On Hodge, Heels and aliens
Julius Hodge plays for the Denver Nuggets these days (or at least works for them). But his name nevertheless came up a few times in Chapel Hill on Friday, where Roy Williams and his players discussed UNC's game Saturday against N.C. State.
The thinking in the Dean Dome is this year's Wolfpack team has a more dangerous offense without the high-scoring Hodge. With balance comes more weapons to worry about and so on.
Senior David Noel had this to say: "Now that Julius is gone, I think I like them a little bit more. I like him off the court, but on the court, he was something else."
Chris Paul could not be reached for comment.
In a related note, Williams says not to expect him to adjust the Heels' game plan much for the Wolfpack, which runs stuff a lot different than most of UNC's opponents. Since Williams' arrival in Chapel Hill, the Heels have had success with extended pressure against State's guards, so why change now?
"What if we go out there tomorrow and try to play like Vegas when Tark was there?" the Heels coach said. "Then all this dadgum practicing we’ve been doing was for nothing. Or what if we go out there tomorrow and I walk the ball up and spread it out in the Four Corners? You better have me examined. There’s some damn alien that’s crawled up in my body. It ain’t me."