Stars Come Out in Chapel Hill

This isn't exactly college basketball "news," but what the hell? It's September and colleges around the country (even Kentucky, UCLA, and other basketball powers) are focused on football right now. Shoot, even the basketball players are probably focused on college football. And unfortunately, college basketball players are restrained by the nature of the system--team trumps individual, lots of weird rules, overbearing coaches, "class"--from creating the sort of zany off-court stories that NBA players specialize in this time of year.

Dwight Howard's on a Safari in Africa! Lebron's in Paris! Georgetown's Greg Monroe is... taking classes? Working out? Exciting!

So instead of straining to turn some piece of minutiae into a college basketball story... Look at the game that went down in Chapel Hill this past weekend. Interspersed with a collection of NBA stars (Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Rasheed Wallace, Ray Felton, Jerry Stackhouse) were some greatest hits of quintessential college stars (Ed Cota, Shammond Williams, Jackie Manuel, Jawad Williams). That they're all part of the family at North Carolina might explain why that program has been so successful over the past 15 years. And, I imagine, it made for a hell of a game.

There's all sorts of photos, highlights, and general recap goodness over at Inside Carolina, so check it out, but here's a taste:

Danny Green connected on 6-of-11 3-pointers en route to a game-high 22 points, leading the White team to an impressive victory that was never really close. Jamison contributed 21 points and joined Green in grabbing 11 rebounds. Marvin Williams (16 points), Jackie Manuel (15) and Brendan Haywood (11) also scored in double figures for the White squad.

Sean May drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer to notch a 21-point, 10-rebound effort for the Blue team, while Carter (18), Wayne Ellington (17) and Brandan Wright (10) also crossed the double-figure barrier for the losing squad.

We also find out that the weekend's game was supposed to pit the '05 Tar Heel national champions against the '09 edition, with the other stars divided evenly throughout both teams. Now that would have been a game. Sadly, Tyler Hansborough missed the contest with shin splints, so the dream didn't come to fruition.

Oh, and as a recruiting pitch, I'm sure it doesn't hurt to have a 17-year-old kid there to watch as a bunch of NBA superstars travel from all over the country to honor their alma mater:

With seven elite-level basketball recruits in attendance – led by Harrison Barnes, Scout.com’s No. 1 overall player in the class of 2010 – this event served as convincing argument as to where UNC stands amongst its national peers.

"I hope to heck so," Williams replied when asked if he would be star struck as a recruit in this atmosphere. "We had a few of them here, so I hope that’s the way it is. I would have been, but I would have been an easy recruit."

Very cool.