ESPN Men's Basketball

Former North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall didn’t just break his wrist during his team’s NCAA tournament victory over Creighton. He fractured his elbow, too, he revealed in an interview with the IMG Basketball Academy Blog:

“My wrist is almost 100 percent. What people didn’t know is that I also fractured my elbow. That’s been the toughest thing for me to deal with, still not being able to go full contact. Hopefully, I’ll be ready to go by the Combine.”

Marshall, the pass-first sophomore who went on to win the Cousy Award, had to watch from the bench in street clothes and a wrist splint as his team beat Ohio, then ultimately lost to Kansas in the NCAA Regional Finals. After the season, he joined fellow UNC underclassmen Harrison Barnes and John Henson in choosing to leave school early for the NBA draft. Teammate Tyler Zeller, who graduated earlier this month, is also expected to be a first round draft pick.

When did Marshall know he would be a pro? He told the website:

"The end of my freshman year of college. I felt like I was pretty good, but people started asking me after my freshman year if I was coming back. I was like, 'Where would I go?' It didn’t even occur to me."

In anticipation of becoming a pro, Marshall is working out at IMG academies. In the interview, he also addressed meeting President Obama, the best advice he’s ever received and playing Duke. He had this to say about Twitter haters:

"In season, I get anywhere from 15-25 Tweets per day of just pure recklessness. Keeping it PG, it’s stuff like 'You suck' and 'You can’t shoot.' Now, it’s 'You’re overrated' and 'You’re not going to get drafted high.' Even some Carolina fans come at me sideways now because I left school early. Maybe one every couple days I’ll give them a sarcastic response. You have to be able to laugh because these people don’t understand that you’re human and not on a pedestal.

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ESPN Recruiting Nation updated its recruiting rankings Thursday for upcoming incoming classes, and North Carolina has two 2013 commitments ranked in the top 25 of the ESPN 100.

• Isaiah Hicks, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Oxford, N.C., is now rated No. 10 -- up a spot from the previous rankings. He verbally committed to the Tar Heels last August.
• Meanwhile, Nate Britt, a 6-1 point guard from Washington, D.C., who verbally committed to UNC last November, comes in at No. 21.

Jabari Parker, a 6-8 small forward from Chicago whose offer list includes UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State and Illinois, is No. 1 on the 2013 ESPN Top 100. ESPN Recruiting Nation’s Mitch Sherman writes that Parker has not yet narrowed his list as to which schools he will visit.

For the 2014 ESPN (top) 60, click here.

And the 2015 ESPN 25 can be found here.

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The North Carolina-Kentucky series isn’t done. Apparently, it’s just on hiatus.

After taking a break next season from the game that has been played for the past dozen years, Kentucky coach John Calipari announced Wednesday on his website, CoachCal.com, that the matchup will resume in 2013-14:

We are adding North Carolina back to the schedule for the 2013-14 season. The game will be played opposite of our Louisville series (when we play Louisville at home, we’ll play North Carolina on the road, and vice versa). Roy Williams and I both agreed this was a good year to take a break. We both look forward to continuing this series in 2013-14 for two more years and beyond.

The Wildcats are scheduled to play Louisville at home in '13-14, meaning UNC will host Kentucky the first year the series resumes.

In addressing UK fans -- many still displeased that that Indiana series won't continue -- Calipari emphasized the need to create "experiences," and not just games, within the schedule. He also stressed the importance of playing in neutral-site football venues each season to prepare for the NCAA tournament.

Perhaps that's why the UNC game might not be the only blue battle on the Wildcats’ slate. Wrote Calipari:.

I am currently in conversations with Coach K of Duke for a multi-year, neutral-based series that will be played around the country in the best facilities. The games would take place on the same weekend every year and would be THE GAME to watch.

Considering the Blue Devils are UNC’s chief rival, and that UNC-UK has often been early-season must-see TV in recent years, expect that last statement to tweak North Carolina fans a bit.

