Rashad McCants said it all

Before you burn the guy at the stake, this is worth the read.



Lucas: The Other Side

Adam Lucas on Rashad McCants

Oct. 19, 2004

By Adam Lucas

Rashad McCants had just made the biggest shot of his life. North Carolina was hosting Connecticut in front of 21,750 boisterous Smith Center fans. The game was tied at 83 with under a minute left, and Roy Williams called for a set play named "Long Beach." If it worked, there was a good chance McCants would be open for a three-pointer.

It worked, and the sophomore made the shot with just 6.2 seconds left. It gave him 27 points and gave the Heels their tenth victory over a top-ranked team.

The Carolina locker room was raucous. Media gathered in the adjacent players' lounge, and players slowly filtered in to do their postgame interviews. Most of the members of the regular rotation were already in the interview area when McCants emerged from the locker room. This was who most of the reporters were waiting for.





But he walked toward the exit. And with a wave, said, "Nah, I'm not talking today."

***

Watching one of Carolina's most talented players in many years walk toward the locker room door prompted one simple reaction: "That's no surprise."

He'd put together a roller-coaster freshman year, going from superstar to substitute in a matter of months. Sometimes he sat on the bench with a towel over his head. Sometimes he didn't give high fives when he came off the floor. Sometimes he simply didn't do the type of public housekeeping we've come to expect from a Carolina basketball player.

Messages to his cell phone would frequently go unreturned. He went through an entire season without ever calling some people intimately involved with the program by their name.

It was a difficult year for everyone involved, and there wasn't much time to delve into McCants's personality. The conclusion was simple. Player frowns. Player is difficult. No time to prove otherwise. No one knew he'd hurt his back during one of the best practices of his life before the Duke game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. No one knew he grew so frustrated with a variety of factors surrounding the team that out of the view of his coaches and teammates, he cried during one mid-season practice.

The trend continued during the first part of his sophomore year. Roy Williams sent him to the locker room during a game against UNC-W--the first time in Williams's coaching career he'd ever disciplined a player in that fashion--and benched him on multiple occasions against Kentucky. The loss to the Wildcats fired up the same articles that had been written the year before, the ones that included words like "temperamental" and "moody."

Behind the scenes, however, something happened that altered McCants's behavior: Roy Williams passed the test.

Every Carolina player knows they are in a fishbowl. They don't outwardly compare it to a prison, but they realize their every move is magnified, understand that some acquaintances will try and get to know them simply because they are Tar Heel basketball players. On a campus of peers, they are idolized.

Most players assume the best upon meeting someone new until the strangers prove otherwise. McCants does the opposite--he assumes the worst until someone proves worthy of his friendship. It's a defense mechanism that can make it difficult to relate to him. It requires effort, and many people aren't willing to put in the time.

Roy Williams was. And when McCants realized his head coach had nothing but the best of intentions--McCants even said it was only the second time in his life he'd had a coach who he felt cared about him regardless of the number of points he scored--something changed in the talented player.

After the loss to Duke in the Smith Center on Feb. 5, it was McCants who took charge of a somber postgame locker room, going from player to player to provide a word of encouragement as many of his teammates hung their heads. It was McCants who stood up at the team's annual basketball banquet and said to a room of strangers, "I know that I can be hard to be around, but I want you all to know that I'm a good kid," a stunning pronouncement from someone who'd never shown much interest in testifying about his character.

And it was McCants who adopted rising sophomore Reyshawn Terry as his pet project, constantly trying to convince Terry, who was overwhelmed as a freshman, of his significant potential. At virtually every pickup game this summer, whenever Terry made a positive contribution, it was quickly followed by loud commentary from his own personal cheerleader: "Yeah Reyshawn, I see you!" McCants would shout. "He's taken me under his wing," Terry says. "He's trying to make me a better player and I'm trying to get where he's going."

There are other signs of progress. Although he wasn't enrolled in summer school, McCants stayed in Chapel Hill this summer for the sole purpose of spending more time with his teammates. One day, without warning, he wandered into the sports information office and for the first time in his life, spent nearly an hour chatting with surprised staffers who before that day weren't even sure he knew their name. He began returning cell phone messages, began calling people by name.

Once he trusts you, he has one of the most winning personalities on Carolina's entire team. He can be charming, witty, and insightful--all qualities his friends described during his freshman year that seemed to be impossible. For many people, the problem is that getting to those layers takes too much time. He does not smile and say, "Have a nice day." He does not spout needless platitudes. If he is happy, he smiles. If he is mad, he frowns. He makes it perfectly clear where you stand with him at all times, something that should be a welcome bit of honesty but can be disheartening to those not on his good side. He is a challenge, which is part of the reason--in addition to his prodigious basketball talents--Sports Illustrated recently came to Chapel Hill to do a large feature piece on him for their basketball preview issue.

But a worthwhile challenge. Just last week, after a Late Night with Roy Williams rehearsal, he stood in a Smith Center tunnel and spoke disappointingly about his performance in a pickup game earlier that day. "Come on, I was terrible," he said. "My shot was off and I wasn't doing any of the little things."

