A year ago at this time, while Duke and UNC were on their way to No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, some lower-profile but plenty noteworthy stories also were unfolding in a hoops-crazy state some call the Center of the College Basketball Universe.
In the 2019 edition of our Midseason All-North Carolina awards, we were able to profile Campbell guard Chris Clemons, who went on to become the third-leading scorer in Division I men’s basketball history, and many other stars. Gardner-Webb (Big South) and NC Central (MEAC) were among the teams highlighted as potential conference champions from low-major leagues.
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As it turned out, Gardner-Webb went on to earn the first NCAA Tournament bid in school history, and NCCU went dancing for the fourth time in six years. Clemons, meanwhile, has continued his unlikely journey well beyond Buies Creek, quickly realizing his NBA dream by making the Houston Rockets’ roster out of training camp last fall as a 5-foot-9 undrafted free agent.
Perhaps more half-hidden hoops gems await us this year.
With the important annual reminder that our 2020 Midseason All-ACC awards are separate and can be found elsewhere, we present our 2020 Midseason All-North Carolina awards, which honor coaches and players at other in-state programs:
Midseason NC Player of the Year
Jayden Gardner, forward, So., East Carolina
A year ago, while sensational Duke rookie Zion Williamson was on his way to National Player of the Year honors, ECU forward Jayden Gardner put up similarly impressive scoring and rebounding numbers on his way to our (non-ACC) North Carolina Freshman of the Year award.
At the time, Pirates coach Joe Dooley said Gardner was capable of building on his all-conference campaign and elevating his game another notch as a sophomore. That’s exactly what Gardner, our Midseason North Carolina Player of the Year, has done this season.
Through 20 games, Gardner was far and away the leading scorer in the American Athletic Conference, with an average of 21 points per game. (Nobody else was above 16.) He also was third in the AAC in rebounding (9.3 per game) and fourth in field goal percentage (55.6). Nationally, he had the second-most games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, with eight.
“He has started almost every game for us these last two seasons, and you can see the results,” Dooley said. “He has a great chance to create an amazing legacy for himself here.”
To this point, the greatest players in ECU basketball history were high-scoring guards. Blue Edwards (1986-89) and Oliver Mack (1977-79) were junior college transfers who put up huge numbers for the Pirates before playing in the NBA. Gardner’s current scoring average is third-best (behind Mack and Edwards) for any season in program history, and he’s already set the single-season record for free-throw attempts, with 243, with two months left in the season.
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“He’s a great player. His numbers are incredible,” SMU coach Tim Jankovich said. “There’s three numbers that are incredible to me. One, there’s scoring. Anybody that can score 20 points a game, that’s hard to do when everybody knows you’re going to try to score 20 points a game. His nine or 10 rebounds, whatever he averages, that’s incredible. Then he leads the nation in free-throw attempts.
“I don’t see a lot of guys with that combination. There have been times we did a great job on him, and he’s the star of the game anyway. Sometimes he just kind of wills his way through whatever you’re trying to do against him. He’s just a special player. I give him a lot of credit.”
Honorable mention: UNCG guard Isaiah Miller (Jr.), Western Carolina guard Mason Faulkner (Jr.), NC Central forward Jibri Blount (Sr.)
Midseason NC Coach of the Year
Wes Miller, UNC Greensboro
Wes Miller is the youngest head coach in North Carolina and one of the longest-tenured leaders at any in-state program. That might sound impossible, but it’s true.
Until Tuesday, his 37th birthday, Miller could have joked that he was half the age of 72-year-old Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski. Indeed, Coach K has been leading the Blue Devils longer than Miller has been alive.
Meanwhile, in a state with 18 Division I men’s basketball programs, Miller (now in his ninth season at UNC Greensboro) already is up to fifth in terms of current-job longevity, behind only Krzyzewski (40), Davidson’s Bob McKillop (31), UNC’s Roy Williams (17) and NC Central’s LeVelle Moton (10).
Once a sharpshooting transfer from James Madison, Miller played for Williams in Chapel Hill from 2004 to 2007, winning a national championship with the Tar Heels in 2005. His brother, Walker, is a junior forward on this year’s Carolina team.
“Nobody pulls for the Tar Heels and Roy Williams more than me,” Miller said. “There’s still a closet full of my old Carolina blue stuff at our house. I’ll always be proud of my time there, and Coach Williams has been such an impactful and important person in my life.”
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Given Miller’s youth and ongoing success with the Spartans, some are beginning to wonder whether he could end up as the head coach at his alma mater someday. After five years without a winning season, he averaged 27 victories over the past three years, taking UNCG to the Southern Conference title and just its third NCAA Tournament in program history in 2018.
