CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina head coach Roy Williams has been used to having a certain type of team during almost every season he's ever been a head coach, from his time at Kansas until now. And it's all been built around the foundation of having at least one really good big man.
Of course, it's important that the point guard is really good too. His two national title teams at North Carolina were led by Raymond Felton (2005) and Ty Lawson (2009), both of whom are still in the NBA. In fact, Lawson is becoming one of the league's better point guards.
But the inside-out dynamic of a Roy Williams-coached team is key. He values getting the ball inside first and letting everything else flow from there. Making two-point shots around the basket. Getting rebounds. Accruing fouls on the other team and getting to the foul line.
But in his last two seasons as a head coach, North Carolina hasn't looked like North Carolina. And that's largely because there's been no true post man that's been ready for this level.
If the Tar Heels want to justify what will likely be a preseason top 10 (maybe even top five) ranking, they're going to have to have that this year, even with ACC Player of the Year candidate Marcus Paige coming back for his junior season.
"I guess the last really, really good team consistently was 2012, even though last year at times we were pretty doggone good. But that team had a consistency and a balance of inside and outside scoring," Williams said. "We do have some people there -- now they've got to step up and just do it."
Sean May in 2004-05, who went on to win the MVP award in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Tyler Hansbrough from 2006-09. Tyler Zeller from 2009-12, alongside John Henson (2010-12), a shot-blocking and low-post scorer by the time he left school.
Since all of those great big men left, the Tar Heels are 49-21 overall. That's not a very Williams-like stretch. His teams have gotten better over the course of the year, but there's yet to be a big man to emerge to complement Paige, who has blossomed seemingly with each week over the course of his career.
Between the duo of junior forward Brice Johnson and sophomore center Kennedy Meeks (who has dropped over 40 pounds since he arrived on campus last fall), both have shown plenty of flashes. Even sophomore Isaiah Hicks, who was forced to play on the wing last year out of necessity, will get to move back inside as a 4-man where he's more comfortable. Senior Desmond Hubert is a defensive specialist, while junior Joel James is probably not quite ready for more than spot minutes.
In 2013, Williams tried and tried to find a reliable big man option before finally going small with James Michael McAdoo (who left school early last year for the NBA draft), more of a face-up four man, at the five-spot. In 2014, Williams had guys step up and play well at various times -- just not consistently.
Johnson shot over 56 percent from the floor last year, but his rebounding was inconsistent, as was his defense (particularly positionally). Meeks just wasn't quite in the shape he needed to be yet, but still had nice moments as a freshman. But his weight loss has meant an increase in explosiveness -- Williams asked Meeks to end a recent practice with a windmill dunk so that the team could avoid extra running, and Meeks obliged. Last year, his vertical jump was almost nonexistent.
Johnson, on the other hand, has gained weight, bulking up his slender frame with about 15-20 extra pounds.
Williams doesn't care who it is -- as long as it's someone.
"Somebody. I don't give a dang who it is. Somebody in Carolina blue," Williams said. "Brice has played more. Brice has more experience. He really did a nice job in the off-season. He's added 15-20 pounds. He looks different. Now, you've got to take that weight and do something with it.
"At the same time, Kennedy's really done something in the off-season because he's lost 15-20 pounds. Brice has not been on the white team (with the starters) every day. Kennedy has not been on the white team. They've got to separate. Somebody has got to separate to step forward and say 'I'm the guy', and nobody's done that yet."
Paige did that prior to last season, and was perhaps the most improved player in the ACC as a result. He added weight to his tiny frame, and he became Carolina's go-to scorer at the guard spot (sometimes point guard, sometimes off-guard).
Now, North Carolina has other point guard options (sophomore Nate Britt and freshman Joel Berry) and other options at the two-guard spot. So Paige can, in theory, play wherever he wants.
Wherever he plays, though, Williams says that he needs help. Paige's freshman year, the now-departed P.J. Hairston and James Michael McAdoo were Carolina's main options, and Hairston would have been a nice complement had he been eligible a season ago.
Now, Williams is tasked with building a unit around Paige. Right now, Paige has been the only player through three practices that Williams is sure has been with the starting white team all the time.
"He's a basketball player. He understands how to play the game. He makes people better himself. He sort of tries to figure out where he can do the best thing for everybody else. He really does. He's more a facilitator who can do things himself with a little help from those guys," Williams said.
"He can't do it by himself. He's got to have somebody setting screens, getting the ball to him, getting it off the board, getting it out and all those kinds of things.
"We've practiced three times, and I know I've repeated this at least three times -- that is our best player, and don't anybody forget that. If that's the case, then we should get him more opportunities to do some things. He handles that really well. There's not a conceited bone or a selfish bone in the boy's body."
At first, Paige said, it was hard for him to hear in front of his teammates. It was hard for him to carry that burden of being that guy, both on the court and off of it. He's naturally great with the media, smart and confident, but the part of going from young, complementary piece to THE guy in such a short span was a lot for him.
Now, he's used to it.
"I think it used to make me uncomfortable, but over the past year or so, I've sort of embraced that and I've worked really hard to be one of the main guys. So it doesn't really affect me anymore," Paige said.
"I think my teammates are all aware of who our main guys are. So it's just (Williams) reminding us, if he points to something I'm doing right, he's saying 'hey, if one of our top guys is doing something the right way, then everybody else should be on the same page'. But if I mess up, he'll use me as an example in the same regard. I'm comfortable with it now, but I used to be a little weirded out by it I guess."
Paige said the team's goal is to make it to the Final Four in Indianapolis. The Tar Heels came a basket short of advancing to the Sweet 16 last year against Iowa State, and they've made progress each of the last two seasons. Now, it's time for a big leap.
But that big leap won't happen if the big men don't make one.
"Our practices right now are pretty vicious inside. There's some guys wanting to play. They're not taking any names, they're just taking prisoners is what they're doing. That part, I really like. The competition is pretty heated," Williams said.
"Again, I've said this so many times I'm already sick of hearing it myself, but one or two or three of those guys has got to step up and say 'I'm going to be a big-time player'. I don't think there's anybody that would question that Marcus last year stepped up and said 'I'm going to be a big-time player.' Now, one of the post players has got to step up and say that and not just be willing to run up and down the court and wait on Marcus to do something."
Paige, for one, is pretty confident that his teammates will do that. And he knows how necessary it is, too. This team doesn't necessarily have a great three-point shooter beyond Paige, at least not a proven one. And so it's going to have to be a team that can get easy baskets.
"If you establish your inside game, then everything else opens up and you have a chance to shoot a high percentage early and get everybody else involved before you start chucking up three's and stuff," Paige said. "So having them is important for us. We need them to step up in a big way, and I think they've made strides but there's still a long way to go."
