There is one aspect of sports that I cherish. I love to watch children, kids or young people develope athletically as they get older and you can think back on what they use to be and what they are today.
Case in point today Isaiah Hicks of UNC basketball. All Gryphons fans remember him in the Eastern Regional final at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville in 2013.. He was that tall skinny guy from Webb High school who race through the Gryphons for 34 points in leading Webb in preventing the Gryphons from a possible back to back state titles in basketball.
He was six feet nine then but weighed about 190. He love the jump shot more than tangling inside with the smaller Gryphons Big Men. Off to Carolina where my thinking was he will never be a factor at Carolina.
Today Without Hicks Carolina would not be alive for the final four or for that matter having played in the national championship game last year.
His freshman year he saw the floor about what I thought his entire career would be. MOP up duty. By his sophomore season with his body showing signs of bulging muscles Hicks is up to ten minutes a game. Saw more duty as a junior until midseason when he was inserted as a starter. I think that made the difference in Carolina making the championship game.
This year he is part of the duo inside game at Carolina that as long as they keep getting the ball inside they are unbeatable. When Carolina forgets their inside people or foul trouble occurs that's the way they lose. Hicks has a ten foot shot he seldom misses and he runs the floor.
Now at six nine and 250 pounds Hicks is no longer recognizable as that kid that torched the Gryphons.
After missing out of the NCAA baseball playoffs last season Carolina is on the path to return. Through last night they are 17-5 fifth in the RPI.
NC State who along with Carolina was expected to be top ten this season is riding Carolina's path last season struggling to get going. They are currently 13-10 but last night knocked off Louisville and the best pitcher in the country and the number one team in the country 3-1.
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