[triplesss05Participant]

I know this is a NBA draft website, but after seeing North Carolina win the championship this last weekend, I couldn’t help but notice how similar the last two North Carolina championship teams are.

Both have an extremely fast and strong point guard who excels playing uptempo (Ray Felton, Ty Lawson)
Both have a silky smooth shooting guard who has a natural scoring ability but is a little undersized (Rashad McCants, Wayne Ellington)
Both have a SF who complements the stars on the team by doing the dirty work (Jackie Manuel, Danny Green)
Both have a PF who also does a lot of dirty work and complements the other big man very well even though he probably got least recognition out of all the core players (Jawad Williams, Dion Thompson)
Both have a big man who was a star in college but is undersized and not athlletic enough to maintain that star status into the NBA ( Sean May, Tyler Hansbrough)
Both have a 6th man who is a freshman who is long, athletic, and considered the best pro prospect out of anybody on the team (Marvin Williams, Ed Davis)

Would like to hear other opinions on this topic because IMO they are carbon copies of one another

[The8thDeadlySinParticipant]

Dang. That is a very good observation. Do you think all six will end up like their (last champ) counterparts in the NBA?

[henryoh90612Participant]

but i think a) lawson can knock down 3s better than felton
and b) danny green has better offensive game than manuel

personally, i will pick the 2009 championship team

[Appleby_15Participant]

mainly because I think the overall level of competition that they were playing was much greater.
The team they met in the finals, Ilinios, had three future nba players on it (deron williams, luther
head, dee brown)–one star, one role player, and one scrub. Michigan St. has a few potential
second rounders (raymar morgan, goron suton, kalin lucas), but not the same level of talent.
I just feel like the ncaa as a whole had a down year. The draft is weak, the talent is depleted.

[jojososaParticipant]

04-05 squad would win close game tho

[aio2002Participant]

2005 team was better IMHO. They were deeper with better NBA players plus the Illinois team they beat was one of the best this decade. The 2009 UNC team didn’t beat anybody.

[ncballer]

My assessment:

PG Lawson vs. Felton
Edge: Lawson

SG Ellington vs. McCants
Edge: Even

SF Green vs. Manual
Edge: Even (Manual was a BEAST defender)

PF Thompson vs. J. Williams
Edge: Jawad

C Hansbrough vs. May
Edge: Even

Benches-
Davis vs. M. Williams
Edge: Marvin
Zeller vs. Saunders
Edge: Zeller
Frasor vs. Scott
Edge: Scott
Drew II vs. Thomas
Edge: Drew II
Graves vs. Noel
Edge: Noel

Very close call. I would love to see that game. They should play a pickup game to see who would win. My money would be the 2005 team with Manual and Noels defense being the difference. They could defend 4 positions effectively and slow down Lawson and Ellington.

[BradfomsParticipant]

I think Lawson and Felton have very similar careers, I think Ellington has a better career than McCants, only because McCants didn’t really get a chance right away and then suffered a few nagging injuries right as he was starting to come on. I also think that the teams he has been with hasn’t helped his career. I think Green develops into a very respectable role player, so he gets the edge there, and Hansbrough will definitely have a better career than May, simply because he works harder, is slightly more athletic, and doesn’t have the weight issue that May has. As for Ed Davis and Marvin Williams, that one is too tough for me to call, I haven’t seen enough of Ed Davis to make that decision, but I do think it will take a few years (as it did with Marvin) before Davis becomes a solid contributor.

[bluedevils12Participant]

Ima go with the 04 05 squad simply because as a duke fan im more afraid2 play that team than i am of playing the current natl champs. also the 04 05 team played against better competition in deron williams dee brown and the rest of the gang. but almost scary to see how similar the 2 teams are tho. I believe career paths will be the same except for wayne i think he will be a better pro than mccants. And as 4 ed davis and marvin williams i think wiliams had more pressure put upon him being the num 2 pick but he is blossoming into a pretty good player before the injury. Davis may become a star who knows

[mbunner23Participant]

I’ll go with the 04-05 team as well.

[TsubeParticipant]

I pick 2009 because they worked so hard with very small team, ellington being the best shooter helped them alot. Lawson is way better then felton. Lawson is faster he average more shots, Tyler hansbrough is better then sean may he worked so hard. 2009 team got the title & Im proud.

[Author]

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