Stickland's Injury: The Turning Point for UNC

When UNC’s combo guard Dexter Strickland tore his ACL last week against Virginia Tech, the common question came up as to how the team would be able to replace their best perimeter defender and back-up point guard. ESPN writer, Jason King wrote: “Make no mistake: This is a huge blow for the Tar Heels and their quest for a national championship. Strickland is far from the most talented North Carolina player. But he's one of the most important.”

Strickland was averaging 27 minutes a game and scoring an average of 7.5 points on a career high 57% shooting. Never being known as a shooter during his UNC tenure, Strickland increased his shooting percentage 9% from 2010 and basically eliminated 3 pointers from his repertoire (0-1). Strickland was far and away the most athletic player on the team and was a blur to watch in the open court. His speed and jumping ability were things to behold as numerous defenders found out over the past year:

 While Strickland was considered UNC’s top perimeter defender and provided a steady hand when called upon to take over point guard duties for Kendall Marshall, the insertion of sophomore guard Reggie Bullock into the starting line-up could give the Tar Heels a stronger possibility of cutting the nets down in New Orleans.

One of the key developments for the 2009 title team was the pre-season injury to Marcus Ginyard. This injury allowed Danny Green to move into the starting lineup and allowed Roy Williams to put another shooter on the court. Green shot the lights out during the year and in turn provided Ol Roy four legit scorers in his starting line-up, along with Deon Thompson. Strickland’s injury will open up more playing time for sophomore Reggie Bullock and freshman PJ Hairston, who are both known as

scorers. While UNC is currently 1st in the nation in points per game at 85.1 and 15^th in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted offensive efficiency rating (113.9), they have often struggled with getting points in the half-court (i.e. Scoring 4 points over 10:25 during the FSU game). The Tar Heels lineup previously included only two true scorers (Barnes and Zeller), along with a great set up man in Marshall. While Henson and Strickland both improved their offensive games going into their junior seasons, neither one could be considered a reliable scorer. Adding Bullock to the starting lineup will give UNC another perimeter threat which will in turn free up Zeller in the post. Between Marshall and Strickland, the starting back-court had only hit 9 three pointers all year. It’s tough to win a championship when you can’t rely on your starting back court to score points.

Where Strickland’s loss hurts the most is at the back-up point guard position. Freshman Stillman White is now considered the back-up point guard and unfortunately he cannot be counted on to contribute key minutes in ACC play just quite yet. If Marshall gets hurt or in foul trouble, the Tar Heels will be in trouble, but that did not stop the 2005 or 2009 team from winning a championship. While the previous two championship teams could not rely on their freshman back-up pg’s, they did have experienced combo guards to step in for a few minutes each game. In order to overcome this deficiency, Williams and the coaching staff will have to closely monitor Marshall’s rest time (i.e. taking him out before a TV time-outs). Marshall’s minutes will need to increase, but hopefully well planned rest time and a steady improvement by White will allow the team to overcome the loss of Strickland.  

Strickland has been one of the Tar Heels’ hardest workers during his 3 years on the Hill, however his season ending injury could turn out to be a blessing in disguise come the NCAA tournament. This group of players has been known to go through long scoring droughts on a regular basis and when the NCAA tournament comes around any type of scoring lull can easily result in an early tournament exit.  Coach Williams will have to actively manage Marshall’s rest around TV timeouts and Bullock and Hairston will need to step up and prove that they are worthy of the increased playing time. However, with the addition of an extra scorer into the starting line-up the Tar Heels will have prepared themselves for another Final 4 and possible championship run.