Harrison Barnes picks North Carolina
Words. Jason Jordan
You could almost hear the collective sigh from thousands of fans across the country when Ames High (Iowa) star Harrison Barnes, HighSchoolHoop’s top-rated prospect, said live on ESPNU, “Today I am proud to announce that the school that I will attend in the fall of 2010 will be the coach that I am going to Skype… Coach Roy Williams…”
Even the losers — Duke, Iowa State, Oklahoma, UCLA and Kansas — had to have some degree of relief from finally knowing.
“I just felt that, not only is Coach Williams so good at instructing the game,” said Barnes, “I felt that I had developed a great relationship with the players, and I’m just so anxious to play with them.”
Barnes is widely regarded as a one-and-done player who many believe has the potential to be the top pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
A 6-7 small forward, Barnes’ offensive repertoire is virtually flawless and he plays with a warrior-like intensity on both ends of the floor.
Barnes, along with the pieces the Tar Heels already have in place, is good enough to make them a national title contender next season. Barnes joins Kendall Marshall and Reggie Bullock to complete UNC’s stellar 2010 recruiting class.
Barnes has agreed to make a final entry into his widely popular diary chronicling his thought process in the final hours of his decision to pick North Carolina. Stay tuned for that next week.
Got a burning question for Jason? Email him: JasonJ@DimeMag.com
Coach K….You sir are a recruiting failure and have been for a decade. Either get it together or just become the full time olympic coach. No recruiting there…..
Directed towards Blue Devil - I hope to God you are not a duke fan if you are you arent a true fan. You are a idiot - “A recruiting nightmare?” I would say that pulling Kelly, MP2, Dawkins, Irving, Hairston is a nightmare! We will be adding Roscoe Smith soon as well….Go jump on the UNC bandwagon we dont need idiots like you on our side!
AWesome Harrison welcome to the family!!!! Your gonna love here at UNC…Beat DUKE!!!!!lol
get ready!!! Duke! Looks like tarheels will still be tea bagging!! Ur prep school white boyz!!!!! Lol……..coach k you just lost both games nx yr………
loser!!!!
Harrison,
As a Duke fan, I am disappointed. However, I wish you the best. You are truly high class.
Man, it looks like you’ve been duped JJ, NOT EVEN K.IRVING COULD GET YA BOY TO DURHAM! UNC NEEDED THAT BIG TIME (ON THE NATIONAL TITLE SCALE)!
That line-up of Mr. Marshall at the 1, Reggie “WAYYYYYY DOWN TOWN” Bullock at the 2 and Harrison “THE 2010 VERSION OF CALBERT CHANEY” at the 3…as My man “THE NATURE BOY” would say it, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Then being backed up by L. Drew at the 1, Strickland/McDonald at the 2 and Graves at the 3??? WHAT????
WE DO NEED TO IMPROVE OUR OVERALL FRONT COURT QUALITY OF PLAYERS, WE NEED 1 BEAST (AND IT AINT EITHER OF THE WEAR TWINS, HENSON ISNT THAT BEAST DOWN LOW. BUT HE’S GOING TO NEED TO B ABLE TO TO SCORE ON THE BLOCK FOR US 2 KEEP DEF’S HONEST)ED WILL B BACK (I’M PRAYING).
I FORGOT ABOUT MR. ZELLER, ITS TIME TO SHOW Y U WERE WORTHY OF THAT LOFTY RANKING. WE NEED ONE PLAYER IN THE MOLD OF PATRICK PATTERSON, WHY COULDNT HE HAVE CHOSEN CAROLINA, ANOTHER TITLE WOULD HAVE BEEN ALL BUT GUARENTEED!!!!
I SEE U DUKE THOUGH, YALL COMING N WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE A CRUCIAL CLASS 2 GO ALONG WITH THIS CLASS, WE HERE…WE HERE, AND AINT GOING NO WHERE..BUT BACK 2 THE TOP!!!!
Ray, I agree with most of your post but front court won’t be anywhere close to UNC’s weakness for a long time. Those post guys are pretty aggressive… the Wear twins look like they have been in a college weightroom for 3 years. These guys are trying to find their place in a big time college program. Everyone knows that the backcourt is the preceived weakness for UNC so they are packing it back. It is hard to be very aggressived when there are a ton of people in the lane. When that backcourt play sures up and gets more consistent with outside shooting you will see the big men you named do work… all of them.
Directed towards Blue Devil - I hope to God you are not a duke fan if you are you arent a true fan. You are a idiot - “A recruiting nightmare?” I would say that pulling Kelly, MP2, Dawkins, Irving, Hairston is a nightmare! We will be adding Roscoe Smith soon as well….Go jump on the UNC wagon we dont need idiots like you on our side!
Welcome to Chapel Hill, Mr. Barnes! The fans are very excited you’ve chosen to join the Carolina family to continue the great legacy built by the fine young men who came before you.
Despite some of the comments you will read most Carolina fans I know have been drawn to the program because it embodies the best principles of sport: playing hard, playing smart and playing together. In this regard, you are a perfect match.
Best of luck as you finish your high school career and prepare for the next set of challenges.
Harrison Barnes is already an accomplished, well educated, intelligent young man. I wish him every possible dream on his journey through academia, sports, and the business world. Should he happen to elevate Carolina to another championship, I wouldn’t mind that either.
Go ahead and start designing the new NCAA Titles banners for 2011 and 2012.Watch as UNC passes Kentucky in NCAA titles the next few yrs.