Excuse me a minute.
(Closes door, screams and lets vent several unintelligible phrases which as far as we know is still hanging in space over RTP)
Okay, I’m back.
UNC has announced that redshirt senior SG/SF Will Graves has been dismissed from the team for violations of team rules:
“This is 100 percent not related to any NCAA matters on campus,” says head coach Roy Williams. “I hate this for Will. He worked extremely hard this summer to get himself physically in the best shape he’s been in years, but he did not do everything he needed to do to be a part of our basketball program. This is a huge blow to our team, but an even bigger blow for Will. Playing for the Tar Heels meant so much to him.”
I am officially dubbing this the Year of Hell in UNC athletics. And someone tell me what’s up with Thursdays. Every freaking Thursday we get something hitting the fan.
Turning our eye to basketball analysis this hurts but how much remains to be seen. Graves would have given you some time on the frontline where UNC is thin and added to depth in general at three different positions. Graves also was an experienced player and according to Roy Williams had a high basketball IQ. While his defense and three point shooting could be spotty, Roy Williams indicates here that Graves was in the best physical shape of his career. It would have been nice to see how that may have translated on the court. Since the weight issue has been discounted and this is not NCAA related, that leaves poor academics or failing a drug test as possibilities.
Just a note of interest. Thus ends the recruiting class of 2006 which produced a national title, an NCAA Final Four MOP(Ellington), an ACC POY(Lawson), ACC ROY(Wright) who all ended up being NBA first round picks. There was one four year player(Thompson), one transfer(Stepheson) and one dismissal(Graves)
