Unrealistic Expectations

By Ray Glier

It is difficult to understand what has transpired at North Carolina this season, until we realize the expectations heaped on young players are sometimes simply unrealistic.

Larry Drew did not have the offensive skill for the ACC, after all.

Harrison Barnes clearly does not have the explosiveness to be an All-American as a mere teenager.

It’s not their fault. It’s ours. They were going to North Carolina, a holy place in basketball, so we assumed great things. The Tar Heels are 16-5, which is a nice record, but this is far, far from among the best Carolina teams.

I watched Drew in a dreadful game the Tar Heels played against Georgia Tech and all he could contribute was above average man-to-man defense. That’s fine, except he is a point guard and need to keep the floor spaced and get the ball to the right shooter.

Drew could not do that. He tried. There was no chemistry on offense and he was not relevant to any set the Tar Heels ran.

Recently, Drew was getting assists, but the scoring wasn’t there and his minutes shrunk. He lost his starting job. Three weeks ago, a sportswriter colleague predicted that as soon as Roy Williams, the Carolina coach, pulled Drew from the starting lineup, Drew would be done for the season.

He was right. Drew is transferring. He didn’t let anybody down; he’s just moving on.

Then consider the case of Barnes, the freshman forward from Iowa. He was the subject of an intense recruiting battle before choosing Carolina over Duke.

Barnes was picked as AP All-American at the start of the season. That was a mistake. He is not among the top 20 players in the country, even with a recent scoring outburst (51 points in two games).

That’s not his fault. It’s ours.

Barnes over-matched high school players, but in the ACC there were athletes that could stay in front of him and get on the rim with him. He was shooting 40 percent from the field. He looks less explosive than advertised.

We were expecting robots in Carolina blue and we got kids with flaws. Drew and Barnes not playing up to our expectations is not their fault.

It’s ours.