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North Carolina’s 2012-13 schedule will include trips to Indiana, Texas and Long Beach State, and as Adam Lucas points out in Tar Heel Monthly, that isn’t anything new for the Tar Heels since Roy Williams took over as head coach. Writes Lucas:

Unlike some other schools, Williams has always been willing to play true road games as part of his nonconference schedule. The Tar Heels have played 22 such games--which doesn't count games like Rutgers in Madison Square Garden, Texas in Arlington, or Valpo in Chicago--during his nine seasons in Chapel Hill. They're 15-7 in those games, which might deserve some of the credit for Carolina's stellar ACC road record (Williams's ACC road winning percentage is .667, tied for the best mark in league history) during that same stretch. By the time the Tar Heels venture into the first conference foe's gym, they've already been through a road test.

Williams has always tried to be careful, though, about how he schedules for different teams. For more seasoned squads, he prefers stronger tests (and said often last season that he wishes he could have played Texas on the road to try to toughen up a month-long nine-game home stretch). He tends to be a little more careful with younger teams, like the one he’ll groom next season after the loss of four starters.

The Tar Heels faced similar turnover under Williams after their national titles in 2005 and 2009, and for anticipation’s sake, it’s interesting to note what true non-conference road games were scheduled for the 2006 and 2010 teams, and how they fared:

2005-06

At Kentucky, Won 83-79
At USC, Lost 74-59
Final Record: 23-8 (12-4 ACC), lost in second round of NCAA tournament

2009-10

At Kentucky Lost 68-66
At College of Charleston Lost 82-79
Final Record: 20-10 (5-11 ACC), lost in NIT championship game

(It should also be noted that in March 2010, the Tar Heels went on to win games at Mississippi State and UAB, but that was during the postseason NIT.)

It’s going to be key to see how next year’s squad – which lost stars Tyler Zeller, John Henson, Kendall Marshall and Harrison Barnes, but gains a strong freshmen class led by point guard Marcus Paige -- responds to its early non-conference road trips (as well as its games in the Maui Invitational). Because it doesn’t get any easier once the ACC season rolls around. The Tar Heels travel to always-hostile Duke, NC State and Florida State, as well as Georgia Tech (the site of some bad losses during the Williams era), Boston College, Clemson, Miami and Virginia.

As Lucas noted, the point of going to Texas and Long Beach State (as well as Indiana, which is part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge) is to try to prepare the team for the rigors of conference play. Will they thrive? Survive? Melt down? Those early results, as we’ve seen before, could got a long way toward impacting the late ones.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

Some Tar Heels hoops-related stories, notes and quotes from the weekend (and late last week, because I took a couple of days off):

A-PLUS FOR INCOMING CLASS: Last week, RecruitingNation handed out its grades for the 2012 incoming recruiting classes, and ESPN’s Paul Biancardi gave the Tar Heels an A-plus. For the full ACC list of grades, click here , but here are his thoughts on UNC:

North Carolina Tar Heels (Grade: A+)

The bad news is the Tar Heels lost Kendall Marshall, Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes and John Henson. The good news is they are bringing in a class to help soften the blow. UNC's incoming class has athletic and talented four-year players, who will be needed immediately and will have the benefit of growing together over time. Coach Roy Williams has secured some outstanding floor generals in his career, and now we can add Marcus Paige (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar) to that prestigious list. The lefty can push the pace with the best of them or execute in the half-court set. Center Joel James (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Dwyer) will bring needed muscle and an inside presence to the Tar Heels. He has demonstrated the ability to outrun opponents and finish plays at the rim on offense and protect the rim on defense. Small forward J.P. Tokoto (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) is a long, slender and athletic finisher who will fit well in Carolina's transition game. Overall, this class will be the foundation of future success for UNC.

NC State received the only other A-plus in the ACC, by the way, while Duke earned an A and Maryland, Virginia and Wake Forest all received A-minuses.

Overall, UNC finished seventh in RecruitingNation’s rankings .

ACC TOURNEY TOO BIG? Brett Friedlander of The Wilmington Star-News thinks the decision to include all 14 teams in the ACC tournament (once there are 14 teams in the ACC) will be too much of a good thing, especially because it means adding a fifth day to the event. He notes that recently, weekend games weren’t even sellouts.

He writes:

There aren’t many options given the number of schools involved. Personally, I’d like to see the tournament eliminated altogether. As much as I still love it and look forward to going every year, the thing has long outlived its usefulness.

