The Heels' football losses set stage for roundball wins

Sporting News, The, Jan 29, 2001 by Mike DeCourcy

When they played football this past autumn, Ronald Curry, Julius Peppers and their North Carolina teammates lost five times. On this page, that doesn't sound like a lot.

Arizona has lost five basketball games, as have Seton Hall, Missouri and Notre Dame, and each one figured into the Final Four chase as this season began.

There are circumstances in which five defeats are equivalent to eternity, though, and a college football season is one. That's a 45 percent failure rate. A more pressing example is North Carolina's current losing streak in basketball against rival Duke, a streak over two seasons comprising five games in which the Tar Heels truly were competitive just once. Curry and Peppers have the power--using that term advisedly--to challenge the Blue Devils' dominance.

The Tar Heels travel 10 miles up the Toad February 1 to Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. Early this season, it appeared the 207th edition of this rivalry might end like the most recent games, the Blue Devils dancing toward a double-digit win. But the introduction of Curry and Peppers to the North Carolina rotation has elevated the Tar Heels to contenders for the Final Four--and the ACC championship. Given the magnitude of Duke's recent reign, winning the league title might be the greater challenge.

"I think that will be a great measurement," Curry says. "To get up there, we have to beat teams like that. We could get a win, or we could get blown out like everyone else. We'll see what happens."

As much as it hurt the football team and its fans to finish 6-5, it became the best tonic for UNC basketball. If the football Heels had beaten Virginia, Clemson or NC State, they might have squeezed into one of those frivolous dot.com bowls. Had they played in a bowl, Curry and Peppers would have been occupied that much longer.

"Unfortunately, we got out here as soon as we did," Curry says, "but it does have a plus. We're out here now, and I think we bring another element to the team."

Curry, the school's starting quarterback, took over the starting point guard job from freshman Adam Boone in the eighth game. The difference is obvious the moment Curry advances the ball across the time line, The Tar Heels storm into their offense now, exuding power and authority.

Scoring is up nearly five points per game, even though the competition is significantly stronger. The new Tar Heels have shot 50 percent or better from the field four times, are 10-0 since the switch and 15-2 overall.

One of the most telling statistics, though, is the difference in star shooting guard Joseph Forte. After struggling and shooting 44.3 percent in the first seven games, Forte is shooting 49.3 percent.

In preparing for a visit to Chapel Hill, Marquette coach Tom Crean studied every UNC game tape, including losses to Michigan State and Kentucky that preceded the return of Curry and Peppers and the wins over UCLA and Wake Forest that followed.

"That's not comparing apples to oranges," Crean says. "They were still really good, but it would be like comparing a Mercedes to a Lamborghini."

With Curry and Peppers and a healthy Max Owens, the Tar Heels get better production from their bench and more time to bring along freshman guards Brian Morrison and Boone. The two were under enormous pressure to run a team with veterans at every other position.

When he played as a backup point guard in his first season at UNC, Curry appeared to be burdened by his football body. Perhaps it was indecisiveness. Two seasons later (he sat out the 1999-2000 season with a ruptured Achilles' tendon), his strength is a weapon. He is an oppressive on-the-ball defender. Though more eager to find open wings than fire himself, he is shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range, up from 14.3 percent in '98-99.

"The threat of him making open shots is almost as important as him making them," Crean says. "You've got to guard him some. There still will be a time when he has to make open shots to win a really big game, but right now the threat is important."

Peppers, who led the nation in sacks this past autumn, will be a contrarian, Charles Woodson-style Heisman Trophy candidate in his final football season next fall. At the moment, he may be the most valuable sixth man in college basketball.

We're not talking about phony sixth men, great players such as South Florida's Altron Jackson and Kansas' Drew Gooden, who open on the bench and then play starter's minutes. A 6-7, 280-pound power forward, Peppers is not one of his team's five best players, but he is an ideal complement as a reserve and generates an atmosphere of toughness that lingers when he leaves the floor.

He is not just a football player intimidating opponents with biceps and triceps. He is agile enough to grab tough rebounds. Peppers gets one for every 3.2 minutes on the floor; Iowa's rugged Reggie Evans, who averages 12.3 per game, gets one every 2.9 minutes.

Peppers figures this is his final shot at basketball. Working out for NFL teams in preparation for the draft will consume his attention next spring. He would like to take this a step beyond last season, which ended in theFinal Four.