UNC point guard Larry Drew II abruptly quit the team earlier today and withdrew from UNC apparently. I can't wrap my mind around that decision because it doesn't seem to make any sense.
Sure, Drew had lost his starting spot a few games back and his minutes were down a bit from last year. But he was still playing a bit more than 20 minutes a game I believe, so that's pretty significant time. He'd also been drawing high praise with his 19 assists versus 2 turnovers of the last 3 games. Not coincidentally UNC played very well in all three games, winning in convincing fashion. They did have NC State to help make them look good in one of them, but nonetheless...
UNC is playing well and seemingly putting its pieces together. So Drew has decided to quit a team that's on a roll and seems pretty set to be making an NCAA Tournament appearance. Are they the favorite to win the ACC Tournament? No, but if they play like they have been they have a strong shot.
An NCAA Championship seems pretty unlikely, but they have talent and if they keep gelling....stranger things have happened. Tom Izzo gets Michigan State peaking and playing well come March every year it seems like.
That seems like a lot to walk away from into Basketball Unemployment. Whether he leaves now or after UNC concludes its season he's still got to sit out next season.
Unless he's incredibly impulsive and stupid there has to be more to the story. Unless Roy Williams and the rest of the team are very good at faking surprise for the benefit of the media and public it seems like there was nothing secretly brewing up there.
But it's certainly a big surprise and it throws an unforeseen and unwanted monkey wrench into UNC's building momentum. Not that Drew was a superstar. He's underachieved majorly most of his career. But he was playing well. The team was playing well. And having to majorly tweak the rotation and chemistry when things are going well mid-way through conference play is not ideal.
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