So instead, extend the regular season another week and have each team play 20 league games. That would allow everyone to face opponents in their own division twice each season (using the same alignment as football) and once against everyone else. The extra game would be against a permanent partner from the other division, an arrangement that would allow North Carolina and N.C. State to continue their home-and-home rivalry.

Since that’s not likely to happen, here’s a more plausible solution: Weed out the field before the tournament ever starts by only allowing the top eight teams in the regular-season standings to qualify. They already do it in baseball.

Such a format would return the tournament to a compact three-day celebration without all the crappy early games to bog things down. If that’s too radical a plan, then the league can simply stay with its current 12-team bracket, eliminating only the two last-place teams.

THIS AND THAT: Former UNC wing Danny Green is living his dream in the NBA playoffs, Bret Strelow of The Fayetteville Observer wrote last week. … NBA scouts aren’t doubting Harrison Barnes, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. … Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog reports that recruit Troy Williams, who had narrowed his list to UNC and Kentucky, has expanded it to also include Louisville, Florida, South Carolina and Georgetown.

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The ACC men's basketball tournament will include all 14 teams once Syracuse and Pittsburgh join the league in 2013 or 2014. In addition, the tournament will expand to one more day, the league decided at its annual spring meetings -- with the lowest four seeds playing on the opening Wednesday.

"There were a number of models that we looked at," ACC associate commissioner Karl Hicks said during a phone interview after the meetings concluded Wednesday. "We shared them with the coaches. ... We looked at different models -- one where we had four games on the Wednesday, and two games on Thursday. It was important to do our due diligence, but we wound up with the 11, 12, 13 and 14 seeds playing on the first day."

Hicks said there are still plenty of details to be resolved as far as the expanded tournament, such a tickets and start times for the games. But he was pleased that the league "moved the needle forward" as far as planning.

Other topics discussed among the basketball coaches included strength of nonconference scheduling, transfer rules and pending NCAA legislation, Hicks said.

He also said the coaches would like to look, sooner rather than later, at the three-year rotation of conference schedules, which will go into effect once Syracuse and Pitt join the league.

"The coaches asked that that be developed over the course of the summer, and that it be approved at the AD's meeting in October so that they know, on a year-to-year basis, what their conference schedule will look like," he said.

As ESPN.com's Andy Katz wrote last week, next year's 18-game conference schedule is not part of that rotation.

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Kentucky is out. Indiana (via the ACC/Big Ten Challenge) is in.

And it looks like a couple of former Tar Heels are coming back.

North Carolina’s full 2012-13 basketball schedule won’t be released until later this summer, but here’s what we know so far:

• The Tar Heels are in negotiations to play UAB at the Smith Center. A contract has not been signed yet, team spokesman Steve Kirschner said Monday, but the game will mean a return for former UNC assistant coach Jerod Haase, who left Chapel Hill after last season to become head coach in Birmingham.
• UNC will also play East Carolina (coached by former UNC player Jeff Lebo), Gardner-Webb, and UNLV at the Smith Center.
• True road games will be at the Hoosiers, at Texas and at Long Beach State (on the way to the Maui Invitational).
• As for the Maui Invitational, that field will include Butler, Texas, Illinois, Marquette, Southern Cal, Mississippi State and Chaminade.
• And in the expanded 18-game ACC schedule, North Carolina will play NC State, Duke and Maryland twice, as well as Clemson once on the road, ESPN.com's Andy Katz reported. In addition, according to The News & Observer, UNC will play Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami and Virginia twice, plus Virginia Tech and Wake Forest at home and Boston College on the road.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

Some Tar Heels hoops-related stories, notes and quotes from the weekend:

UNC FOURTH IN ATTENDANCE: For the fifth year in a row, the average attendance for Division I men’s basketball games fell in 2011-12.

But for the second year in a row, North Carolina’s rose.

UNC finished fourth in 2012 men’s basketball attendance, according to NCAA figures released last week, behind Kentucky, Syracuse and Louisville.

The Tar Heels drew 362,867 fans over 18 home games, an average of 20,159 per contest.

