McCants, 32, believes his relationship unfairly labeled him as not serious about his craft, and eventually forced him out of the NBA.

https://youtu.be/HhdNSnqiUvU

From the Charlotte Observer:

McCants’ biggest regret was his highly-publicized relationship with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian late in his career, which he said gave people an opportunity to doubt his commitment to the NBA.

 

“Without that situation in play, I’m a $60-70 million player,” McCants said. “Easily.”

After averaging 14.9 ppg during the 2007-08 season, McCants was traded to the Kings in February of 2009. He was released by Sacramento less than a year later.

He’s since played in the D-League, France, China, Brazil, Lebanon and Venezuela.

RELATED:
Rashad McCants Claims He Didn’t Have To Go To Class At UNC, Still Made Dean’s List

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Rashad McCants, the second-leading scorer on the North Carolina basketball team that won the 2004-05 national title, told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that tutors wrote his term papers, he rarely went to class for about half his time at UNC, and he remained able to play largely because he took bogus classes designed to keep athletes academically eligible.

 

McCants told “Outside the Lines” that he could have been academically ineligible to play during the championship season had he not been provided the assistance. Further, he said head basketball coach Roy Williams knew about the “paper class” system at UNC. The so-called paper classes didn’t require students to go to class; rather, students were required to submit only one term paper to receive a grade.

 

McCants also told “Outside the Lines” that he even made the dean’s list in the spring of 2005 despite not attending any of his four classes for which he received straight-A grades. He said advisers and tutors who worked with the basketball program steered him to take the paper classes within the African-American Studies program.

 

McCants’ allegations mirror and amplify many of those first made public in 2011, when the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer began to report about widespread academic fraud at UNC. The scandal has centered on the African-American Studies classes that many athletes took in order to remain eligible. The newspaper reported in December 2012 that basketball players on the national championship team accounted for 15 enrollments in the classes. A UNC internal investigation found that 54 classes in the department of African and Afro-American Studies were either “aberrant” or “irregularly” taught from summer 2007 to summer 2011. That investigation only went back to 2007, according to the school’s review, because the two senior associate deans who conducted the probe were told by Karen Gil, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, to focus on that time frame.

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by Bonsu Thompson / @DreamzrReal

To say Matt Doherty’s seat was hot at the beginning of this season is an understatement. The North Carolina coach was damn near sitting on Lucifer’s loveseat. After an atrocious ’01-02 that featured a 4-12 mark in the ACC and an overall disgrace of 8-20—not to mention UNC’s absence from the final 64 for the first time since 1974—Doherty’s ass wasn’t just grass, it was on its way to being manure.

That’s probably why you heard his name in the courting mix for the highest of high school talent last year. With his hook dangling in the recruiting pool, Doherty came off big, landing New Hampton (NH) Prep 6-4 guard Rashad McCants, a Carolina native and two-time New Hampshire Player of the Year; Indiana big man Sean May, who stands 6-8, weighs in at 272 and has hands of Charmin; and 6-footer Raymond Felton, the nation’s most valuable high school pg a year ago.

Ahem! Tar Heel fans (not to mention Coach Doherty’s friends and fam) should be glad to know that UNC’s ’02-03 season rests on the shoulders of three freshmen. Forget the anxiety fans will suffer while watching them, and empathize with these young men. Their reward for dominating the high school level wasn’t a chance to learn the ropes behind big brother-like upperclassmen. What they got was equivalent to a rookie fireman being ordered to save a burning building—on his first day on the job. They don’t get to back up anyone. They only get one thing: The shoulder weight of saving face and erasing last year’s disgrace for a program that has, arguably, the proudest history in college basketball.

But the baby blue babies don’t sweat the expectations. “I don’t think there was a lot of pressure on our side,” says May. “I knew that I was gonna be out there playing no matter what. We talked about it a lot during the summer— pressure is all what you make of it.”

McCants says he didn’t hear any pipes rattling, either. In fact, at the season’s brink he was more concerned with his teammates than his squad. “I thought that most of the pressure was on Raymond simply because he was a more high-profile player and I came from a low-profile school, so nobody knew who I was,” Rashad says. “But I knew what I could do, and I knew what my teammates could do.”

