ShareThisCHAPEL HILL, N.C. - It's logical to assume that if North Carolina's basketball team can maintain the current pace, one of the Tar Heels will be voted first-team All-ACC.
But which one?
There are three obvious candidates, all forwards -- freshman Harrison Barnes, sophomore John Henson and junior Tyler Zeller.
Only a few weeks ago, there wasn't a strong North Carolina contender at all. But that was before the team began a push that has made the league regular-season championship a possibility.
After Tuesday's 78-64 win over Wake Forest (8-18, 1-10 ACC) in the Smith Center, North Carolina went to 19-6 and 9-2, only a game behind Duke (23-2, 10-1).
With the next UNC-Duke game in Chapel Hill (8 p.m. March 5), it's not out of the question that the Heels could wind up in a tie for first, and that's after taking a 78-58 pounding at Georgia Tech in its third league game.
At the root of the surge is the stability provided by the unexpected emergence of freshman playmaker Kendall Marshall.
However, the primary producers throughout the season have been the three forwards.
At 6-10, Henson has developed into one of the best shot-blockers in all of college basketball.
But can you vote for a guy whose free-throw shooting (roughly 42 percent) is such that Roy Williams has to be careful about leaving Henson on the floor late in close games?
A reflection of Henson's free-throw adventures can be seen among the students in the Smith Center end-zone section.
When a North Carolina player is at the line, the students raise their hands in preparation for a "swoosh" cheer on conversions. When Henson is shooting, many of those students have started to cross fingers on their outstretched hands.
But as Williams said again Wednesday, Henson "is having a heck of a year -- he's getting better and better."
After an erratic early season, 7-foot Zeller has become one of the league's most consistent inside players. His 18 points and nine rebounds against Wake were generally in line with his previous six games.
"We have to find a way to get the ball to him more," Marshall said. "Z is so efficient inside that we just have to find that way."
Barnes, who struggled early as well, has scored at least 17 points in five of the past six games, including 25 against N.C. State and 26 against Boston College back to back.
"He's getting tougher for other teams to stop every time he plays," Marshall said. "Harrison can work a defense over."
Three first-team all-league spots are likely set -- Duke's Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, and Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney.
They're followed by a group that includes the three North Carolina players, Boston College's Reggie Jackson, Maryland's Jordan Williams, Florida State's Chris Singleton and perhaps Georgia Tech's Iman Shumpert and Miami's Malcolm Grant.
Singleton may be out for the rest of the season with an injury, and Shumpert and Grant are on teams out of contention.
If history holds and the three Tar Heels stay hot, one will likely land that first-team berth. Zeller probably has a slight edge now, but there are five games left and that could change.
In the long run, the voting results by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association members are far less important than continued progress by the entire team.
But it's a situation few fans -- and probably even the guys in the North Carolina locker room -- thought would arise after that trip to Atlanta on Jan. 16.
(Contact Caulton Tudor at caulton.tudor(at)newsobserver.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.
