losses: 11/22 vs Gonzaga (74-82), 2/3 at NC State (79-83), 3/1 at Georgia Tech (77-84)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2006, Second Round loss to George Mason

Coach: Roy Williams (42-16 in 17 NCAA appearances)

Probable North Carolina Starters:

• Ty Lawson, Freshman, Guard, 10.1 ppg, 5.6 apg, 1.5 spg

• Wayne Ellington, Freshman, Guard, 12.0 ppg, 2.2 apg

• Reyshawn Terry, Senior, Forward, 9.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg

• Brandan Wright, Freshman, Forward, 14.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg

• Tyler Hansbrough, Sophomore, Forward, 18.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg

Key Roleplayers for North Carolina:

• Wes Miller, Senior, Guard, 2.5 ppg, 1.3 apg

• Danny Green, Sophomore, Guard, 5.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg

• Bobby Frasor, Sophomore, Guard, 2.8 ppg, 1.8 apg

• Marcus Ginyard, Sophomore, Guard, 4.2 ppg, 1.6 apg, 3.1 rpg

• Deon Thompson, Freshman, Forward, 4.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg

• Alex Stephenson, Freshman, Forward, 2.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg

Why They Can Surprise:
North Carolina averages over 86 points per game, which is second in the nation. Coach Roy Williams will push the ball at every opportunity and he has the depth to do it. Wes Miller, Bobby Frasor and Marcus Ginyard were all at least part-time starters last season and are almost exclusively coming off the bench this year.

The Tar Heels are not running and gunning and taking bad shots. They are getting to the basket and feeding the big men. They are shooting an amazing 50% from the floor. North Carolina has quite a few players that can hit the three ball when they need to, but they will look inside first and average under six attempts per game from beyond the arc.

Why North Carolina Can Disappoint:
Turnovers can be a problem, but considering UNC will always push the tempo and have an all freshmen backcourt, 14 turnovers per game is actually pretty good. It is those freshmen that again will raise concerns in the NCAA Tournament. Can Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson handle the pressure of college basketball’s biggest stage? The youth and inexperience is shown on the defensive end as well. More often than not, the pure athletic ability and strength is enough to get by, but once the other elite teams start popping up in the tournament, North Carolina will have to improve their team defense.

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Who To Watch:
The experience, relatively speaking, is with the forwards. Sophomore Tyler Hansbrough averages 18.2 points and 8.0 rebounds and is extremely difficult to stop when he is being active. Brandan Wright joins Hansbrough in the paint and has had an amazing freshman campaign and can put up big time points with his nice touch under the basket. Small forward Reyshawn Terry is a defensive nightmare for the opposing small forward. At 6-8, Terry can battle inside, get to the basket and hit the outside jumper with ease. Led by that trio, the Tar Heels outrebound their competition by over eight boards per game.

By the Numbers:

Scoring Offense: 86.3 (2nd in nation, 1st in conference)

Scoring Defense: 68.1 (157, 5)

Field-Goal Percentage: 50.4 (4, 1)

Field-Goal Defense: 41.0 (53, 3)

Free-Throw Percentage: 70.7 (120, 5)

Rebound Margin: 8.2 (3, 1)

Assists Per Game: 18.6 (3, 1)

Turnovers Per Game: 13.9 (117, 5)

Joel’s Bracket Says: Sweet Sixteen loss to USC

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