All basketball programs have suffered injuries at the most important times of their seasons, but perhaps no program has been bitten by the bug at crunch time more than North Carolina.
Tar Heels fans strongly believe at least two national championships have been lost due to injuries – 1977 and 1984 – and with point guard Kendall Marshall’s fractured wrist Sunday versus Creighton, many fear a third could be lost because of another injury.
Marshall is clearly UNC’s most important player, especially since the team lost Dexter Strickland for the season with a torn ACL in January. Strickland was the starting two guard and Marshall’s primary backup. Of course, Carolina’s best perimeter shooter from last season, Leslie McDonald, tore his knee last summer and has missed the entire campaign.
In addition, North Carolina forward John Henson badly injured his left wrist in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals and missed the rest of the tournament plus UNC’s first NCAA game versus Vermont. He returned for the Creighton game, only to see Marshall go down later in the contest.
Marshall had surgery and a screw placed in his right wrist Monday morning, and it’s possible he could play this weekend when the Heels host Ohio in the Sweet 16 or maybe in the Elite 8, if UNC advances that far. But Marshall clearly won’t be at full strength if he does play. UNC coach Roy Williams isn’t optimistic Marshall will play and is preparing his team as if the sophomore and ACC’s all-time single-season assist leader won’t play at all.
This isn’t exactly a new scenario for UNC. The following is a look back at Carolina’s bad luck with injuries, particularly at this time of the season:
1969 – Dick Grubar is one of the most important players to ever
play for Dean Smith, some observers from that era swear, and when he
injured his knee in the ACC Tournament that season, the Tar Heels’
chances at dethroning UCLA were diminished. Carolina reached the Final
Four. But not having Grubar hurt and they lost to Purdue in the
semifinals. UNC lost to UCLA the year before in the national title game
and badly wanted a rematch.
1977 – Starting center Tommy LaGarde, who was one of four Tar Heels on the 1976 Gold medal winning Olympic team the previous summer, injured his knee in February and missed the rest of the season. Walter Davis, an All-American who the next year would rank among the top-10 players in the world, broke a finger in his shooting hand in the ACC Tournament semifinals. And Phil Ford, arguably the greatest Tar Heel ever, inured his elbow during a Sweet 16 victory over Purdue and, along with Davis, wasn’t 100 percent in the national title game. Ford and Davis played in the national title game helping UNC to a late lead. But the Heels lost to Marquette. Some UNC observers call this the greatest Carolina team of all time.
1980 – James Worthy was only a freshman but he was becoming a great player during the season. He was averaging nearly 13 points and 8 rebounds when he broke his ankle on Super Bowl Sunday versus Maryland and missed the remainder of the season. UNC was ousted by Texas A&M in double overtime in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
1984 – Kenny Smith was already one of the best point guards in the nation as a freshman and was running a Tar Heels team that simply had no peer. UNC got off to a 17-0 start when they welcomed a quality LSU team to Chapel Hill. The Heels won that game, but lost Smith to a broken wrist. UNC’s streak ended at 21 (a loss at Arkansas), and Smith returned for the postseason with a heavily wrapped wrist. The Heels were eliminated by Indiana in the Sweet 16. It was Michael Jordan’s last game as a Tar Heel. Many UNC observers believe this was the best Carolina team of ever.
1985 – Steve Hale was one of the best role players in UNC history. A left-handed guard, who embraced the idea of diving after lose balls or drawing difficult defensive assignments, he broke his collar bone during a win over Middle Tenn. State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Carolina managed to beat Notre Dame on its court in the second round and Auburn in the Sweet 16, but fell to eventual national champion Villanova in the regional final.
1989 – J.R. Reid had an outstanding freshman season in 1987 and
was very good the following year. As a junior, though, Reid struggled at
times because he never fully overcame a foot injury that forced him to
miss the first nine games of that season. UNC was eliminated in the
Sweet 16 by eventual national champion Michigan.
1994 – Some observers say so-so chemistry would have kept the Heels from winning it that year, even though most of the 1993 national championship team had returned. But with freshmen Jerry Stackhouse, Jeff McInnis and Rasheed Wallace on hand, Dean Smith had a tough time keeping everyone happy. That said, it was Donya Abrams of Boston College slamming point guard Derrick Phelps to the ground that may have prematurely ended UNC’s title defense. Phelps suffered a concussion and UNC missed a shot at the buzzer that would have sent it to the Sweet 16.
2003 – Sean May was having an excellent sophomore season when he broke his foot versus Iona in a tournament at Madison Square Garden just after Christmas. May returned for the ACC Tournament but was quite limited. UNC just missed getting into the NCAA Tournament that season, and a couple of weeks later Matt Doherty was fired.
2005 – Junior wing Rashad McCants came down with a mysterious illness that sidelined him toward the end of the regular season. He played a little in the ACC Tournament and had to rebuild his stamina as the Tar Heels waded through the NCAA Tournament field. UNC won the national title, beating Illinois in the finals, so McCants’ illness didn’t cost them anything except maybe an ACC Tournament title.
2007 – Tyler Hansbrough’s bloody broken nose has become a legendary tale along Tobacco Road even thought it happened just a few years ago. Hansbrough was whacked by Duke’s Gerald Henderson late in a UNC victory. The rough play was called cheap by UNC, especially after seeing Hansbrough’s classic reaction which blood pouring out of his nose. But it affected him, as he wore a mask the next weekend in Tampa at the ACC Tournament. He wore it initially in the NCAA Tournament before tossing it aside and playing the rest of the way without it. UNC lost in the regional finals to Georgetown.
2009 – UNC lost their leader and best defensive player, Marcus
Ginyard, for the season before it even started. An injured toe to point
guard and ACC Player of the Year Ty Lawson kept him from the ACC
Tournament and out of UNC’s first NCAA game. He returned to help UNC
beat LSU and move on to win the national championship.
