ShareThisRegardless of North Carolina's Final Four fate, the busiest guy in Chapel Hill during the next few months may be a Tar Heel you won't see if you blink long Saturday and perhaps Monday.
As the team's third-string point guard, freshman Larry Drew II understands better than anyone that he's far from center stage.
But with junior Ty Lawson likely to turn pro after the season and senior Bobby Frasor ready to move on, Drew is the only viable candidate to fill the role that first Raymond Felton, then Lawson almost perfected.
"It's a lot to think about, but I plan to be ready whether my chance is next year or whenever," Drew said as Carolina prepared for Saturday's game against Villanova at Ford Field.
Drew is not ready yet, not even close. But that's understandable given his situation.
Talented as they are, the Heels don't function very well without Lawson. Frasor, a coach's kid, is an above-average defender and occasional surprise on offense.
Were Roy Williams in charge of a baseball franchise, Drew would have spent the season in Triple-A. That said Drew is about to become the focal point of Williams' second reloading initiative at Carolina.
From Matt Doherty, Williams inherited the foundation of the 2005 NCAA title team. The current veterans -- Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Deon Thompson and Frasor -- were recruited and groomed by Williams.
Only Thompson, a junior forward, is likely to return. He'll be joined by redshirt senior Marcus Ginyard, freshmen Ed Davis (probably) and Tyler Zeller plus a recruiting class that does not include a point-guard prospect.
Other than maybe the 6-6 Ginyard, it's tough to speculate on a second-string playmaker for next season, assuming Lawson does leave. Freshman Justin Watts could step up, but the job might even go to walk-on Marc Campbell.
Williams might as well be joined at the hip with Drew. If Drew soars, so could the team. If Drew flops, there's no Plan B. No one on the team is thinking flop.
"Larry's going to be a big-time player," Frasor said. "All he's got to do is do what coach Williams wants. Sometimes he has this idea that he knows what he's doing because his dad was a coach, and he does have unbelievable basketball savvy. But if he does what Coach wants and stays within the system, he's going to be a special player."
Ginyard says all Drew needs to learn is to "just calm down and take your time."
Then, there's Davis, Drew's roommate and close buddy. Drew brags on Davis' snoring exploits.
"He makes sounds like a rooster," Drew said.
Davis, in turn, brags on Drew's outside shooting ability, a skill not yet apparent on the stat sheet. In an average of 9.8 minutes through 31 games, Drew is shooting a modest 36 percent, 23 percent on 3-pointers and an alarming 41.2 on free throws.
"You can't really see it, because Larry's not in the game that much of the time, but he's a very good outside shooter," Davis said. "In high school, he won the McDonald's (All-American) 3-point contest. He's got the stroke."
Drew admits his jumper needs work.
"Since I got here, my shot's not the way it used to be. But I think that's going to come with more playing time and getting more confidence," he said.
Minus Ellington and Green, the Heels will need outside shooting, but Drew has learned from Lawson that shooting can't be his first priority.
"I've got to get stronger," he said. "This summer I've got a lot to do, but I'm going to spend more time in the weight room. Just getting stronger will improve my defense and ball-handling."
Ultimately, Drew's only goal is to become the kind of playmaker Carolina fans have been cheering for three years.
"In practice, I'm always asking myself, 'What would Ty do? What would Ty do?' I'm going to be in the gym every day this summer to work on that."
(Contact Caulton Tudor at caulton.tudor@newsobserver.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.
