How HB2 and “The Greatest Scandal EVER” BENEFITTED UNC Basketball’s Current Success.
Despite his bellyachin’ and incessant whining would HoFer Roy Williams and UNCCH be in back-to-back Final Fours WITHOUT HB2 a/k/a “The Bathroom Bill”; and/or without TGU / “The Great Unpleasantness” – a/k/a The Greatest College Athletic / Academic Flim Flam in Recorded History? I say NO they likely would not be.
Feel free to exercise your right to a dissenting opinion; but don’t expect to change mine.
Of the two notorious signature elements – HB2 and TGU – certainly TGU has had a far greater impact on UNC Athletics especially UNC Mens’ Basketball. There are “youngsters” in the 3rd 
grade today who have never known a world without the embarrassing cloud of scandal seemingly permanently settled o’er fabled Franklin Street and its once pristine image of institutional purity. SPLATT!
It would not be incorrect to say that HB2 has had ZIP ZERO NADA effect on college basketball within the State of North Carolina despite both Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams being used as gullible pawns by the gender terrorists and rabid activists within their respective institutions to speak out against “keeping rest rooms and locker rooms gender specific”. If either high-profile coach was truly sincere in his public comments he could graphically demonstrate that sincerity by having his wife, daughter(s) and granddaughters “shower with the team”. If Mike or Roy have no problem with gender neutral toilet and dressing facilities on a personal level, they can castigate the rest of the state’s citizenry for their overtly puritan morality. …. That’s never going to happen so so much for their “celebrity politicking” from their bully pulpits.
NOTE: There is absolutely nothing in any version of HB2 (original or revised) that prohibits any athletic events in NC. Those decisions were made arbitrarily by The ACC and NCAA and NBA. NOT by the NC General Assembly. Not that “facts” should ever get in the way of an economic extortion plot.
Mike Krzyzewski has had no problem whatsoever recruiting 5-star players to Duke since HB2 became “an issue” two years ago. Since Roy recruits the same players as Duke (and Kentucky and Kansas) one must assume Roy’s inability to sign top-ranked “one & dones” in recent years is due to another factor ….. ergo “The Greatest Scandal etc etc etc ……”.
It is reasonable to assume that Roy’s inability to guarantee UNC will not eventually be penalized for “the greatest academic/athletic flim flam in NCAA history” at some point HAS affected top-rated recruits’ decisions.
They only intend to attend classes for one semester wherever they go before leaving for the NBA. If UNCCH is banned from The NCAA Tournament for that season they miss an opportunity on the national stage to enhance their lottery value. So why choose UNCCH when Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and assorted other schools with traditionally strong MBB programs don’t bear that burden.
In addition to Jason Tatum, highly-rated freshman Harry Giles is also leaving Duke despite being limited by injuries to sporadic playing time. Giles might join UNCCH’s Marvin Williams as a one&done who never started a college game. Only Kentucky has had more “one&dones” the past 5-6 years than has Duke.
Back in the 70-80s, every “top recruit” would be recruited by UNC, UCLA, Indiana and Kentucky. Each would get their share each year. Duke joined that pantheon in the late 80s as UCLA and Indiana have waned. Lately Roy keeps getting left at the altar by the Top Twenty…. but, by golly, here is Roy back in The Final Four. How can he do dat?
No big secret. For all his well-known Tourette’s Syndrome “foot-in-mouth” disease; Roy has adapted to recruiting “very good players” – but not Top Twenty – who develop within his program to exceptional team players as upperclassmen. And, in the process, become familiar to UNC fans with some sort of mutual “old school” bond twixt athlete and fan base.
NOTE: AND… from all outward appearances, the recent UNC BB rosters have been noticeably devoid of THUGS and thuggish behavior! I would hope most UNC fans appreciate that fact.
Change two plays at the end of last Sunday’s game and Calipari’s current one&dones defeat Roy’s upperclassmen. Would that validate one strategy over the other? Both Kansas and Duke – with their one&done heavy rosters – had already been defeated by Oregon and USC’s upperclassmen.
Do you know the last “one&done” at UNCCH? Brandan Wright in 2007. TEN YEARS AGO! I’m not even sure I spelled his name correctly. Who cares?
Yes, there is a sicko faction of UNC Board Monkeys who (1) despise John Calipari; yet (2) want Roy to run the same sort of one&done Kentucky program at UNCCH. I have “issues” with the average UNCCH fan for assorted reasons; but I have to believe the vast majority prefer Roy’s current TGU-mandated strategy of recruiting highly-talented “projects” who intend to be around long enough that fans learn to spell their names and remember them 6-8-10-15 years later.
How many “old school” UNC fans can still name the starters from 1957 and 1982? A LOT of’em. OK, many still misspell Hansbrough / Hansborough but they cheer him when he returns to The Dean Dome. Who are “the legends” at Duke? Laettner, Hill, Hurley, Bilas, Redick …. Not the ever-growing quickly forgotten number of one&dones.
I do not take back any of the criticisms I have written about Roy and his “stoopid blurts”. But I do applaud how he has adapted his team-building system to fit the circumstances of the times. Whether it was intended or otherwise, he deserves the credit.
Incidentally I was accused off-line this week of “hating Roy” and “having a grudge” against him ??? I always appreciate when a column draws a “passionate response”. Yeeee HA! FWIW… it came from “an Old Weller of lengthy tooth”.
Oops! I’m out of time. I wanted to discuss the death threats that Kentucky fans made this week to the referee of Sunday’s game. I do not believe it is always some mouth-breathing gap-toothed evolutionary throwback that does this crap. I’ll discuss that later.
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