A COUPLE INSIDE JOBS
North Carolina, Villanova have succeeded with interior shooting
HOUSTON — Pretty much anyone who has caught a college basketball game recently can say, accurately, that this is the era of the one- and- done, threepoint shooting star.
The evidence is overwhelming. Since the NBA changed its eligibility rules in 2006, more freshmen have left for the draft than in any other epoch. Last season, Duke won the title with three players who decamped after one season.
This season, infatuation with three- pointers reached a peak. College basketball’s three- point rate this season was the highest ever, according to Sports Illustrated.
So how did North Carolina and Villanova, the two teams who will play in Monday’s national championship game, end up steamrolling through the NCAA tournament?
Neither team, in all likelihood, has a freshman who will leave for the NBA. Neither relies very heavily on three- pointers. One, North Carolina, seems allergic to them at times.
Its three- point accuracy, 31.9%, is 294th nationally. It
scores a measly 19.7% of its points on three- pointers. According to basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy, that ranks 345th of 351 teams.
( Villanova has talented perimeter shooters, but it is hardly dependent on the three- point shot, either. Its three- point accuracy ranks 117th.)
The Tar Heels went most of Saturday’s game against Syracuse without a single successful three- pointer. Yet they still led.
A question arose: Could they win without making one all game?
“I hope the heck we don’t ever try,” North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said.
Guard Joel Berry also thinks abandoning the three- pointer altogether is unwise. But that doesn’t mean North Carolina couldn’t do without it.
“It would always be good to hit a three,” Berry said. “But I think we can honestly win by hitting twos, especially with our pace that we play.”
At a time when guards dominate college basketball, Williams has built his team around a stout interior. The strategy is simple. Williams, said forward Kennedy Meeks, tells his frontcourt he’ll never get angry about a shot in the paint.
Guards know to work the ball inside “because we’ve got monsters” there, said guard Justin Jackson.
“Why not get the ball where it’s a higher- percentage shot?” Berry asked.
Sometimes, the forwards see an open player on the perimeter. Those shots, the Tar Heels are happy to take.
Williams has won with three- point shooters in the past — his 2009 national championship team ranked 24th in three- point accuracy.
And he has had power forwards who could play on the perimeter. But, he said, he has long preferred to play two stout, imposing post players at the same time.
“Maybe it’s old school, it’s definitely not necessarily the way Golden State plays,” Williams said, referring to the NBA’s three- pointsplashing Warriors. “But I always felt like at the end of the game, you hope to have the other team in foul trouble.”
The players know how to execute the system because they have been running it for years. North Carolina’s starting lineup features no freshmen. It uses two seniors, a junior and two sophomores.
Villanova is just as experienced. It has two sen- iors, two juniors and one freshman. It is consistent with Coach Jay Wright’s philosophy. He wants players who will be a part of the school for life, he said.
Wright admitted Sunday that he’s “been tempted a couple of times” to leave for other, bigger jobs. But, he said, he doesn’t know that his style would f it many places.
He said Villanova’s administration and fan base don’t apply undue pressure over recruiting rankings.
“I know some guys have lost jobs because they haven’t gotten top recruits,” Wright said.
Villanova is a mediumsized Catholic school outside of Philadelphia. Wright focuses his recruiting regionally.
He said he would gladly take an NBA- bound freshman, so long as he fit the system.
“We’re not against oneand- done guys,” said senior forward Daniel Ochefu. “It’s just we understand it takes a while to get to know how to play Villanova basketball.”
Ochefu, who has worn a full beard for his senior season, said he has changed completely from his freshman season. Fellow senior Ryan Arcidiacono said it takes a full year to get acclimated to Wright’s style.
Wright can be demanding, and, he said, he searches for players who can withstand his demands.
When the school was evaluating Kris Jenkins, now a junior forward, the coaching staff was intrigued by his talent. But, they told him on his visit, he was overweight. They doubted he could put in the work necessary, and they told him that too.
Later, they heard that Jenkins loved his visit.
“If he loved that,” Wright said, “we want this guy.”
The philosophy has yielded a championship- game team unusually devoid of NBA talent.
Villanova’s roster may not contain any future f irstround draft picks. The last team to win a title without a first- round selection was Indiana’s 1987 team, according to Yahoo Sports.
After the Wildcats’ 44point dismantling of Oklahoma on Saturday, Wright told his team they may not have any Hall of Famers. But, he said, it would take a team of Hall of Famers to defeat them.
North Carolina might wonder whether Wright’s imaginary team has any perimeter shot.