Attendance at the Smith Center had taken a sharp dip in 2009-10, the season UNC followed a national title with a trip to the postseason NIT. But attendance has been on the rise since then. A look at the Tar Heels’ numbers over the past five seasons:

Season, Average fans (Home games)

• 2011-12: 20,159 (18)
• 2010-11: 19,114 (15)
• 2009-10: 17,786 (19)
• 2008-09: 21,035 (15)
• 2007-08: 20,097 (15)

SOURCE: UNC

WEAR ON DREW: Many Tar Heels fans have tried to forget about/ignore both the Wear twins and Larry Drew II, who opted to transfer to UCLA (the twins after the 2009-10 season, Drew in the middle of 2010-11). But it might be a little bit harder now, as Drew will be eligible to play for the Bruins next season, re-joining his former teammates on the court.

Travis Wear, for one, seems to think Drew -- who left UNC four games after he was replaced by then-freshman Kendall Marshall in the starting lineup -- can make a difference for his new team. From his Q&A with ESPN.com’s Jason King:

You and Larry Drew both started your careers at North Carolina before transferring to UCLA. What about him gives you confidence that he can impact this team as a point guard?

TW: Larry is one of the quickest players I’ve ever played with or seen play. His ability to get into the lane and make good decisions is really going to help. It’s really going to help the guys who can step out and shoot, because he’s really good at penetrating, drawing the defense and then kicking it out to the open man. In transition, he’s a great passer. He’s very good at creating for others.

MORE ON SCHEDULING: As we reported Friday, the Tar Heels will play NC State, Maryland and permanent partner Duke home-and-home next season, as well as Clemson on the road. The News & Observer filled out UNC's 18-game league schedule list. Wrote Andrew Carter:

In addition to N.C. State, North Carolina will play Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami and Virginia twice. The Tar Heels will face Virginia Tech and Wake Forest once, both at home. They will play Boston College and Clemson once, both on the road.

ZELLER GRADUATES: ACC Player of the Year Tyler Zeller officially graduated over the weekend. Here's the picture he posted to yfrog.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

When the ACC announced in February that basketball was expanding to an 18-game conference schedule, there was plenty of scuttlebutt around Tobacco Road when folks realized that meant rivals North Carolina and NC State would only play once during some regular seasons.

But apparently, that won’t happen until after 2012-13, at least.

NC State coach Mark Gottfried told ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz that his team’s schedule will include home-and-home games with UNC next season. The Tar Heels will also play Maryland twice and Clemson once (on the road), according to Katz’s story.

The full schedule -- and which teams will play which once or twice -- has not yet been released, but ACC associate commissioner Karl Hicks sent a mock-up of the matchups to coaches earlier this season. The scheduling is expected to be a hot topic during the ACC spring meetings, which begin Sunday in Amelia Island, Fla.

“Mine’s not easy," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon told Katz of his team's slate. “But I don’t know how else you could do it."

Once the ACC officially expands to 14 teams by adding Pittsburgh and Syracuse (either in 2013-14 or 2014-15), the league’s new scheduling model will be based on a three-year cycle. Primary partners (UNC is paired with Duke) will play home and away each season. The other 12 teams will rotate in groups of four, with each team playing one group home-and-away; one group at home only, and one group on the road only.

That means UNC and NC State, which have met at least twice a year since the ACC was founded, will face off only once during some regular seasons.

Because the league will still have only 12 teams next season, though, Hicks had to come up with a stand-alone league schedule during which each team will play seven foes home-and-home, and then the other four only once -- two at home and two on the road.

“I traded Virginia Tech for Duke twice and Clemson for Florida State twice," said Gottfried, who will also play set rival North Carolina twice. “TV looked at our team and thought we’d be good."

Indeed, Hicks consulted with TV partner ESPN before ultimately deciding on its own schedule, Katz wrote:

“Television had input in some of the matchups and I balanced it with competitive equity where we thought our teams would be,’’ said Hicks. “It’s a one-year off. There is no rotation here. I’ve balanced it competitively. I’ve talked to a lot of people. I didn’t do it unilaterally. But I know the conference, and the players coming in and the teams as well as anybody.’’

