Rashad McCants is looking to go where no Tar Heel--not Worthy, not Perkins, not Stackhouse, Jamison, Carter or Forte, not even a certain 6-foot-6 guard named Jordan--has ever gone before.
McCants, a 6-foot-4 freshman swingman from Asheville has ridden his 18.8 points per game average to the forefront of the race for ACC player of the year. If he wins the award, McCants will become not only the first Tar Heel, but the first player from any team to earn ACC player of the year honors as a freshman. Though he has a chance to accomplish something that has never been done before in a conference with a long list of great players, McCants refuses to focus on individual achievements.
"I don't really pay attention to [awards or statistics]," McCants said. "I just want to win. We're trying to win ourselves a national championship."
Unlike McCants, ACC coaches and writers are paying attention, and they are witnessing a freshman blossoming into the third-leading scorer in the conference. McCants has scored in double figures in every game he's played since he donned Carolina blue, giving him the longest such streak in the conference.
"Rashad is an explosive scorer," UNC head coach Matt Doherty said. "He has the ability to ignite our team."
Not only does he score, but the former McDonald's All-American also nabs 5.4 rebounds per game, and ranks in the top five in the ACC in field-goal and three-point percentage. This versatility has thrust McCants into contention for ACC player of the year.
McCants' main competitors for the award are Wake Forest senior Josh Howard, N.C. State sophomore Julius Hodge and Maryland senior Drew Nicholas. Though McCants' statistics match up with anybody's, his candidacy is hurt by UNC's poor play this season. While Nicholas, Howard, and Hodge have led their respective teams to the top three spots in the ACC, the Tar Heels (11-9, 2-5 ACC) have stumbled to seventh in the conference standings.
Even if McCants fails in his bid to make history as the first freshman ACC player of the year, he is still on track to record one of the finest seasons ever by an ACC freshman. The only players to be named First Team All-ACC as freshmen--a distinction McCants is probable of earning--are Skip Wise, Kenny Anderson, Joe Smith, Stephon Marbury, and Antawn Jamison. As freshmen, only Mark Price, Anderson, Smith, and Marbury have ever averaged more than McCants' current pace of 18.8 ppg.
Interestingly, McCants and his considerable talents could well have been playing for, rather than against, the Blue Devils, had Duke been interested. McCants wanted to play with his good friend J.J. Redick, but Duke only lightly recruited him.
"Duke was, going into my junior year, the place I wanted to go," McCants said. "J.J. [Redick] and I talked about it, and both of us wanted to go there. I wanted to be the kind of team leader that [Shane Battier] was, but I didn't get the opportunity to go to the same place."
If McCants is able to lead his Tar Heels to an upset over the Blue Devils, Duke may long regret failing to recruit one of the best freshman performers in ACC history.
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