Look at the current roster for the North Carolina men’s basketball team, and you might notice something missing.
Gone are Joel Berry II and Theo Pinson, two senior playmakers who graduated last spring. Berry might have been the starting point guard for the last two years, but Pinson was the team’s best playmaker. He dished no look passes on the fast break and dropped off nifty shovel passes to the team’s big men off a drive. He was everything a playmaker needed to be in a Roy Williams offense.
The playmaking is going to come down to two point guards with big question marks above their heads — junior Seventh Woods and first-year Coby White.
White has started the first two games of the season for North Carolina, but Woods has still played meaningful minutes off the bench, averaging a career-high 15.5 minutes a game in two contests.
Stylistically, there’s more than a little bit of Pinson in the way Woods plays. Explosive athletes and good passers, who use their speed to get on the break and create an advantage for their teammates. The difference between the two, besides position, is how Pinson used his size and strength to make himself an offensive threat.
For all four years of his UNC career, the Tar Heels were better on offense when Pinson was on the court. Woods is explosive driving to the rim, but he has trouble finishing at the bucket. He’s 2-15 on attempted 3's in his entire career. He is also a good defensive guard with the speed to keep up with most players. He also possesses athleticism that allows him to challenge shots at the rim. Forcing turnovers and using his speed on the break are his strengths.
His big advantage over White comes in experience. Williams' offense is a difficult one to run, especially for a first-year. It’s a system based around making consistent decisions on the fast-break and secondary break action and quickly reading a defense and its reaction.
Woods is entering his third year with experience running the offense, so he should know the ins and out of it by now. So far, results have looked promising. In his 31 minutes on the court, the team has had an offensive rating of 142.4 and a defensive rating of just 85.9. Woods has never been a player who teams are scared of going for 30 points in a game, but there is a lot of value in being able to set an offense and defend at a high level.
White on the other hand, comes having scored the most all-time points in North Carolina high school history. While he has the physical ability and profile of a plus defender, his calling card has been, and always will be, making shots.
