There aren’t many sporting events that garner as much hype nationwide as March Madness. Everyone looks forward to the pandemonium with busted brackets and whatnot. College basketball players themselves understand that they’re about to play the most intense basketball of their lives, and if there’s one who’s definitely been through all of that, it’s Rashad McCants.
Rashad McCants Looks Back at 2005 NCAA Title With North Carolina
McCants was a vital part of the University of North Carolina’s 2005 title run. He was part of a team that featured future NBA players, including Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams, and Sean May.
In an exclusive interview with PFSN, McCants delved into what it takes to win the NCAA Men’s Tournament. More specifically, he talked about what people don’t know about competing at the highest level in collegiate basketball.
“It’s more about team chemistry than individual performance,” McCants told PFSN. “I think, at its highest level, the team morale and what the team does together means more than any one player showing up and playing his best. Think on what we figured out in our last year is that we needed to treat every game like our last, but also don’t do anything different than what we were doing all year long.”
McCants then explained the results he and the Tar Heels achieved because of the chemistry they built, and how other teams can learn from it.
He said, “We dominated all year long. We ran our sets to perfection, we executed, we played great defense, we communicated, we did everything possible to keep recreating the same thing that kept us in a winning mindset.”
The shooting guard added, “And I think that if teams can do that more than depending on one player to save the day and do what they’ve been doing all year to stay dominant, they’ll win.”
McCants then added how he sacrificed his individual abilities as a player at UNC for the greater good of the team, which led to the school’s fourth title.
“I could have easily took on the road of being selfish and being self-centered in that tournament run, but I knew what the goal was. We mapped out a goal. Coach Williams and I sat in his office the year before, and you know, we mapped out we might not win it this year, but next year is going to definitely be our year. And so sacrifice ensued,” he said.
Talking of what he added to his skill set, McCants said, “I decreased my scoring, upped my assists. I was able to defer to guys who needed the confidence and buckle down on defense a lot harder than anybody expected.”
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McCants’ calling card as a player was his scoring ability; he ranked second on the team with 16 points per game, behind only May. However, he talked about the sacrifices he and his teammates made to get UNC the title.
Talking of Raymond Felton and Sean May, he said, “I think those sacrifices, along with Raymond (Felton) being able to up his shooting percentage, being able to attack more score more. Sean (May), being able to up his rebounding, being able to dominate in the paint. Jawad Williams, being able to do everything we needed, outside of the three, the big three, rebounding, passing, shooting, threes.”
“Marvin Williams being able to come in and doing whatever was needed. I think that was a big thing is that we all had the understanding to do what’s needed and to do it at the best of our abilities, and to take our egos out of it. And I think that that was one thing that I was able to do that helped us get to the top,” he said.
For obvious reasons, what McCants looks back on the most fondly with his North Carolina tenure was, of course, the Tar Heels winning the championship. However, there were more reasons for why he looks back so fondly on winning the title than the title itself.
“We had all went through adversity and trying times. Raymond ended up getting suspended at the beginning of that season. Sean, the year before, faced a fractured foot. My mom had breast cancer during the middle of that season, and I was dealing with a sickness that held me out four games,” McCants said.
He concluded, saying, “So winning it made all the difference, and we can’t take anything away from everyone that tried to stop us. We knew what we needed to do, but at the end of the day, we left on top, and that was the best part about it.”
McCants, Felton, May, and Williams all being drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft marked the first time in school history that they had that many players drafted in that round.
They were also the second school to accomplish such a feat, as Duke did it in 1999, and the only other time a college featured four players picked in the lottery the year they came out was Kentucky, with Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, and Devin Booker all picked in 2015.
It’s safe to say that McCants and the 2005 UNC basketball team were a historical one.
