NCDS: Steve Robinson, Asst. Coach - North Carolina

By: Steve Robinson, Asst. Coach - North Carolina

February in Chapel Hill usually means winning and looking toward the future as we get ready for the stretch run and the road to the Final Four. This year is different. We are concerned about today and what can be done to improve our team every day. Paramount is how to manage things at the present.

We had a great weekend in mid-February as we celebrated the 100^th year of Carolina Basketball. It was an awesome reunion because of the number of former players who returned - almost 200.

The University did a great job of putting this entire show together. Coach Williams had some ideas of what he wanted and Coach Jerod Haase and Eric Hoots from the basketball staff worked with a lot of folks from the support staff to make it a huge success.

We started with an alumni game that had nearly 70 players participate. Former players from back as early as the 1930s played, including six guys in their 70s and 80s. What a fun time for players and fans. A real neat part of the program was during what normally would be TV timeouts when they conducted interviews with some of the great players who were on hand. Talking to Billy Cunningham, having Phil Ford on the floor talking about the 4 Corners and having Walter Davis shoot the famous shot he made against Duke in 1974. Then they had Jawad Williams and Wayne Ellington debate which team was better - the 2005 national champions or the 2009 champs? That is a great debate that can only be settled on the court on one of those summer nights in a pickup game at the Smith Center.

The alumni game was both entertaining and down to the wire with some stellar plays from both teams. Joe Wolf still has some game and Serge Zwikker filled up the stat sheet. But it came down to the last minute with Donald Williams hitting a jumper to give his team the lead. Then Shammond Williams did a drive and kick to Dewey Burke who unselfishly passed to a wide-open Zwikker for a bucket to give his blue squad the lead. The drama was building and the crowd was roaring for the final play as Shammond played great defense on Donald Williams forcing a tough shot that missed and a Blue team victory. It was a great ending with almost 20,000 fans cheering like it was a real ACC battle. But there were some tired and sore bodies as the game ended.

I certainly can't forget about the halftime recognition and tribute for Coach Dean Smith. Picture this -  all the former players that came back ringed the court during a video about Coach Smith. Then he was escorted to center court by the rest of the 1982 national championship winning coaching staff - Coach Williams, Eddie Fogler and Bill Guthridge (all four of whom later were national coaches of the year). After Coach Smith got to center court, all the former players surrounded him for a chance to say thank you to the "Godfather of Carolina Basketball".

Then after the alumni game ended, about 20 players - only those in attendance whose jerseys hang in the rafters of the Smith Center - passed a ball from one end of the court to the other. It started with Billy Cunningham and ended with Tyler Hansbrough. Tyler laid the ball in, but he told us later that it was the most nervous he'd ever been on a court and I believe him. There were too many All-Americans and National Players of the Year out there for him to miss a gimme!

Saturday was game day with our current team playing host to NC State. Before the tip off we honored Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, stars from last year who had their jerseys hung in the rafters. They were excited and we were so proud of them that they earned this honor during their careers.

Our team fought hard and pulled out a victory despite playing without another injured starter in Ed Davis, our leading shot-blocker and rebounder and second-leading scorer. But we found a way to do our part and get a win in front of the many former players in attendance.

We concluded the weekend with a social and a dinner and about six former players spoke about their time as a Tar Heel. If you asked anyone who attended it was just one fantastic evening. You don't have to be a fan of North Carolina basketball to enjoy this tradition rich evening filled with stars and great players that you have loved, and even hated competing against. I know that many of the players in attendance brought back so many memories for me of days long ago and how much fun it was to play college basketball.

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