Their grown-up side, birthed in their rise to high school stardom, may see all of this as a tool for staying focused on the task ahead—“Ultimately,” states McCants, “a national championship.” But the kid side of their Mini-Wheats, which reminds them they’re entering a level of ball they’ve never experienced, may be ignoring the stress potential like a child who pulls a blanket over his head for fear that the boogie man’s in his room.

November 27, 2002. Madison Square Garden, site of the Preseason NIT. The Tar Heels are a worthless 3-0, having swept “whatever” teams Penn State, Rutgers and Old Dominion. Tonight their bus has dropped them off in the Big Apple to be devoured by No. 2 Kansas. Tonight, the Tar Heel freshmen get their first real test: Preventing Roy Williams’ troops from smacking them by more than a dub. Forty minutes later, it’s Kansas 56…UNC 67. McCants goes for an at-will 25 points with 3 steals; Felton plays 30 minutes with only 1 turnover; May gets 11 boards, 5 blocks and 4 steals.

Two nights later, UNC takes Kansas’ spot against Stanford, again expected to get thrashed. Final score: Stanford 57…UNC 74. The frosh trio tallies 46 points on 17 of 31 shooting. Felton hits 4 of 6 threes and adds 7 dimes. That Sunday, North Carolina went from off-the-radar to No. 12 in the nation.

Of the three, McCants probably made the strongest impression in that two-game outburst. “I felt like I had something to prove,” admits the least hyped of the trio. “I had to let people know that I’m not just some kid that comes out here and hoots and hollers—I can play basketball.”

Rashad has more than proved he can play, leading UNC in scoring since the season’s start at 19 per. Having lifted weights since the eighth grade, McCants is sculpted enough to be confused with his football-playing classmates. He has the upper body strength to board and drive with the power of a forward. But his strength is gravy on top of his shooting touch. Through late January, Rashad was boasting averages of 54 percent from the floor and 46 percent from three. He came to the program hoping to be a quality complement to Felton’s distribution and May’s paint power. Now, says May, “He’s an animal, just so passionate. Sometimes Rashad is a quiet guy, but when we need him to lift us he’ll do it. He takes nothing for granted. If a guy doesn’t respect him, he’s going to make them respect him.”

If McCants is the quiet assassin, Felton is the mouth behind the Heels’ terror. He’s the one yelling the plays, talking shit to his foes, orchestrating the Tar Pit to represent. He rocks No. 2 but he definitely plays The One. “I love everything about his game,” offers May. “You don’t even have to throw your hands up or make noise—he gonna hit you. He shoots, passes, the way he defends and his leadership is just unreal. I’m glad I’m not playing against him.”

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Team of the decade. The title alone brims with controversy.

There are quite a number of factors that can go into determining the best college team of the past ten years: national championships, Final Four appearances, conference titles, total number of wins, All-Americans, players to go pro, really you can use almost any set of criteria to come up with some sort of answer.

What can make this a particularly challenging task is the sometimes fickle nature of the game. Unlike the NBA where a franchises can establish themselves for decades at a time given the right personnel, the college game has a complete turnover every four years, and that isn’t taking into consideration the endless number of players who leave school early for any number of reasons. Despite this, certain schools always manage to rise above the fray and continue to be among the nation’s elite year in and year out. While there are several programs that deserve to have their name mentioned in the discussion for the best of the last 10 years, only North Carolina can truly say that it is deserving of this label.

What makes the Tar Heels so undeniably great is that no matter what criteria is used when determining the top college team of the decade, they are always at or near the top of the discussion, something no other school save for maybe Kansas can say. Not even including the two national titles Carolina has taken home since — a total that ties them with Florida for the most this decade – few teams can compare with the famed Tar Heel blue on a consistent basis.

Save for a two year dry spell at the beginning of the decade, Chapel Hill has been rocking well into the month of March every year. Including the 2000 season, Carolina has won six regular season ACC titles, two conference tournaments, appeared in eight NCAA Tournaments, five Sweet Sixteen’s, five Elite Eights, and four Final Four’s — more than any other team in the country during that same stretch. The individual awards have stacked up as well with UNC personnel earning two National Coach of the Year awards, two National Player of the Year honors, three ACC POY awards and four ACC ROY awards.

