Lucas: Family Time

By Adam Lucas

It's the first full Saturday of the college football season, but there's some quality basketball taking place at the Smith Center.

Carolina's 2025-26 team began pre-practice workouts this week. There were no formal practices over Labor Day weekend, but the Tar Heels still gathered at the Smith Center Saturday morning. The three-day weekend means beach trips for many, but it also brought several former Tar Heels back to Chapel Hill.

Most Carolina fans are familiar with the pickup games that take place during basketball camp in June. Those are good, and provided our first window into—for example—the dynamic potential flashed by Caleb Wilson in a camp game scrimmage.

This pickup session came much later in the summer but still had plenty of talent, plus the additional bonus of having the entire current roster on campus. That gave them the opportunity to learn from a collection of alums that included Armando Bacot, RJ Davis, Cormac Ryan, Harrison Ingram, Garrison Brooks and James Michael McAdoo. Not everyone in attendance played, but the assemblage of Tar Heel talent lining the sidelines also included first-round draft pick Drake Powell, Kenny Williams, Joel James, Desmond Hubert, Duwe Farris and Walker Miller. This wasn't a scheduled reunion. It was just a bunch of Tar Heels who wanted to spend a couple days in Chapel Hill and ended up in town at the same time.

As always, watching former players on the same court with the current team was a reminder that the player we remember in our Tar Heel minds often continues to develop when they reach professional basketball. The first play of the day was a very familiar combination, as Davis and Bacot teamed up to hit a three-pointer. But this time, it was Davis feeding Bacot for the three, instead of the reverse connection that has happened so many times before on the Smith Center court.

At one point, Bacot pump faked a three-pointer and then drove nimbly into the lane for an easy basket. Later, he drove and hit Brooks for another three-pointer. Armando Bacot, all-time leading UNC rebounder and...playmaker?

There are undoubtedly some physical benefits for the current team in playing against older, more seasoned players. But there are also intangible advantages. Ryan and Ingram walked in and immediately resumed providing the same chemistry benefits they gave the ACC regular season champions during the 2024 season, offering constant commentary from the sideline whether plays were positive or negative (they were particularly entertained when Davis broke free for a backdoor pass but then elected not to dunk it).

After one turnover from a UNC youngster who tried to use a bounce pass to get the ball through traffic in the lane, McAdoo, his teammate in that session, pulled him aside. "Throw that one up in the air," the former Golden State Warriors NBA champion said.

Pre-practice workouts will continue through Sept. 22, when official practice begins. Keep an eye on Carolina basketball social channels for a series of features introducing the new Tar Heels, including today's introduction of Kyan Evans, which pairs nicely with yesterday's interview video with Evans.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Kyan Evans

Duwe Farris

Harrison Ingram

Drake Powell

Cormac Ryan

Caleb Wilson

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