North Carolina center Kennedy Meeks came into Chapel Hill with plenty of questions about his readiness to contribute during his freshman campaign. Head coach Roy Williams described the competition to start and for playing time as wide open between Meeks, sophomore Joel James and junior Desmond Hubert. If anything about UNC is obvious through their first game of the season, it’s that Meeks is by far the best center on the Tar Heels roster.
Roy gave the sophomore James the starting nod against Oakland Friday night, not surprising giving his long standing history of preference towards experience. Understanding that the sample size is small and the competition level wasn’t ideal in terms of making long term assessments, Meeks’ talent is undeniable. He has the skills to be the perfect center for the system employed in Chapel Hill. Williams made a pretty bold statement calling Meeks the best outlet passer he’s ever coached, before he ever saw him play a real game, any proclamations I make here I’m confident in based on the fact that a Hall of Fame coach has already made a pretty big one.
Personally, I was critical of Meeks coming into Carolina, wondering if his 290 pound frame (300+ before he arrived on campus) would be able to get up and down the court the way the Tar Heel system demands. To my eye, Meeks looks better moving around the court than his counterpart James, and he ignites the break with those quick, pinpoint outlet passes. In the half court, Meeks has point guard like vision in the post, he twice found a wide open Marcus Paige for three and hit him with a perfect cross court pass not many NBA players would have been able to do. Meeks uses his body to his advantage when fighting for position, his soft hands allow him to secure the basketball quickly and his surprising quickness with the ball make him a dangerous offensive weapon inside the paint. As much as I like Joel James, he possesses none of those traits.
Meeks scored 10 points in just 13 minutes off the bench grabbing five rebounds in the process. UNC is extremely deep with big men this season and everybody is going to get a chance to play early in the season. I don’t see Meeks can commanding 25+ minutes per game this season with James Michael McAdoo already claiming a big chunk of minutes inside. The others including James, Brice Johnson and Isaiah Hicks deserve to play. Through one game it’s clear to me and just about anybody who watched UNC play, Meeks should be the starter and should command the most minutes at the center position. Again, it’s early in the season, but I think it’s safe to say the knocks on him coming in seem to be overblown.
