Without jinxing our good fortune, it is safe to say that basketball is back at UNC. And after this weekend’s drubbing of (can I still call them our rival?) N.C. State, everyone is talking about Harrison Barnes.
Never in the history of college basketball has there been so much hype surrounding an incoming player. The top recruit in the nation, no freshman has ever been a preseason first team All-American — and with good reason. Very few freshmen have actually proven themselves worthy. Michael Jordan didn’t even get it as a freshman.
North Carolina fans always have unrealistic expectations. And that’s good. It’s why we have so many banners hanging from the Smith Center ceiling. But it was completely unreasonable for us or anyone else to expect Barnes to be one of the five best players in the country before he ever played a college basketball game.
And with all the unreasonable pressure put on Barnes this year, many fans were shocked to see him struggle the way he did early in the season. After an extremely forgettable year that was made worse by Duke’s championship season, UNC fans expected a Kobe-esque, messianic stud. What they got was a solid player who has struggled with turnovers — he leads the team.
Ironically enough, even with all the unfair pressure put on him throughout the basketball world, Barnes seems to play his best in high-pressure situations.
He is beginning to prove himself an extremely clutch player.
Against Virginia Tech, he scored three times in the final minutes and pulled out a tough win; he hit the go-ahead shot against Clemson late in the game, then nailed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in enemy territory against Miami. He even hit a game-tying shot with 12 seconds left in the early-season loss against Texas. And Saturday, he erupted with 25 points to show off for his mom and three of his high school teachers who made the trip from Iowa to watch him play.
Now here’s to hoping that his late-game heroics continue when we play Duke.