Florida may have won an equal number of national championships, but they did it with the same group of players. Roy Williams managed to win two titles with completely different squads, a testament both to his abilities on the sideline and the enormous wealth of talent that has suited up in the Dean Dome.

Few teams can spot a list of ex-players as daunting as UNC can. A total of 13 former players have been selected in the NBA draft since 2001, with the two national championship teams in 2005 and 2009 each producing four pro players. When looking at the other teams who have been among the elite in the 2000s, it becomes very clear that only North Carolina can lay claim to being one of the elite in every standard of measuring greatness.

Eight teams have won national championships this decade including two each previously mentioned by UNC and Florida. Of the other six teams though, Maryland and Syracuse have been too inconsistent to be considered the best team of the last 10 years. The Gators have been down somewhat in the last two seasons, leaving only Duke, Connecticut, Kansas and Michigan State as the other programs that have stayed consistently near the top of the national spectrum.

National championships are hard to come by though and require a certain degree of luck. There have been plenty of great teams that have made consistent trips to the Final Four only to see their dreams of taking home a title dashed in one way or another. The Tar Heels lead all teams with four appearances this decade, with Kansas, Michigan State and Florida all reaching the final weekend of the season three times each.

Certainly though the ability to stay at or near the top of one’s conference on an annual basis also tells a great deal about a program, it shows prolonged success rather than sometimes well timed spurts in the postseason. In this sense, Kansas and North Carolina were seemingly leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, taking home seven and five regular season titles respectively, though Duke has been the gold standard in conference tournaments, having won the ACC six times, but the program has not had much postseason success since winning the 2001 national championship.

Maybe this column seems too rigid, too formulaic — and I would agree with you. The beauty of sports is the ability to always debate and argue the great teams of the past. Maybe in a head-to-head matchup there are teams that would have beaten the 2005 or 2009 Carolina teams. Maybe ‘Melo and the rest of the 2003 Syracuse squad was good enough to pull off the win, maybe that 2007 Florida team could do it too. There will always be those who will argue the negative in this debate, hold the two year tournament absence against the Tar Heels or point to some other potential flaw in the argument.

No matter how you choose to break it down though, be it wins, awards, titles or personalities, no one can stand up to the indomitable force that is North Carolina. The school that has helped to define success throughout college basketball history has put its stamp on the first decade of the new millennium and done it in a big way.

***

For more Decade Awards, check out the archive.

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H/T: Brad Long

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Okay, short version today. I worked in the office all afternoon and night yesterday and didn’t get home until just after 12 a.m. I was home to catch Grizz/Lakers, but that’s it. And, I didn’t even really see that because I was arranging a few interviews I’ve got coming up. Tuesday/Wednesdays kill me!

We had the Cuse game on at work and then a whole bunch of hockey. I honestly, didn’t even miss the games I was so into what I was doing. Feels kinda funny to not know what’s up. It also feels wildly strange to know that it is the NHL trade deadline and to actually know some of the names that are being tossed around. This world of sports is an interesting one, that’s for sure.

So, Cavs are getting Joe Smith and Spurs are taking Drew Gooden.

Line of the night (shout out goes to my co-worker Suppa for picking up on this): “Spurs officials …. envision Gooden as a backup to Matt Bonner”

Bless Bonner’s soul, but how did we get to a place where Gooden is Bonner’s backup? I. Love. It. The Red Rocket will always have a place in the hearts of us Canadians. If Steve Nash is our golden boy, Bonner is a shiny silver.

While I didn’t see any of the action, I was lucky enough to have some of the SLAM-fam and the blogosphere’s finest keeping me in the loop thanks to Twitter, email and text messages.

I do love technology.

From Justin Walsh: “something surprising- Grant Hill was booed most of the game. Why would the Magic boo Grant? Sure his six seasons had a fair number of injuries, but Grant was a great guy in the community.”

This does disappoint me but doesn’t surprise me. I’m pretty sure I remember Grant being booed in Orlando before. Too bad because, personally, I feel warm on a cold winter’s day every time I see Grant get up and slam one home, or rise and drain a pretty jumper. It’s always bittersweet with him, because it makes me think of what could have been.

