NCAA Basketball: Top 16 reveal, Tennessee’s hidden flaw, and more weekly takeaways
By Brian Rauf
8) Coby White is a superstar
North Carolina has won 11 of their last 12 games, including seven in a row, and the biggest reason behind this surge is the play of freshman point guard Coby White.
Despite being overshadowed coming into the season by teammate and fellow five-star prospect Nassir Little, White has been UNC’s starting point guard since the opener. He showed flashes of his potential with outstanding games against Texas and UCLA around Thanksgiving, but – as freshmen tend to be – was inconsistent after that.
White has not been inconsistent of late.
The 6-5 guard has scored at least 15 points in six of the seven consecutive games UNC has won and has scored at least 21 in three of the last five, including a 33-point outburst against Miami on Saturday.
However, what was more impressive to me on Saturday was the way White racked up his production. Roy Williams gave him free rein of the offense. White’s teammates, upperclassmen like Luke Maye, Cam Johnson, and Kenny Williams, deferred to him. It was his show and White ran with the opportunity.
Next. 8 teams getting hot in mid-February. dark
The Tar Heels narrowly avoided a disastrous loss by letting White take over. Expect him to continue to become more of a focal point of UNC’s offense in the coming weeks – and expect him to excel.