The refreshing thing was that it wasn't a case of the prettiest girl in the class saying she looked fat just to fish for a compliment. It was a stark evaluation by someone who values the same in return from his friends. If he asks how he played, he wants the truth and will scoff if you provide anything else. As he turned to leave, he offered one more comment. "You know, when I leave here, I don't know what people are going to think of me. But what I really hope they remember about me is that I wanted to win more than anything. That's all I want. That's all I care about. I just really want to win."

Later in the week he would be given the option of skipping the team's annual media day. His paternal grandmother had passed away, and he could have returned to Asheville to be with his family. But he was adamant about attending the media session, something--if they were as bluntly honest as McCants--his teammates might have taken the opportunity to skip.

That's the setting where he offered a comment that's likely to follow him around the ACC this year, as he quoted his uncle--it's worth remembering that McCants himself didn't make the prison comparison, his uncle did--on the rigors of playing basketball at Carolina. They are comments that rightfully wounded a fan base used to their heroes returning their adulation.

Roy Williams and McCants addressed those comments Tuesday afternoon in a startlingly frank press conference. What kind of person is McCants? Before he began, he admitted in front of the largest press conference media gathering in recent memory, "I'm nervous."

Most people would be. Few would admit it. The facts are that he gave a ten-minute interview that was torpedoed by two sentences. Some fans will write him off for that transgression, and this isn't meant to criticize those who make that decision. But it is meant to tell those folks that they'll miss out on one of the most unique and insightful individuals who has played at Carolina in the past couple of decades.

***

After that Connecticut game, he waited, with perfect timing, for most of the media to stare at his back. Waited long enough for the thoughts to form in their minds: "Here we go again."

Then he spun on his heel, flashed a megawatt grin, and said, "Nah, I'm just kidding."

And he sat in the players' lounge and talked for nearly a half-hour, long after his teammates had gone out into the chilly day to accept the cheers of their admirers.

http://tarheelblue.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/101904aab.html

 

wake me when the season starts

 

Nice press conferance to call even more attention to it. :applause:
Williams is a dipshit

 

LISTEN (33:36)

The full video interview that was the source of the issue was replayed, followed by comments from Roy Williams, Rashad McCants and then UNC Sports Information Director Steve Kirschner -- and then they fielded several questions from reporters.

Here are some text excerpts from the press conference...

Opening remarks

Williams:
“The big intention of this was to address some of the comments that came out that were attributed to Rashad over the weekend.”

[WRAL-TV interview re-played on press room monitor]

“Across the front of the Herald-Sun it said, ‘McCants compares playing basketball at Carolina to prison.’ That’s what the headline said in the Durham paper, and that’s what the headline said in the Raleigh paper. When I read it I was really ticked off. There’s no doubt about it; that was about as mad as I’ve ever been. It’s madder than I’ve ever been at any player about anything he’s said.

“I called the entire team in and handed them a copy of what was written. I told Rashad, in no uncertain terms, that there is a huge difference between playing basketball at UNC and prison. Because one is like Monopoly, I can give him a get out of jail free card because he could leave. He could quit. And if he honestly felt that way, then he should do so. If he was talking about having to go to class, having tutors appointments, having to be on time and be accountable, then darn right, that’s the way it is and it wasn’t going to change.

“I also told him that this hurt us two ways. If I’m a teammate, it hurt me as a teammate. ‘Here is a guy comparing playing basketball to prison, so playing with me is like being in jail;’ saying this is ‘just a job,’ I would not like that as a teammate. College basketball is supposed to be fun, even if we have big-time dreams. The majority of my team has big-time dreams. Secondly, I told him I appreciated giving the other schools to send to our recruits for the next five years. We know for a fact that everyone that we’re recruiting this year has received copies of these articles in the mail or by fax. I told him that was going to make our jobs a heck of a lot easier.

“I thought the use of the word ‘jail’ was a terrible example, as I told his uncle.”

McCants:
“First off, I’m nervous. I just want to start off by saying, I love North Carolina. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. You guys know the story, childhood dream, Michael Jordan, Vince Carter and all that. I wouldn’t trade the three years I’ve had with my teammates for nothing in the world. I love them to death. I wouldn’t have asked my sister to re-evaluate going to UConn or Tennessee to come here. I know this is the place where it feels like heaven. Lately, I’ve started to feel different because I read in the paper something that I never said. It’s kind of hard when I come to practice and find out I can’t practice. That hurts me because of the expectations that we have for the season, in the locker room, is so high. And that I can’t go out and help my teammates become better, because something was misprinted or taken totally out of context.

“We do have responsibilities as players to be in here, work hard and take every thing that we do seriously. We wouldn’t be in here using being a basketball player as a hobby. You play video games as a hobby. Even though Coach Williams does disagree with the ‘9-to-5’ reference, I do feel like we have a lot of responsibility and accountability of the things we’re required to do. We have to come in here and lift; give it all we’ve got. Be out on the court; stay alert, be focused and give it all we’ve got. You guys that are doing your jobs right now…some of you like it, some of you don’t. Well, this is what I love to do. I love to play basketball. I want to make it my job one day.

