NCDS: Steve Robinson, Asst. Coach - North Carolina
By: Steve Robinson, Asst. Coach - North Carolina
It's a great day to be a Tar Heel! The Season is well underway. A lot of exciting moments are both behind us and in front of us. We closed out the fall recruiting with a bang receiving three National Letters of Intent from a very talented group of young men. Kendall Marshall from Bishop O'Connell in Virginia, Reggie Bullock from Kinston High School in North Carolina and Harrison Barnes from Ames, Iowa. They are a very special and talented group of young men.
The season is now in full swing for this first semester. We picked up some early wins at home and a big win over a very good Ohio State team in Madison Square Garden. We followed that up with a loss to Syracuse in the championship game of the Coaches vs Cancer. The road trip to New York will prove to be a valuable experience to our team as we try to teach them the ABC's of college basketball, especially our freshmen.
It was a great experience for us to be together on the road, Traveling by charter reminded them to bring their id's and their books - we do have study hall on the road. That's another reason why our Academic Progress Rate was one of the best of all teams in the NCAA Tournament last season. On the road there are lots of scouting reports and watching film. We can really get some work done on the road.
Playing Ohio St. on a Thursday with a 9:00pm tip and then a Friday game for the championship really leaves little time for preparation. We go over the scouting report, watch some film and do some work on the floor, then it's game time before you know it. This was a good learning experience for our guys because if we make the NCAA Tournament, the turnaround from one game to the next is quick, just not this quick. So this will help us with the ACC Tournament, as well. It's all about learning!
Coach Williams had surgery on the day after our win over Gardner Webb, so that meant he missed a practice for the first time in 22 years as a head coach. I was in charge of practice on Nov. 25. At times I wanted to pinch myself because I was running practice at the University of North Carolina. That was good stuff! I was pumped being on the practice floor instructing the guys, moving from one area to another, ending a drill and then beginning another one. I wanted to keep a good flow, and encourage them to work hard. I can tell you that life as an assistant is easy compared to what the head coach has to do. Fortunately, I have run my own practices before and the experience was not something that was new to me.
Coach Williams is back on his feet now but still has months of rehab and recovery ahead of him. But this has given me a couple of great days as the guy in charge of conducting the entire practice from start to finish. There is so much teaching that we have to do with this group, getting the point across that we have to continue to get better at all phases of the game.
We have a big stretch of games ahead of us including the ACC-Big Ten matchup vs Michigan State, going to Kentucky for our first true road game and then another big game playing Texas in Dallas at the Cowboys new football stadium.
So until next month Happy Holidays!
