THBTHD #006
👋 Welcome back and hope you enjoy the title game tonight.
ICYMI: Jalen Washington landed at Vanderbilt. Maybe he’ll take VAL’s old locker.
Let’s dive in…
1. The lead-off: Hallelujah! Carolina just got a lot bigger
Reed: Hubert Davis said after the Ole Miss loss that Carolina had one job in Portal Season:
“We've got to get bigger. We just do. From A to Z, we just do…In terms of that physicality, you have to have a presence, you have to be bigger.”
Andy: Yep. And so far, we are checking that box.
Jonathan Powell is a 6’7” wing and showed some promise as a freshman at West Virginia (8.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in 30 minutes).
He’ll need to bulk up a bit, but he hit the three at a decent clip (35%), which is the same percentage as RJ this year and would have been fourth best for the roster. If Drake Powell returns, we have to come up with a nickname for both.
Reed: Well, apparently Drake’s nickname is “Clamps,” but, yeah. Maybe we can workshop that.
I am excited though about Jonathan “Nickname to Come” Powell. He gives us that much-needed length and shooting. That said, it’s the other commit that gives me the most hope for next season.
Andy: Me, too. We finally got our true center in Henri Veesaar (not a typo, lots of vowels).
The 7-footer sophomore from Estonia posted nearly 10 points per game in 21 minutes for Arizona last year.
He’s a rim protector, averaging over a block a game, which is something desperately needed in Chapel Hill. We love opening up that Euro pipeline again, not seen much since the days of “Mr. Baseline Jumpshot” Serge Zwikker.
Reed: I’m so intrigued by what these guys could bring, and what’s maybe most exciting is that they’re both young. No “grad transfer” stuff here.
They could both make significant jumps next year. And then we could potentially have them for another year or two.
Andy: Let’s also note that Powell is from West Virginia — the team that griped the most about UNC making the NCAA Tournament over them.
And while Caleb Love went on to have a solid career at Arizona, let’s hope their return player to us in Veesaar can do the same.
Reed: Let’s hope. We all know this is a make-or-break year for this program. The general manager is in place, the money is supposedly there, Davis is established. No more excuses.
And so much of the success may hinge on what happens in the portal. So far, so good though.
2. A send off to one of the greatest to ever do it
Andy: What else can I say about RJ that hasn’t already been said? Unless we suffer through another pandemic, we will never see a guy who contributes that significantly over five seasons.
Reed: He really is the last of a dying breed. To stay your entire career at a single school? That does seem to be going the way of the underhanded free throw.
Andy: You could make an argument that his place on the all-time stats lists deserves an asterisk because of that unique situation, but his ACC Player of the Year season in 23-24 stands alone with the greats.
RJ is the type of player that you can build a team around over time - super skilled and talented but lacking a feature (in this case, size) that would pull him to the League in short order.
Reed: It’s always fascinating to me how players turn out. He was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, and I doubt anyone — maybe including the coaches — thought he’d turn into what he did.
But it’s not always just about skill or height or stats. He just had a toughness and a will that not every player does — never mind how many stars some recruiter gave him.
If Carolina absolutely needed a basket, he went out and got it. And that puts him up there, to me, with Hansbrough and Paige and Berry and Felton and Montross and guys like that.
He’ll be missed.
3. Bonus: RJ by the numbers
🙏 “I’m grateful for putting this jersey on, because not a lot of people get the chance to,” Davis said after his final game against Ole Miss.
And of all the people who ever wore that jersey, Davis ranks among the very best.
A few stats from his storied career…
175 games played. Both a conference and UNC record.
2,725 points: second in UNC history, third in ACC.
140 games scoring double digits. Both UNC and ACC records.
900 field goals made. Second in UNC history.
359 threes made. Most in UNC history.
86.1% from the line. Highest in UNC history.
🩵 And our personal fave stat…
Reed: He never missed a single game in his career. Never. That’s unbelievable and speaks to, not only his conditioning and work ethic, but his supernatural ability to avoid sprained ankles and COVID.
Andy: It’s incredible. In the age of “load management” in the NBA, he will forever be on the All Tough Little Nut Team.
4. Ask Spenser
Each week, former UNC guard Spenser Dalton answers a reader’s question. This week’s comes from anonymous in NC.
Q: What does the team most need to get from the portal?
A: UNC has to ensure this year that they get all the pieces to round out a well-constructed roster.
The commitment from Veesaar is crucial and one of the biggest transfer portal gets in the Hubert Davis era, as Carolina clearly lacked a solid front court presence last year.
Powell should be a nice addition as well as a larger guard with strong three-point shooting and lots of potential. What Drake Powell and Ian Jackson do is important and unknown at the moment, and either of them departing could change who else UNC goes after.
A point guard is the final piece of the position puzzle.
Aside from positioning/skillset, I hope UNC can get a guy who has potent intangibles: a strong voice on court and in the locker room, leadership, and toughness. Think of Paige’s steady leadership, Berry’s toughness, Manek’s energy and emotion — all important pieces to build a great team.
5. This week’s reason why Duke sucks
When we used to do the podcast, we’d end every episode with that week’s reason why Duke sucked. The tradition continues here.
Still can’t believe what we just saw. More than a day later. What. Just. Happened?
Here’s what happened: Duke’s loss to Houston in the Final Four will go down as one of the most insanely improbable, epically heartbreaking, crushingly disappointing choke jobs in the history of the college basketball.
It was that bad.
First, let’s talk about the big picture. Duke was the team of destiny. They walked all over opponents and cruised through the regular season. The were ranked No. 1 by Kenpom.
Their team was stocked with thoroughbreds, including a generational talent who was also the national player of the year and will be the No. 1 NBA pick.
He was supported by — not one — but two other top ten NBA picks.
And they were backed up by three other draft picks.
💰 Now let’s talk about the money. Duke spends far, far more on basketball than other schools — $21 million, or $1,329,949 per player. (Houston spends $11 million.)
And that’s not even including the so-called “dark money” that buoys the program. (More on that next week.)
And none of that cash could stave off a collapse that saw Duke squander a 6-point lead with a bit over a minute left. (The Blue Devils had a 92.7% chance of winning with 1:14 left on the clock, according to ESPN.)
None of that cash could help Proctor make a clutch free throw.
None of it could help the team inbound the ball.
None of it could will Cooper Flagg to make a last-second turnaround.
We said this a couple weeks back. This title was Duke’s to lose, and if they didn’t take it, it would go down as one of the biggest wastes of talent ever. But don’t take our word for it. Let’s check in on the Duke message boards:
👍 We’ll leave it there. Enjoy your week, and we’ll see you next Monday.
And remember: Hit us up. Send your comments and questions to thbthd@gmail.com.
Go Heels!