That said, having the Tar Heels and Wolfpack play twice seems like a no-brainer -- not just because of the longstanding rivalry, but because both are already being projected as top-15 teams next season.

Hicks also told Katz that the conference schedule will start in January with no need to stretch into December.

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Lennie Rosenbluth, the 6-foot-5 big man who led North Carolina to a 32-0 record in 1957, will be inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday night.

The former National Player of the Year, who moved back to Chapel Hill in 2010 and has become a staple in the crowd at many Tar Heels home games, told Harold Gutmann of the Durham Herald-Sun that UNC’s undefeated season helped basketball gain stature around the state and country:

“Every game got bigger and bigger as we were undefeated,” Rosenbluth said. “Maybe they weren’t North Carolina fans, but I think the whole state was rooting for us to keep on winning. After that they went back to being Wake fans and State fans, but I think everybody became big basketball fans.”

The season ended with back-to-back triple-overtime wins in the Final Four. Rosenbluth had 20 points in the 54-53 championship game victory over Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas.

“Everybody always says, ‘Weren’t you tired?'” Rosenbluth said. “No, you practice for two hours. The games are 40 minutes. Even if you have overtimes, it’s still not two hours of running up and down the court. It’s easier to play a game.

“And a lot of people ask us did you have any stress during the season? We didn’t have any stress. The people who had stress were the people listening to the games on the radio, trying to figure out if we’re going to get beat.”

The grandfather of six still holds multiple school records, including most points in a season (895) and highest scoring averages (28.0 in a season, 26.9 career).

He joins a plethora of other UNC players who have previously been inducted into the NCSHOF, including Pete Brennan, a teammate on that ’57 squad.

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Last week, recruit Troy Williams delayed announcing whether he would play for North Carolina or Kentucky, beginning in 2013-14.

Now, apparently, he’s decided to expand the list of schools he is considering.

The 6-foot-6 small forward -- currently ranked sixth in the 2013 ESPNU Super 60 -- told Josh Paunil of National Recruiting Spotlight:

“We’ll probably let two more schools back in, just to see what else is out there,” Williams said. “It’s probably going to be between Florida, Villanova, Georgetown and Louisville. It will probably be Georgetown and Florida.”

He had previously trimmed the Hoyas from his list.

Williams told NRS he knew which program he wanted to commit to last week, but after discussing it with his uncle, Boo Williams, “we both didn’t feel too comfortable with it.” The deciding factor, he added, will ultimately be which head coach he likes more.

“I care about my relationship with the head coaches, not just the assistants. It all depends on the coaching staff.”

He also has an idea of which coaches he likes the most. “It would be the Kentucky coaches because before the dead period I stayed in touch with [Kentucky assistant] coach Orland [Antigua] the most,” Williams added.

He told NRS he would make his choice after the AAU season.

Williams, who is from Hampton, Va., would be another strong edition to the Tar Heels' still-building 2013 class. Two recruits -- five-star power forward Isaiah Hicks, and four-star point guard Nate Britt -- gave verbal commitments to UNC last year. But Williams also plays a position where he could have plenty of other talent vying for minutes at shooting guard/small forward should he choose the Tar Heels. Barring any early entries to the NBA, wing Reggie Bullock would be a senior in 2013-14, Leslie McDonald would be a redshirt senior, P.J. Hairston would be a junior and J.P. Tokoto would be a sophomore.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

ESPN.com NBA Insider Chad Ford on Tuesday ranked his top 10 draft prospects by position, and North Carolina’s quartet all made the list. For his full top 10 by position, click here , but here’s how he rated the Tar Heels:

• At point guard, UNC sophomore Kendall Marshall ranked second -- just below Weber State’s Damian Lillard, and just ahead of Washington’s Tony Wroten.
• Sophomore Harrison Barnes was second among the small forwards, behind Kentucky freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and above Baylor’s Quincy Miller.
• Junior John Henson was sixth among the power forwards, behind UK’s Anthony Davis, Kansas junior Thomas Robinson, Baylor’s Perry Jones III, Kentucky’s Terrence Jones and Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger.
• And Tar Heels senior Tyler Zeller was second among the centers, behind only Connecticut’s Andre Drummond.

