Just a Few More Minutes

Via Ed Cone, here's Mickey McLean:

Say what you want about Matt Doherty, but he did recruit a talented group of kids to play at Carolina. And the fact that Roy Williams was able to mold them into National Champions in two short years is nothing short of amazing. But that really shouldn't surprise us since it was that formula—Doherty recruiting, Williams coaching—that led to much success for Kansas in the 1990s.

Roy Williams was thinking of Doherty during his post-game press conference:

You know, I did feel so badly for what happened a couple years ago. I felt badly for Matt Doherty. Let's not forget he's the guy who recruited most of these guys, with the exception for Marvin and Quentin. Jackie and Jawad and Melvin for sticking with it, after starting 8-20. To me it means more for those kids than it does anything that can be said about our program.

... But I also am going to sit back and understand that these guys, my assistants, this staff and the kids really bought into everything we tried to do. We're 33-4. Again, I feel for Matt Doherty, I really do. If Matt was right there, I would want him to know that this was special and I would give Matt Doherty a big hug. Matt Doherty needs to be back in coaching, too.

Raymond Felton even mentioned finally accepting some old advice from Doherty:

Felton shot only 31 percent from the floor last year, but he raised his shooting percentage to 46 percent this season after changing his shooting form by tucking his elbow closer to his body.

Felton said former North Carolina Matt Doherty suggested that he change his shot as a freshman with the Tar Heels, but Felton resisted the change. Tired of hearing about how he couldn't shoot, he decided to correct the mechanical flaw after the 2003-04 season.

Old habits are hard to break, so Felton began a regiment of 600 jump shots a day.

"I basically brought my elbow in to help make my shot more accurate," Felton said. "And, then it was a lot of repetition, getting a lot of shots up each and every day. I just continued to work hard at it."

Given the events and personalities involved, a Matt Doherty-coached 2004-05 Tar Heel team, successful or no, probably would not have won a national championship.

But it takes nothing away from Roy Williams's breathtaking success this year to point out that a Doherty-recruited team did.