The Spartans are off to a 16-5 start this season, and they’re once again in the running for first place in the SoCon. In November, UNCG went to Georgetown and knocked off the Hoyas. Earlier this month, they went to SoCon contender Furman and beat the Paladins 86-73.
During their magical 2018 campaign, UNCG beat NC State on its home floor. The Spartans’ 27-8 season ended with an intense 68-64 loss to Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament.
Born and raised in Greensboro, Miller in 2018 signed a seven-year contract extension with UNCG, through the 2028-29 season. He’s had other job offers and plenty of inquiries since then, but he doesn’t seem eager to leave the Spartans.
“I’m fortunate to have an administration that believes in what we’re doing,” Miller said. “I hear the (coaching carousel) questions from time to time. Those are a lot more fun than the questions I got four years ago, when some were asking why I still had a job at all. (Laughs.) The bottom line is I’m really happy here, and I’m certainly not looking to leave.”
Honorable mention: Ron Sanchez, Charlotte; Mark Prosser, Western Carolina; LeVelle Moton, NC Central; Willie Jones (AHC), North Carolina A&T; Dustin Kerns, Appalachian State
Midseason NCAA Tournament Contenders
- UNC Greensboro, Southern Conference
- North Carolina A&T, MEAC
- NC Central, MEAC
- Charlotte, Conference USA
- Western Carolina, Southern Conference
While North Carolina has a deep, rich history of participation and success in the NCAA Tournament, the ACC (especially UNC and Duke) traditionally has carried a large majority of that load. Of course, most of the non-ACC teams in the state reside in leagues that rarely receive at-large bids to March Madness, meaning it’s do-or-die for almost everyone at their conference tournaments.
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With that in mind, 2020 is not shaping up as a banner year. Although North Carolina has averaged about 4.2 NCAA Tournament participants per season since the event expanded to a 64-team (now 68) field in 1985, only Duke projects as a lock. NC State is near the bubble, UNC and Wake Forest are mired in misery and nobody else will be favored in its league tournament.
Nevertheless, there are some legitimate candidates:
UNC Greensboro (16-5) and Western Carolina (13-6) face stiff competition in the Southern Conference, where East Tennessee State and Furman are the top dogs, but the Spartans and Catamounts have impressed this season. Thanks largely to junior point guard Isaiah Miller and senior center James Dickey, UNCG is the best defensive team in the league. In their second season under coach Mark Prosser (son of Skip), meanwhile, the Catamounts have emerged as an offensive juggernaut, with junior point guard Mason Faulkner, junior sharpshooter Matt Halvorsen and senior forward Carlos Dotson leading the way.
Don’t be alarmed by the records of North Carolina A&T (10-12) or NC Central (8-12), because nobody in the 11-team MEAC has a winning record at this stage of the season. More importantly, the Aggies and the Eagles (who will go head-to-head in Greensboro on Feb. 15, then again in Durham on March 5) rank behind only Norfolk State in the conference standings. The charismatic Moton has led NCCU to four of the previous six MEAC championships, while Willie Jones has aided A&T admirably since the suspension of head coach Jay Joyner.
Finally, although Charlotte (12-7) hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2005, second-year coach Ron Sanchez (a former UVa assistant under Tony Bennett) has this program pointed in the right direction. Freshman guard Jahmir Young is a rising star, and he has solid, experienced help on the perimeter with transfers Drew Edwards and Jordan Shepherd. North Texas and Louisiana Tech are the CUSA heavyweights, but don’t count out the 49ers.
Midseason All-NC First Team
Isaiah Miller, guard, Jr., UNC Greensboro
Mason Faulkner, guard, Jr., Western Carolina
Jon Axel Gudmundsson, guard, Sr., Davidson
Jibri Blount, forward, Sr., NC Central
Jayden Gardner, forward, So., East Carolina
Miller and Faulkner are two of the best players in what is (again) a strong Southern Conference. An absolute demon defensively, Miller also leads UNCG in scoring (18 ppg) and assists and is second in rebounding. A Northern Kentucky transfer, Faulkner clearly made great use of his sit-out year, emerging as a physically stronger and more skilled (19 ppg, 6 rpg, 6 apg) version of himself. A sharpshooter from Iceland, Gudmundsson isn’t stroking 3-pointers as well this season because of the intense defensive pressure he’s facing, but he’s still scoring 14 points per game and somehow leading the team in assists and (at 6-5) rebounds. A Cleveland State transfer, Blount (20 ppg, 9 rpg, 54% FG, 36% 3s) quickly has grown from a solid NCCU role player into a possible MEAC player of the year, given his stellar play at both ends of the floor.