Earlier this month, Ford projected that the UNC quartet could all go in the top 11 picks of the draft.

All of this is subject to change, of course, considering the Chicago pre-draft combine is still weeks away.

Thoughts?

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said through a team spokesman Tuesday that he is not concerned that basketball players made up about 3 percent of the students enrolled in classes in which an internal school review found unauthorized grade changes and little or no instruction by professors.

The players were eligible to be enrolled in those classes, just like any other student, he said through the spokesman, and they did the work. Associate Vice President for University Relations Nancy Davis confirmed to espn.com what The (Raleigh) News & Observer first reported Tuesday: football and basketball players represented 39 percent of the enrollment in the 54 courses in the Department of African and Afro-American studies in which the internal investigation produced evidence of unauthorized grade changes, and little or no instruction by professors.

During the review period (summer 2007 through summer 2011), she said in an email, there were 23 basketball enrollments, and 246 football enrollments in the suspect classes. (Note: one player could have enrolled in more than one class, so that doesn’t necessarily mean 23 basketball players were involved). The UNC internal review stemmed from the two-year-long NCAA investigation into impermissible benefits and academic fraud in the football program.

Wrote Dan Kane of The N&O:

University officials say they found no evidence that the suspect classes were part of a plan between [Julius] Nyang’oro [the department’s chairman, who was listed as the professor of 45 of the suspect classes] and the athletic department to create classes that student-athletes could pass so they could maintain their eligibility. They said student-athletes were treated no differently in the classes than students who were not athletes.

But the high percentages of student-athletes in the classes suggest to some that academic advisers, tutors and others in the athletic department may have guided them to the classes.

“These kids are putting in enormous amounts of time, and in at least some of the sports that are very physically demanding, they are missing a number of classes because of conflicts, and then if they are a marginal student to begin with, you’ve got to send them to Professor Nyang’oro’s class,” said former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr. “I think the academic counselors realized that and the tutors recognized it, and frankly the folks up the food chain for the most part recognized it. But nobody wants to rock the boat, because it’s big money.”

Again: the report UNC released Friday concluded that there wasn’t any evidence that athletes received preferential treatment in these classes, and no one received a grade without doing work. The breakdown in the department appears to have affected both athletes and non-athletes, and that’s a key consideration when it comes to NCAA rules.

UNC System President Tom Ross said in a statement to The N&O that he saw no need to look further into the academic improprieties.

“I believe that this was an isolated situation and that the campus has taken appropriate steps to correct problems and put additional safeguards in place,” Ross said in the statement.

Some Tar Heels hoops-related stories, notes and quotes from the weekend:

BULLOCK’S TIME? North Carolina wing Reggie Bullock didn’t watch the Final Four, he told Stephen Schramm of The Fayetteville Observer:

"It's just crazy, knowing that if our team was healthy, everybody was on the same page, it would have been a totally different season," Bullock told the newspaper.

As Schramm’s early UNC 2012-13 preview points out, Bullock will be key to next season. He averaged 9.1 points after he replaced injured Dexter Strickland in the starting lineup, and he displayed a plethora of improvements during UNC’s overtime win over Ohio in the NCAA tournament regional semifinals, where he recorded a key double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds).

"It was all about stepping up when your time comes," Bullock told the newspaper.

Bullock's time could be here now. With [Tyler] Zeller, [John] Henson, [Harrison] Barnes and [Kendall] Marshall gone, he enters the 2012-13 season as one of the Tar Heels' few givens. On a team loaded with perimeter options, his spot seems secure.

If the Tar Heels are to end next season on a positive note, his continued development will likely be a main factor.

Another focus for the team, Schramm adds, will be on freshman point guard Marcus Paige.

CROWDED RACE NEXT SEASON? North Carolina and/or Duke has won the ACC regular season, and/or the ACC tournament, in 14 of the last 16 years. But Barry Jacobs at ACCsports.com writes that there could be a more crowded race for first place next season.

The season just completed saw UNC (14-2), Duke (13-3) and FSU (12-4) compete for first until the end. That was a welcome departure from form. In the 21 years since the Seminoles entered the league, only six seasons (28.6 percent) saw that many teams finish within two wins of the top.

