Former UNC recruits shine

The heartbreaking loss to Duke aside, the North Carolina men’s basketball team is still in great position so far this season.

UNC is ranked in the top 5 in both polls.

Dick Vitale, Jay Bilas and countless other “experts” have labeled the Tar Heels the most talented team in the country and the pick to win it all.

With five players seemingly destined to play at the next level, it’s pretty unbelievable that this team could have been even stronger — as two outstanding commitments who didn’t come to Chapel Hill for different reasons are thriving in their new environments.

The leading scorer in North Carolina high school history, JamesOn Curry was set to play for the Tar Heels.

That is, until he was arrested and charged with six felony marijuana drug counts and Roy Williams decided to withdraw his scholarship offer.

Despite his obvious legal troubles and the public relations hit to the program, he certainly would have helped North Carolina on the court.

Curry instead signed with Oklahoma State and is playing well in Stillwater.

He’s fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 7.7 points per game, and is shooting 44 percent from three-point range.

Curry started the season off slowly. In Oklahoma State’s most important game — the Bedlam rivalry against Oklahoma — Curry scored just two points with four fouls in 17 minutes in the first matchup. But he rebounded with a career-high 22 points to help lead the Cowboys to victory in the second rivalry game.

In his five starts this season, Curry is averaging a very respectable 14.2 points per game.

When J.R. Smith was draining 30-foot jumpers in last year’s McDonald’s All-American Game, Tar Heel fans across the nation pictured him spelling Rashad McCants when he needed a rest.

However, rather than sit on UNC’s bench, Smith decided to skip college altogether and enter the NBA draft, where he was selected with the 18th pick by the New Orleans Hornets.

He’s now averaging 7.2 points per game for the Hornets, a number that would be good for sixth on the UNC team this year.

Smith has been turning it up of late, averaging 17.6 points in 35.8 minutes over his last five games. He’s also been given more responsibility for the injury-depleted Hornets, as he has started 26 games this season.

Considering that he dropped 23 twice so far this year, Smith’s scoring ability definitely couldn’t have hurt the Tar Heels this season.

The biggest knock on last year’s UNC team was its stunning lack of depth.

While the team has improved its depth tremendously with the additions of Marvin Williams and Quentin Thomas, both Curry and Smith would have been nice additions off the bench. Especially since both players are more than capable of handling the ball for the few minutes a game that Raymond Felton is on the bench.

Even though Curry and Smith might not have seen much playing time this year because they both essentially play the same position as McCants, both would have been vital to the team next season.

If the Tar Heels do indeed win the national championship, it is conceivable that they could lose seven players to a combination of the NBA and graduation.

North Carolina has a sense of urgency to win before the team disintegrates, and though Curry and Smith might not have been stars for this year’s squad, they would have been able to help down the road.

Contact David Moses at dmoses@email.unc.edu.