Antawn Jamison was the center of attention yesterday as the Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball coaches gathered around the phones for their weekly media teleconference.
The North Carolina junior earned his 10th career ACC Player of the Week award by leading the Tar Heels to the top spot in the polls with back-to-back 30 point performances against Duke and Georgia Tech last week.
"Jamison's one of the most unique players I've ever seen in the league," Tech coach Bobby Cremins said. "He's just got a way about him-the way he releases the ball on his shots, you just don't have a lot of time to double-team him."
Jamison tied an all-time record for most Player of the Week awards in a single season (five), and moved within one of Tim Duncan for the career record (11). On Tuesday, he won praise from just about every coach in the league.
"He's also such a good passer, and everyone talks about his quickness," Cremins added. "He's a very unique player; he's just a great player."
Cremins should know. Jamison lit up the Yellow Jackets for 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting in Carolina's 107-100 double-overtime victory Sunday.
Jamison was strongest when UNC needed it the most, scoring five of the Tar Heels' 12 points in the second overtime. And he did all this just three days after destroying Duke with 35 points and 11 rebounds.
"I don't think it's one thing in particular that he does," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I think he's the national player of the year because he does everything so well. He's a kid who doesn't do one or two things well, but he does it all for them."
In the two games last week, the agile forward shot a combined 25 of 37 from the field-an amazing 67.6 percent.
"His work ethic is the best," Krzyzewski said. "No one is going to surpass his work ethic and his movement on the court.
"When you're playing someone like that, you have to hope that he'll let down, and he never does."
Jamison certainly didn't let down against Duke. In what had been billed as the biggest game of the season, he came out firing, scoring 23 points in the first half on 9-of-11 shooting.
The back-to-back 30 point outings were the first by a Carolina player since Hubert Davis accomplished the feat in 1992.
"I don't think until you have a chance to play against him and get up close and personal do you really see just how important he is to their basketball team and just how good he really is," Florida State coach Steve Robinson said.
Jamison's current averages of 23.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game lead all ACC players. He has a chance to average a double-double for the season, something that hasn't been done at UNC since Mitch Kupchak pulled off the feat in 1976.
"He's just unbelievable at some of the things he's been able to accomplish," Robinson said. "I don't think anybody realizes sometimes just how far that young man can go with his talent."
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