UNC basketball what ifs

GoHeelsweeeehoooo

GoHeelsweeeehoooo

Iconic Member
Messages
1,065
This idea has been kinda bouncing around my head and I thought it would be a fun discussion here. There's the obvious what ifs - what if Michael Jordan had come back for one more year or what if Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace had stuck around another year and played with Jamison and Carter - I wanted to propose some less obvious ones

First how would the 2010 season gone if Bobby Fraser had been granted another year of eligibility - he wasn't super athletic but he understood the Roy Williams system and I have to believe he would have started over Larry Drew

Second what if Colby White had stuck around for a second season - if I recall he wanted to come back and Roy convinced him to leave - we could have had a backcourt of Colby and Cole Anthony - maybe Anthony doesn't feel like he has to do everything and avoids getting injured

Just thought it would be a fun thought experiment - maybe I'm the only one who wonders about these things
 
Zoo_View said:
What if Tommy LaGarde hadn’t torn up his knee in 1977?
Click to expand...
There were a lot of what ifs that year although that was probably the biggest. Walter not breaking his finger right before the tournament and Ford hyperextending his elbow were the chef's kisses.
 
I was hoping we could ponder how things would have gone differently - like for my 2010 example - if we had had Bobby Fraser would we have been an NCAA team that year?
 
What if the one-and-done rule was in place when Dwight Howard would have enrolled? He'd have been in Marvin's class on the '05 team...
 
GoHeelsweeeehoooo said:
This idea has been kinda bouncing around my head and I thought it would be a fun discussion here. There's the obvious what ifs - what if Michael Jordan had come back for one more year or what if Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace had stuck around another year and played with Jamison and Carter - I wanted to propose some less obvious ones

First how would the 2010 season gone if Bobby Fraser had been granted another year of eligibility - he wasn't super athletic but he understood the Roy Williams system and I have to believe he would have started over Larry Drew
Click to expand...
Little to no difference. Debatable whether Frasor could have really held up as a full-time PG in that situation with his post-injury athleticism, and the injuries to Zeller and Davis would have sunk that team regardless. Henson and the Wears were too raw and/or not good enough.
GoHeelsweeeehoooo said:
Second what if Colby White had stuck around for a second season - if I recall he wanted to come back and Roy convinced him to leave - we could have had a backcourt of Colby and Cole Anthony - maybe Anthony doesn't feel like he has to do everything and avoids getting injured
Click to expand...
Would have made a big difference for that team - probably they become a tournament-caliber team - but I still think the team would have been worse than 2019 and they didn't play the tournament that year anyway
 
UNCRx85 said:
What if the one-and-done rule was in place when Dwight Howard would have enrolled? He'd have been in Marvin's class on the '05 team...
Click to expand...
Well they couldn't have done any better than the actual 2005 team did, lol. But in any event the more reasonable "what if" for that year's team is what if JR Smith didn't go bonkers at the McD AA game and came to UNC. Would have certainly been an upgrade over Melvin Scott.
 
If Stackhouse and Sheed would have stayed with Carter and Jamison it would have been the greatest UNC team ever. Imagine if they stayed four years and it could have been Cota, Stackhouse, Carter, Jamison and Sheed as the starting five.
 
Last edited:
rodoheel said:
Well they couldn't have done any better than the actual 2005 team did, lol. But in any event the more reasonable "what if" for that year's team is what if JR Smith didn't go bonkers at the McD AA game and came to UNC. Would have certainly been an upgrade over Melvin Scott.
Click to expand...
somehow I totally forgot about JR. Yeesh...
Felton
McCants
Manuel
Jawad
May
Marvin
JR Smith
Dwight Howard
Melvin Scott, lol

Not bad.
 
I've been thinking what if the past two years could just be combined and we had a lineup of RJ, Seth, Drake Powell, Caleb, Veesaar. Would have been so much fun to watch that lineup.
 
lightbluenc said:
I've been thinking what if the past two years could just be combined and we had a lineup of RJ, Seth, Drake Powell, Caleb, Veesaar. Would have been so much fun to watch that lineup.
Click to expand...
Drake, my man, I hardly knew you
 
1973 with Bob McAdoo coming back and Donald Washington remaining on the team. Does NC State still go undefeated?

1983 with James Worthy returning. Does UNC win back-to-back Nattys?

1985 with Michael Jordan returning. How good is that team?

1987 Jeff Lebo doesn’t get the flu vs. Syracuse. Do we beat Syracuse.

1990 with JR Reid returning. Probably not a championship team, but also probably don’t lose 13 games.

1994 Derrick Phelps doesn’t get concussed vs. BC. Does that change the outcome?

1996 with Stackhouse and Wallace returning. Do they take out a great Kentucky team for the national championship?

1997 with Stackhouse, Wallace, and McInnis returning. National champs?

2002 with Forte returning and Curry and Peppers continuing to play basketball. I don’t know how good they’d be, but they don’t go 8-20.

2003 without Sean May getting injured. Does the team make the NCAAT? If so does Doh keep his job? Do we ever end up getting Roy?

2005 with JR Smith. Does the team still win the national championship or does he disrupt the chemistry?

2006 with Felton, May, McCants, and Williams returning. Do we win back-to-back championships?

2007 with Marvin Williams. National championship?

2008 with Marvin Williams and Brandan Wright sticking around. Do we lose that game to Kansas? Do we go undefeated?

2009 with Brandan Wright. Do we go undefeated?

2010 with Lawson, Ellington, and Wright coming back. Do we win back-to-back national championships? Shit, with all the what ifs I mentioned above, do we get our sixth in a row?

2011 with Ed Davis coming back and Will Graves not getting kicked off the team. Do we win a national championship? What if Larry Dew doesn’t quit midseason. Are we any better?

2012 if Marshall doesn’t get hurt. Do we win it all?

2013 with Barnes, Marshall, and Henson returning. Do we win it all? What if Strickland doesn’t get hurt midseason?

2014 with Barnes, Marshall, and Bullock returning and Hairston doesn’t do all that stupid shit that gets him kicked off the team. I say we win it all that year. Weak ass year in college basketball.

2015 with JMM returning. Are we a good bit better?

2016 with Tokoto returning. We were already really good. Does he make us a little bit better?

2018 with Tony Bradley returning. Are we legit championship contenders?

2019 with Tony Bradley. How much better does he make us? Do we overcome the flu in the NCAAT? What if half the team doesn’t come down with the flu in the NCAAT?

2020 with Coby White, Nassir Little, and Tony Bradley. Instead of being one of the worst Tar Heel team of all time, we’re probably really damn good. But can we stop Covid?

2021 with Anthony, White. and Little. National championship contenders?

2022 with Anthony, White, and Little. Do we actually beat Kansas this time?

2023 with Anthony probably makes a big difference. We make the NCAAT and do quite well there.

2025 with Ingram. He probably doesn’t make us world beaters but we are a good bit better. Certainly not a bubble team.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top