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Midseason All-NC Second Team
Kellan Grady, guard, Jr., Davidson
Justin Forrest, guard, Jr., Appalachian State
Jahmir Young, guard, Fr., Charlotte
LJ Thorpe, forward, So., UNC Asheville
Ronald Jackson, forward, Sr., North Carolina A&T
Like Gudmundsson, Grady plays the toughest schedule (Atlantic 10 and otherwise) of any non-ACC player in the state, and his team-leading 15 points per game and other impressive numbers should be contemplated with that in mind. The second-leading scorer (19 ppg) in the Sun Belt Conference, Forrest clearly has the green light from new Mountaineers coach Dustin Kerns, and he’s putting up those numbers despite being the focus of every opposing defense. Thorpe (13 ppg, 6 rpg, 2 spg, 50% FG, 45% 3s) is a well-rounded part of an intriguing nucleus at UNCA, along with junior point guard Lavar Batts Jr. (formerly of NC State) and sophomore wings Tajion Jones and DeVon Baker. A junior college transfer who has made the jump from efficient role player to main-man stud at A&T, Jackson is the only player in the state averaging a double-double (17 ppg, 14 rpg) for the season.
Midseason NC Freshman of the Year
Jahmir Young, guard, Charlotte
At 6-1 and 185 pounds, Young is not physically imposing. He’s not flashy, either. Unlike most college stars, he wasn’t even the highest-profile player on his high school or AAU teams.
But he knows how to win. That’s what he did over the past two years as the starting point guard at famed DeMatha High School in Maryland and a key contributor to the star-studded Team Takeover AAU team. That’s what he’s doing now for a resurgent Charlotte program, as well.
“That’s exactly what he is: a winner,” said Sanchez, who finished 8-21 last year but is off to a 12-7 start this season. “He plays hard. He practices hard. He cares about the little things. He’s gritty. He listens, and he wants to get better.
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“Jahmir comes from one of the best high school programs in the country. He’s been so well coached that it’s been less of a transition than for most college freshmen. He’s so familiar with many of the things we’ve asked of him that he’s been very good for us from the start.”
Through 19 games (all starts) with the 49ers, who have five seniors and juniors in their regular rotation, the rookie Young had an amazing combination of contributions. He was the team’s second-leading scorer (13 ppg) while leading the way on the boards (5 rpg), on defense (1.8 spg) and from 3-point land (41 percent).
Blending in never has been a problem for Young. His Team Takeover squad included players currently at Villanova (Justin Moore), Virginia (Casey Morsell) and UNC (Armando Bacot, Anthony Harris), plus Duke signee Jeremy Roach and Michigan pledges Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams. All of them were five-star (Bacot, Roach) or four-star recruits.
In Charlotte’s 67-65 overtime win against Wake Forest in November, Young had a game-high 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Matched at times against Demon Deacons senior Brandon Childress, he also had three assists and no turnovers.
“He was so dialed in on defense,” Sanchez said, “I actually didn’t even notice he had 24 points.”
Speaking of the ACC, Young — already the classic, overachieving, three-star prospect — turned down a chance to play there, opting for Conference USA instead. He chose the 49ers over Boston College, George Mason, Hofstra, LaSalle and a dozen other scholarship offers.
Midseason All-Freshman Team
Jahmir Young, guard, Charlotte
John-Michael Wright, guard, High Point
Tristen Newton, guard, East Carolina
Brandon Suggs, forward, East Carolina
Hyunjung Lee, forward, Davidson
A state champion at Fayetteville Academy, Wright already is High Point’s best player, leading the Panthers in scoring (14 ppg), minutes, rebounds, steals and free-throw percentage (82.8) while ranking second in assists and 3-point shooting. After averaging 37 points per game (sixth-best nationally) as a high school senior in Texas, Newton opened his college career with a 20-point outing (only two ECU freshmen have done that since 1986) against VMI and recently knocked down a game-winning 3-pointer against SMU. A Georgia native and prep school product, Suggs is the Pirates’ second-leading scorer and rebounder, behind Gardner. A longtime contributor to South Korea’s junior national teams, Lee is continuing Davidson’s rich, deep international tradition as a complementary player and reliable 3-point shooter this season, with the hope that he can earn a bigger role next year.
(Top photo of Jayden Gardner: Greg Thompson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)