“But just to clarify, everything I said was nothing negative about UNC -- the program, recruiting or anything. Every thing is positive and I thought it was a pretty good interview. For anybody to put into bold print that I compared it to prison...it's kind of crazy...but that's all I have to say.”



Steve Kirschner, UNC Associate A.D. for Communications:
“I just had a few things that I talked about with Coach that I wanted to say. As upset as I was with the interview when I saw it – I went back and one of the people here at the station was nice enough to show me the tape and make me a copy of the tape – and, when I saw the tape, I saw the Rashad that has really interested me. He’s really thoughtful, he’s very introspective, and that’s the type of interview you all have asked him to give since he is such an engaging guy. The interviews he gave prior to the Duke game last year were some of the best we’ve ever had. He was very self-evaluative – looked at himself – to talk to you all about that. And to have a long interview like that…and to have one small part of that question become the headline – I thought was very disappointing and not a true reflection of that interview.”

McCants:
“I do love my coaches.”

Williams:
“That was one thing I circled here that he didn’t say. “If I say, ‘playing at North Carolina is like being in prison,’ then that’s what I said, OK? But to take that from those interviews and do those things, I think that is a pretty liberal excuse and a pretty liberal use of journalism. But I do understand that a lot of you guys write articles, and somebody else puts the headlines down. That was harmful to me. That was harmful to this young man. And like Steve said to me somebody said we were having this press conference at 3 [o’clock] because a prospect was having a press conference at 3 -- that’s a big bunch of ‘bunk.’”

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=1905457

 

Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.-- North Carolina guard Rashad McCants is required to go to class, to show up on time for practice and to attend study hall. He has very little of the freedom most college students take for granted.



And he wouldn't have it any other way.



"I love North Carolina," McCants said Tuesday. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."



McCants and Tar Heels coach Roy Williams held a news conference to explain comments McCants made to a local TV station last week.



In an interview that aired on WRAL-TV on Friday night, McCants compared playing college basketball to being in jail. He also said he considered his time in the program to be his job.



"It's to get up and go to school, get here and lift weights and play basketball," McCants said in the interview. "That's my 9-to-5. As my uncle said, I'm in jail right now. You're not allowed to do certain things, you're not allowed to say certain things.



"But once you get out of jail, you're free. So I'm just in my sentence and I'm doing my time."



He said Tuesday he meant to give an example of how regimented his life is with the Tar Heels. As he told Williams when explaining the comments, he couldn't go anywhere during fall break like many of his classmates because he had to get ready for the start of practice.



"I do feel like there is a lot of things that are required for us to do," McCants said. "But this is what I love to do, and I want to make it my job someday."



The enigmatic McCants, who says he's misunderstood by people outside the team, led North Carolina in scoring last season with an average of 20 points. He started 29 of 30 games and was named to the all-Atlantic Coast Conference team and was a third-team All-America.



In a game against North Carolina-Wilmington last season, Williams sent McCants and teammate Jesse Holley to the locker room in the first half because he said they weren't cheering enough for their teammates on the court.



Williams downplayed the incident after the game, and he had no further problems with McCants.



This season, McCants returned with two new tattoos -- "Born to be hated" on his right arm and "Dying to be loved" on his left. He talked about public perception of him earlier in the TV interview.



"The process of changing perception is like trying to get somebody to vote for you in an election," McCants said. "I don't think I can change anything about what people are saying about me. I can just be me."



Williams admittedly was angry Sunday when he first learned of the comments McCants made about prison, and he was equally upset about the reference to a 9-to-5 job. Williams' mother worked for 51 years in a mill -- "Rashad has it a lot easier than my mother," Williams said -- and when McCants showed up for practice that night, Williams told him to leave.



"I was really ticked off," he said. "I told Rashad there was a big difference in playing college basketball and being in jail. Like the game Monopoly, I told him I could just give him a 'Get out of jail free' card and he could leave."



Williams changed his mind after viewing the complete interview, which lasted about 10 minutes. McCants was introspective about his time at North Carolina and he talked about his excitement about the upcoming season.



"I thought the interview was very thoughtful," Williams said. "I guess the bottom line is I disagree with his use of the word jail."


I think UNC hater try to make to much of this.

 

I was hoping he said something really bad like "dook has ugly cheerleaders" or "Dick Baddour is the biggest dick on campus".

 

As much as I dislike the Tarheels, you have to respect the program.McCants isn't and never will be a team player.He reminds me of Magette

 

As we all know I'm a state fan... but where did the class of players go from the late 80s-early 90s at UNC?


Hell even all of the players in te 90s (sans Jeff McInnis and Rasheed) were pretty good teammates. Now it's a bunch of inmates running the asylum.

 

did you even listen to or read the actual interview?