Lucas: All Together Now

By Adam Lucas

Carolina's reunion weekend was a little bit emotional and occasionally hilarious and sometimes motivational.

But for the entire time, it was what everyone seems to be trying to find and what's increasingly hard to locate: it was authentic.

The weekend also included a social event on Friday night and a pregame tailgate on Saturday before Carolina's 35-3 win over ETSU. Some attendees will also join the current team at Sunday's Dribble for Victory Over Cancer, a fundraiser that is open to the public.

But the centerpiece was Saturday night's dinner on the floor of the Smith Center, with over 500 attendees who spanned the Tar Heel timeline from Dick Kepley, a member of the 1957-58 squad, to current freshmen Maximo Adams, Malloy Smith, Sayon Keita and Kevin Thomas.

That's eight decades of Carolina hoops history under one very well-loved roof (which, as we know, is also the ceiling). It was fun to watch that history come together. Only on this particular night could you find Charles Scott and George Lynch sitting at the same table, just across from where Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige were together again.

They were all watching a captivating program at the front of the room that started with Jones Angell hosting a Q&A with two of the retired jersey honorees in attendance, Phil Ford and Tyler Hansbrough. You've heard plenty from Ford and Hansbrough over the years. But never quite like this, as they eloquently captured what it's meant to be a part of the Carolina basketball family.

"I tell lots of people that Phil is my favorite Tar Heel," Hansbrough says. "But I don't usually tell them that one of my favorite voice mails I've ever received is from Phil. He called me one time and left me a message and just said, 'Hey, I haven't heard from you in a while. Give me a call back and let me know how you're doing. Love you.'

"That's a great example of how being part of the Carolina Family is a forever deal."

Since they were among, well, family, Ford and Hansbrough could break out some of their favorite off-the-record stories. Ford had a great one about a practice interaction between Dean Smith and Rasheed Wallace. Hansbrough told one that included Roy Williams punishing his team with an "88," a sprint that includes eight down-and-back crossings of the court. A more standard conditioning sprint is a 33 (three down-and-backs).

The crowd of Family members meant Hansbrough didn't even have to explain the significance of the number. "Coach said to put 88 on the clock," he said.

Immediately, a low, "Whoaaaaaaa" went through the crowd. They got it. Everyone in this room spoke the same language and needed no further description.

Hansbrough and Ford then turned the podium over to Roy Williams, who spent 15 minutes reminding everyone exactly why they love Roy Williams so darn much. He name-checked multiple people in the room, from assessing Kepley's age to reminding everyone of Paige's buzzer-beaters against Louisville and NC State. As he did, one voice said, "Hellllll yeah," and when you turned to identify the culprit, it was Johnson. Paige's former teammate had a wide grin on his face, just as he had earlier in the day when Williams had introduced him to someone this way: "All I need to do," the head coach said, "is say 39 and 23. That's what this guy put up in a road game at Florida State."

Paige had 30 on that same night. Life was pretty good as a Tar Heel fan in the mid-2010s.

Of course, that was also a decade ago now, and some of the current team might not have been as familiar with all the Carolina history they heard about on Saturday night. So Williams left no question at all about what it meant to be a part of the Tar Heel program. With the current team seated directly in front of his podium, he stared right into their eyes when he delivered this message:

"This family is like no other because it's deep down in your soul," he said. "That's a challenge that you have. This place is special. Some of you are freshmen and some of you transferred from other schools. Understand this: this place is nothing like those places you came from."

But he didn't just want to scare them. He also wanted to inspire them.

"We have a high standard here," he said. "But if you do what Michael Malone and his staff say to the best of your ability, and you do it over and over, you have a chance. And there's no better feeling that to come down the stretch and know that you have a chance to win a national championship. A lot of teams say they want to be as good as they can possibly be. I always wanted a little more. I wanted to win the whole freaking thing. You can have a chance to do that."

Malone was the night's last scheduled speaker. He'd spent the night talking to as many former players as he could find, maximizing the event he'd orchestrated to soak in as much history and background as possible. He's made it very apparent that he doesn't just want to coach the team. He wants to lead the program.

"There is a standard we have to uphold and we don't take that lightly," he said. "I came here to compete to put another banner in these rafters."

Then he referenced the Hansbrough-Ford conversation in what might have been the line of the night. "Tyler Hansbrough said the Carolina Family is forever," the new head coach said. "My forever just started."

That really should have been enough to punctuate the evening. But if this was truly an authentic Carolina basketball evening, it still needed one more thing. When the speeches were over and the lettermen and guests began enjoying the dinner (and the kids in attendance hustled back to the bounce houses that were set up in the practice gym), that left the podium with the microphone unoccupied. And you know what that means.

Theo Pinson just couldn't resist. "There should never be an event where I'm not speaking," he said after commandeering the microphone in a nod to his press conference-crashing days during his playing career.

He was heartfelt, relaying a story about a hotel room conversation with Williams he said changed his career and his life. And he also provided the perfect summary of the night and the weekend.

"This," Pinson said, "is the best place in the world. And I love everyone here."

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Maximo Adams

Sayon Keita

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Kevin Thomas

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