Lucas: Rapid Reactions

Article By Adam Lucas

1. Interesting strategy by Carolina to show some defensive wrinkles early. The Tar Heels played four possessions of straight 2-3 zone in the opening minutes, which seemed like a sound strategy against a Kentucky team that had struggled from the perimeter. But the 'Cats hit two three-pointers against the defense and also scored off an offensive rebound, and the Tar Heels spent most of the rest of the half in man-to-man.

Carolina also used one possession of fullcourt trap, which turned into a quick turnover, UNC basket, and timeout from John Calipari. The Tar Heels also turned a halfcourt trap into a turnover in the second half, and then added another wrinkle with a possession of 1-3-1 zone. None of the defensive attempts worked, as Kentucky shot very well from the field (56 percent overall, the best against Carolina this year) against every defense the Tar Heels deployed.

2. It wasn't too difficult to figure out how Carolina fell behind by 15 points at halftime. Kentucky controlled the game from the three-point line and the free throw line, piling up a 31-6 edge during the first 20 minutes on combined points off three-pointers and free throws.

For the game, UK scored 13 more points than UNC at the free throw line. 

3. Roy Williams has consistently said the Joel Berry II who has played the first month of the season isn't the real Berry. The freshman showed some flashes on Saturday afternoon against Carolina's toughest opponent of the season. Berry gave the Tar Heels some solid second-half minutes and didn't back down from the physical Wildcats.

4. For a team that has struggled on the backboards in some big games this season, Carolina did a credible job on the glass against a tall, athletic Kentucky squad. The problem, however, was that the 'Cats were simply making too many shots for the rebounds to become a factor.

5. Down the road, the most important part of Saturday's visit may be the sudden reemergence of Marcus Paige. The junior looked hesitant and a little indecisive in the first half, but then exploded for four three-pointers in the second half. If that puts him back in a groove--which he's struggled to find most of this year--that will be a much more important long-term outcome than one defeat.

The next Tar Heel to get on track might need to be Justin Jackson. The freshman continues to appear to be on the verge of a consistent breakout, but finished just 2-for-6 from the field with one rebound, and spent a good portion of the second half on the bench.

6. Kentucky does a lot of things well. But it felt like one of Saturday's biggest keys was the way they took every big Carolina turnover and turned it into not just a basket, but a high-flying dunk or a drilled three-pointer. It seemed like every time the Tar Heels turned the ball over in a big situation, Kentucky was at the other end dunking the ball within seconds. For the game, the Wildcats had a 23-13 edge in points off turnovers.

7. Rupp Arena is one venue you almost never see mentioned when debates about student seating come up. That's because all the UK students are in one end zone, with not a single side-court seat devoted to students. It doesn't especially impact the Rupp atmosphere, however, which consists mostly of a cranked PA system and much more of a pro-style environment.

Seymore Succeeding On And Off Court

Article By Adam Lucas

Sasha Seymore recently won one of the most prestigious post-graduate scholarships in America, the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, which will support his graduate study in Northern Ireland next September. Yet he fully realizes the reaction he receives from telling people about that honor tends to pale in comparison to telling them his other big news from the fall: making the Carolina varsity basketball team.

Seymore played two years of junior varsity basketball for the Tar Heels. He considered himself more of a soccer player when he arrived in Chapel Hill from New Bern High, but basketball was a way to stay in shape. After his first year of JV hoops, then-coach Jerod Haase sat down with Seymour. “You’re big enough to play on the varsity,” Haase told him. “You have the grades to play on the varsity. You have the right attitude. You don’t really have the basketball skill set yet, but making the varsity can be a realistic goal for you if you want it to be.”

“When I walked out of that room,” Seymore says, “I wanted to be on the varsity basketball team.”

And when Sasha Seymore wants something to happen, it tends to happen. He’s a Morehead-Cain Scholar who is majoring in economics and global studies. After his freshman year, he teamed with three friends to help start Kicking Across Carolina, and the trio proceeded to dribble soccer balls all the way across the state of North Carolina—Asheville to Morehead City—to demonstrate the power of sports to unite. He’s visited South Africa (“Where do you go to school?” a native asked him. “The University of North Carolina,” Seymore replied. “Oh, Michael Jordan!” was the response). 

He played two years of JV basketball, played club basketball as a junior (the varsity team had no spots open last year) and was one of two players selected for the varsity squad this year.

Despite all the extracurricular activities, he’s made A’s in every class he’s taken at Carolina except for two (he made A-‘s in those). And now he’s a Mitchell Scholar, which means next September he’ll spend a year in Belfast studying at Queens University. Seymore interviewed for the scholarship in Washington, D.C. in November and was notified later that same weekend that he is one of 12 recipients nationwide.

“From the standpoint of telling other people, making the North Carolina basketball team was a much bigger deal and other people got much more excited,” he says. “And for me, walking on the floor with the Carolina basketball team was a lifetime dream. It’s an incredible experience.

“It’s not like I’ve wanted the Mitchell Scholarship my entire life. But it does draw on all areas of my life, and a lot of areas on which I place a lot of value. People may not understand it quite as much, but it’s an accumulation of a long period of effort.”

Seymore’s studies in Belfast will focus on using sports as a method of conflict resolution. He’s done extensive research in that field, including the honors thesis he’s currently working on that evaluates sports as a method of conflict resolution in Israel and Palestine.

One of the organizations he’ll work with in Northern Ireland is Peace Players International, a group that uses basketball to bridge the gap between Protestants and Catholics. The group is a past recipient of ESPN’s Arthur Ashe Award, the same honor given to Dean Smith.

“In some of these interviews, a common question is what three people you’d want to sit down and talk with,” Seymore says. “One of mine is always Dean Smith. I actually reference him in my thesis because of what he did with Charles Scott.”

Smith would undoubtedly be incredibly proud to know that one of his Tar Heels has worldly ideas about the importance of sports.

“The big central theme about sports in general is humanism,” Seymore says. “All their lives people involved in these conflicts grow up thinking the other side is not human. One of the biggest issues with Northern Ireland, and the reason they are still so divided, is they have a segregated school system, with Protestants in one school and Catholics in the other. Children from ages four to 18 can go that entire time never talking to the other side.

“But if you put them on the same sports team, they can realize the other side cares about the same things they care about. Through sports, you can say something words can’t. You can channel that emotion into something good and start to break down barriers. That’s the power of sports. Is it enough to say we’re going to base the reconciliation of Northern Ireland entirely around sports? Maybe not. But it’s a powerful tool.”