Such inclusiveness figures to continue, if not to expand. Duke will be in search of its errant defensive mojo, while UNC must replace four starters. The 2012-13 season could resemble 1995, when four teams tied for first place at 12-4, or 2007, when Virginia and UNC tied for first at 11-5 and the trio of BC, Maryland and Virginia Tech came in third at 10-6.

The challenger gaining the most attention? NC State, which was boosted by C.J. Leslie’s decision not to turn pro early. Plus, the Wolfpack boasts a playmaker at point guard, Jacobs writes:

After Marshall, the Pack’s Lorenzo Brown was the league’s most valuable and impressive floor leader in 2012. Brown, an all-purpose guard learning to fit his team’s most central role, finished second in the ACC in assists. His 6.4 per game would have paced the league in 2010 or 2011. His presence immediately elevates State’s prospects and sets his team apart.

“TOUGH DUDE” DAVIS: Although the hiring of Hubert Davis as UNC’s new basketball assistant last week was a whirlwind surprise, it garnered a lot of support from the people who know him best.

Jay Bilas, who worked alongside him at ESPN, told Andrew Carter at The Raleigh News & Observer that Davis’ lack of formal coaching experience won’t hinder him:

“Hubert knows the game backwards and forwards,” Bilas told the paper “… He’s been successful on every level. He’s spent his whole life around the game. He’s been influenced by a whole bunch of different coaches … (And) it doesn’t get much better than playing for Dean Smith.”

Also:

“Hubert’s a tough dude,” Bilas said. “He’s quick to smile, and he’s unbelievably, unfailingly polite. But he’s a tough guy. He was not a highly recruited player and wound up being an all-ACC player at North Carolina. … And he’s succeeded at everything he’s ever done by putting his head down and going to work.”

A POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR?: Speaking of Davis, ESPN.com senior college basketball reporter Andy Katz wondered Friday whether the former UNC guard and NBA veteran might someday be the one to succeed Roy Williams at UNC. He made some good points:

Hubert Davis wasn’t looking to become a head coach. But once he’s on the North Carolina staff he will become a potential contender for the job if he is a success as an assistant. Think about it: What natural North Carolina offspring is out there that would be the heir apparent to Roy Williams? There is no slam dunk and Williams’ current staff came with him from Kansas and wasn’t part of the Dean Smith lineage. It’s not a reach to consider Davis as a possible head coach if he wants to continue this career. He hasn’t started yet but he is part of the Carolina royalty and it is a job that must/will be kept in house.

Williams has said he’d like to coach another six to 10 years, so it does pose an interesting possibility.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams received interest from at least 14 former Tar Heels players about his assistant coaching vacancy.

But in order to get the guy he wanted -- former UNC guard and ESPN college basketball analyst Hubert Davis -- Williams called him.

“Coach Williams asked me to come into his office; he wanted to ask me a favor,’’ Davis told ESPN.com Thursday evening. “I thought he was calling me in to change the dates of my camp [a Christian basketball camp he runs each year at UNC]. … But when I went into the office, he said, ‘I have a really big favor.’ I said, ‘OK, what is it, Coach?’ He said, ‘I want you to be an assistant coach on my staff.’

"I said, ‘What?’ It was a total surprise.”

But a welcome one. It took only a matter of days for Davis -- who spent a dozen years in the NBA, and the previous seven at ESPN -- to be named the successor to Jerod Haase, who left UNC to become head coach at UAB. Davis' contract details have not yet been released by the school, but he joins a veteran staff that came to Chapel Hill with Williams from Kansas nine seasons ago.

“I’ve always wanted to coach,’’ Davis said. “And I think any player at Carolina would want to come back to Carolina. I didn’t think anybody from the staff would ever leave, and I didn’t think if anybody would leave, that the first person Coach Williams would call would be me. And so I never entertained that thought process, but when he asked me, then and there, it was something I wanted to do.”

Davis, who was still trying to get used to being called “Coach” just 25 hours after he was hired, addressed an array of other topics during the telephone interview:

When was the meeting with Coach Williams?