One more thing from Walsh (and this is just one more reason, why I really don’t know what to think about the +/- stat):

Rafer Alston registered a +15. for one night at least. In the +/- stat, Rafer is +27 over Nash.

seriously though. 20 points 8 assists 7 rebounds 4 steals is a -12, albeit with 7 turnovers. Alston 15 points 6 rebounds 6 assists 2 steals and 4 turnovers…+15. I just don’t see how Rafer is +27 on Nash looking at the game or the numbers.

Thanks to Justin for those little gems, but really, what are your thoughts on that stat? I get that it can make sense, but more than not it just makes me say hmm.

Okay, onto the games that we go. Big night in the L tonight. Looking forward to it.

So, the Warriors played all of their main guys and slaughtered the TWolves, 118-94 after going up by as many as 31 points in the first half. Things were so bad at the end of the game that Coach Nelson went over to Coach McHale to give some words of encouragement. Stephen Jackson scored 23 points to go with 7 rebounds and 6 assists, Andris Biedrins scored 13 points to go with 10 rebounds and Corey Maggette added 16 off of the bench. Kevin Love led the Wolves with 18 points and 14 boards while Randy Foye scored 19 points and Mike Miller added 11 points and 13 rebounds.

The Raptors did their normal Raptor thing and faded in the second half aganst the Rockets, falling 107-97 as Luis Scola had 20 points and 16 boards while Yao Ming had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Carl Landry added 22 off of the bench. Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh scored 25 points apiece to lead Toronto while Shawn Marion had 18 points to go with 10 rebounds.

The Magic were victorious over the Suns with a 111-99 victory in Orlando, spoiling Steve Nash’s return from an ankle inkury Nash finished with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists, but it wasn’t enough as the Magic pulled away in the second half thanks to the sharp shooting of Rashard Lewis who finished with 29 points to go with 12 rebounds, outshining both Dwight Howard (21 and 8), and Shaquille O’Neal (19 and 11). Jason Richardson had 27 for the suns as Hedo Turkoglu scored 22 for Orlando. The Magic attempted 38 free throws to the Suns 17.

The Bobcats sucked the life out of the Bulls, rolling to a 96-80 victory as Chicago managed to top 20 points in just one quarter of the game. The Bobcats led by 13 at the break and easily went on to the win from there. All five Charlotte starters finished in double-figures, led by an 18-point, 9-assist effort from Raymond Felton, to go with 18 points from Raja Bell. Emeka Okafor scored 14 points to go with his 10 boards and Boris Diaw added 14 as well. The Bulls got a 14-point, 12-rebound night from Tyrus Thomas, 14 points from Ben Gordon and 13 from Derrick Rose.

Chauncey Billups received a rousing ovation in his return at the palace last night and then the game began and his old teammates took him and his current Nugets squad down. With all five of their starters finishing in double-figures, the Pistons took the game 100-95, despite a 34-point effort from Billups. Antonio McDyess had a 67-point,  12-rebound night, Rip Hamilton scored 21 points, Tayshaun Prince, 23 and Rasheed Wallace, 16 points to go with 10 rebounds. Nene scored 20 points for the Nuggets who were without leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, who was serving a suspension.

The Nets took down Milwaukee, 99-95 thanks to a late three-pointer from Jarvis Hayes that broke the backs of the Bucks. Outscoring Milwaukee 38-28 in the fourth, the Nets won despite giving up 19 offensive rebounds and being outrebounded 52-42. Rookie Brook Lopez led te Nets with 24 points while Devin Harris had 14 points and 11 assists and Vince Carter scored 15. Hayes finished with 14 on the night. The Bucks were led by Charlie Villanueva, with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Ramon Sessions scored 19 points while Richard Jefferson added 20.

The Pacers defeated the Kings in Arco, 117-109 after topping 30 in the first two quarters and opening up a 14-point lead at the half. Troy Murphy had 23 points and 10 rebounds while Jarrett Jack scored 26 points and Travis Diener and Marquis Daniels each added 18. The Kings were led by Rashad McCants 20 points off of the bench as he connected on all six of his field goal attempts. Kevin Martin scored 21 points and Spencer Hawes added 19 in the loss.

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