The IronDog Chronicles

A lot of Tar Heel fans were sweating the recruiting performance of Coach Williams in the early summer of 2007…

The shame of all of the knocking is that people were taking shots. Of all the things, how can anyone question Coach Williams on his recruiting?

Look at his tough pulls:

1.) Marvin Williams - We weren’t even in the picture for the big fella and arguably the top player in the class. We landed him in a couple of weeks time.
2.) Marcus Ginyard - Had a ton of hype going into his Junior year. Landed him immediately with his hire. Snatched from Duke.
3.) Tyler Hansbrough - Masterful job at a time when every high-school senior with any value was going pro. Defeated an all-out assault from KU and Mizzou.
4.) Bobby Frasor, Danny Green - Two solid pieces and McDonald’s AAs.
5.) Ellington, Lawson, Thompson, Stepheson - Top-level elite program lands.
6.) William Graves - Great local add…Especially when you consider how people were building the hype on him during his sophomore year. I know William pretty well. In his sophomore year, the kid was set on going to Duke. That was a nice swipe.
7.) Brandan Wright - How we snatched that kid from the Krzyzewski’s jaws was amazing. Masterful performance…’Nuff said.
8.) Ed Davis Jr. - Need you say more with Roy Williams’s latest land. Personally, I think this kid is an incredible land. A couple of people that I had bumped into on the recruiting front had said that this kid was guaranteed to land at UVA because the UVA staff was all over him…They must have forgotten about the allure of North Carolina. ‘Nuff said.

Add in your thoughts…I’m sure that there are more positives that I haven’t listed.

By the way, keep in mind that even if North Carolina would have stuck with their lone recruit, Larry Drew Jr., it says here that the move would have made for a good strategy. Let’s go back to our classes of ‘91 and ‘92.

‘91 - Donald Williams
‘92 - Dante Calabria, Ed Geth, Larry Davis, Serge Zwikker
‘93 Result: National Champs

In ‘92, a lot of so-called expert UNC followers were stating that Coach Dean Smith was losing his touch with that class of minor pieces. These statements were after the Class of ‘90 when he landed the “Original Fab 5.” My thoughts are that Calabria and Drew Jr. were similar lands in the fact they are Top 50 guys who can provide solid contributions throughout their career. People also have to realize that elite-level kids are not apt for sitting behind someone for a year or two.

Similar strategy:

‘07 - None
‘08 - Larry Drew Jr….(Well, now add Ed Davis Jr.)
‘09 Result: We’ll see…

I stay away from the Inside Carolina board, but I’m tempted to spit fire on those clowns. I’m sure that there has to be a lot of defenders of Coach Williams’s recruiting on that thing. Yet, for the detractors, do they realize how loaded this team really is and how the landscape of top ten talent are behaving these days?

Even if North Carolina landed only Drew Jr., if you’re a Carolina fan, you should be elated. I think Coach Williams’s strategy of holding on recruits was excellent. I gave him an ‘A’ for holding last year.

Disregarding Ed Davis, if you’re a elite-level recruit, where are you going to get tick behind a line-up filled with tons of in-game experience that consists of a potential line-up of juniors, Tywon Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Alex Stepheson, and Deon Thompson and seniors Danny Green, Marcus Ginyard, and Bobby Frasor, and quite possibly…1st Team AA, Tyler Hansbrough?

IC boards…What ‘evs. Consider the sources.

I also have to trust that Coach Williams was pondering where the talent level of ‘09 was going to land. Personally, I think the next class is going to have a lot of impact when he has to replace the ‘09 class and a possible early NBA entry. I was anticipating this season to be filling in pieces and next season to have major big-gamers coming into Chapel Hill.

With Davis and Drew Jr., he doesn’t have to put all of his chips on that class.

Great, great moves, and here’s another point…All are great, solid, and personable kids…Do any of the whining clowns who took shots realize how tough that is?

Bottom line - In terms of recruiting, Coach Roy Williams is a beast.

From the West End,
BD