Hubert Davis: Maybe three days ago, four days ago. It really has happened fast. This was the last year on my contract with ESPN, and myself and my agent at that point had not started re-negotiating for another contract. But I had said if ESPN wanted me back, that was the place that I intended to go back and work. I’ve enjoyed the last seven years, but I just didn’t want to pass up this opportunity. This was something I thought I should do, I felt great about it, and it gives me more time at home which I need and love, with my kids being 5, 8 and 10.

When did the coaching bug hit you?

HD: I’ve always wanted to coach, and the reason why is I love basketball, I love teaching basketball, I love kids, I love relationships. That’s what I’ve wanted to do. But it had to fit my family; that’s first. Would I have taken the same job at Kentucky? No. Would I have taken the same job at Texas or Kansas? No. I took this job because I wanted to do this, I felt like … this worked for my family. I live here, my kids don’t have to change schools, everything just worked.

Do you know what your specific duties will be, yet? Will you coach the junior varsity team?

HD: I won’t coach JV this year, but that’s something in the future I’d like to do. I think that would be really neat, and right now, I want to just be a sponge and just soak up everything. I’ve never been a coach before, so I want to learn. I want to learn everything. So my responsibilities will be from A to Z, and I’m excited about that.

In the future, if there’s an opportunity to coach the JV team, I think that’s going to be awesome, as well, in terms of growing and learning how to be a coach. Because I think there’s a huge difference: As an assistant coach, you make suggestions. As a head coach, you get to run practice and make decisions.

Is the ultimate goal for you to be a head coach someday?

HD: There is no ultimate goal. The goal is to be the best assistant coach to Roy Williams that I can be. I’ve never set goals like that. When I came to Carolina, I never said I wanted to be an All-American, or average a certain amount of points. Never in the NBA, did I say, ‘I want to do this, I want to do that.’ At ESPN, I never said, ‘I want to get the 'GameDay' show.’ I never did that. All I always said was, ‘Whatever I’m doing, I just want to prepare every day.’ And that’s what I want to do in coaching. I want to prepare; I want to work hard. And I want to learn. And where ever that takes me, I’m fine. I just want to enjoy the ride.

How will your broadcast experience help you in coaching?

HD: I think it could be great, because I’ve been to so many different practices, so many different shoot-arounds, been around so many different coaches and players. Just seeing how different programs run. A lot of things that I’ve heard from coaches -- coaches that have gone to television, and then have gone back to coaching -- [is that] they feel like they’re a better coach because they felt like they had an opportunity to go to different programs, and see how different coaches relate to players.

So I think the experience of going all around the country, and seeing all these different personalities and what it takes to be successful, I think that will really help me in terms of scouting. Because our job every "GameDay" was to know every Division I team, to know their strengths and their weaknesses. And that’s something I’m going to have to deal with on a daily basis -- but geared toward North Carolina.

How do you think you can help this particular North Carolina team right off the bat?

HD: That’s my goal, is to just help. Yes, I’m ‘Coach Davis,’ I am a coach, but I don’t look at myself as a coach. I look at myself as helping these kids. And that’s something I’m going to tell each one of the players when I have a chance to meet with them: My job is to help them, and my job is to help them become the best basketball player they can become, and my job when they’re ready to leave North Carolina, is to help them be ready to go out in the world. And whatever I say, and everything I do, I promise it’s for your benefit.

The four years that I was there [at UNC] -- I always dreamed of going to Carolina. And my experience far exceeded what I dreamed it would be, not just as a basketball player, but as a student, as well. And I want those guys to have that same experience. I want James Michael McAdoo and Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland, I want those guys wanting in the offseason to come back to Chapel Hill because it's the place that they have loved, and the place where coaches have always wanted to help them. And I want that for every player, for the time I’m there.

When do you officially start, and what’s next?

HD: I’ll start sometime next week; I don’t know the specific date, but it will be soon. And then I’ve got to get acclimated. This is the first time I’ve ever had an office, so I guess I have to go decorate my office and go figure that out. Then probably the next step is take the NCAA Compliance Test, pass that so I can go out and recruit. And then graduation comes up soon, and the kids come back for the first session of summer school, and that will be an opportunity to really get to know them -- so by the time August comes around, I’ll be ready to go.

It's been a whirlwind, but I am excited.

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.