April 4, 2008

By Lauren Brownlow

Ty Lawson was a one-man press break throughout the Louisville game. But after hitting a three-pointer to put Carolina up seven with 5:08 to go, Lawson was tired. So with 3:58 to go, in came Quentin Thomas. Louisville really needs to pressure, especially Quentin Thomas, make him handle against pressure," Jay Bilas said on the broadcast when Thomas had the ball and was directing the offense with around three minutes to go.

Thomas knows all about pressure, though. He started his first game as a freshman, an embarrassing loss to Santa Clara, in front of family and friends in California. Then as a senior, Carolina's first and second point guards go down. Carolina has just one loss all year and Thomas, who had never played more than 24 minutes in a game, was forced to take over exclusively.

So pressure Thomas all you want - put him in the game in pressure situations, even - but he can handle it. He was reminding himself of what he needed to do during that one-minute stretch to give Lawson a breather. "Just do my part. I didn't have to play over my head. Just take care of the ball, run the offense, get the ball where it needed to be and make plays, and I did that. I came out, Ty went back in and we won the game. That was definitely a confidence-booster for me again and keeping my confidence boosted every game," Thomas said.

Thomas alone makes up the four-year senior class of 2008, and he has now become the winningest Tar Heel of all-time and counting. The junior class, though, has the potential to be that special kind of class just like the seniors of 2005. This team came in on the heels of a national title and many, like Marcus Ginyard, expected to play behind a few people his freshman year. When Carolina lost its top seven scorers, the freshmen were put in action quickly. Just like Thomas, they have faced pressure to produce. Just like Thomas, they offered no excuses, only results, and never complained.

"Everything that we've gone through is obviously something that's going to shape this team, that's going to mold this team and it's going to make us the people that we are and the players that we are. For us to come in and having been thrown to the fire, as they say, so young and right away, it was great for this team. Everybody on this team has got that experience to play up until almost this point at least. We're all just excited that we're here and excited about what this team is capable of doing," Ginyard said.

Tyler Hansbrough had his nose broken last year by Gerald Henderson and had plenty of excuses for poor play. All he did was take Carolina on his back in the second-round game against Michigan State when he shed the mask. He has had all the pressure in the world on him this year as the game that people just love to pick apart. But even when he puts in 15 and 10, it's not enough for him.

"If I'm in a situation where a lot of people look at it and say, `He had a so-so game,' I'm kind of a guy that wants to play a little better than a so-so game. So if I'm having a bad game or a decent game, I still want to continue to improve," Hansbrough said.

This team had excuses to drop games when Ty Lawson went down. But Thomas carried them and they lost just one game, including one overtime win at Florida State and winning in two overtimes at home against Clemson during that stretch. When Carolina lost to Duke at home, no excuses were given. When Deon Thompson struggled in the ACC Tournament, he didn't offer any excuses, either - just got back in the gym and worked harder. Danny Green even refused to accept the idea that he struggled last year because of the situation with his father.

Last season, everyone pointed at people like Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson for not being able to pull Carolina through some close games. This season, it hasn't just been 1-2 people to take blame in Carolina's losses, but the entire team able to take credit for Carolina's clutch wins. "For me, it was more just about congratulating this team as opposed to comparing them to failures at some other time that somebody else made ... Just like 3-4 years ago when everybody thought Raymond (Felton) didn't make a play at Duke. Well heck, everybody on our team didn't make a play. If the substitutes had worked harder in practice, maybe Raymond would have made a play. So I think we tried to defend at that time as a team Raymond from taking that criticism of not driving in and laying it up," Williams said.

"This time, it's just focusing on, man, that was a great play (at Clemson in overtime). Ty, you made a great read. Wayne made a big-time shot. At Georgia Tech, Danny made a big-time block. So I think instead of comparing it to any failures in the past, I just congratulated those kids on being able to do it now and being willing to do it."

Lauren Brownlow is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly.