Arguably the biggest story in sports in recent days came in the NBA. On Monday night, the San Antonio Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. A large reason — literally and figuratively — for the victory was San Antonio’s star Victor Wembanyama. The man known “Wemby” scored 41 points and grabbed 24 rebounds, also making a game-tying three to send it to double overtime, where the Spurs came away with the win.
Just by looking at him, you would be able to tell
that Wembanyama in a freak of nature, which I mean in the positive sense. The man is 7’4”. Then you watch him actually play, and he’s even crazier. Most players with his massively tall but slender build tended to be of the “stiff” variety who mainly made it because they’re just taller than everyone else. However, Wembanyama can do all sorts of basketball things that should be impossible for someone his size.
Watching him dominate action the other night got me thinking: who are the biggest freaks of nature you’ve seen in your years watching North Carolina Tar Heels’ sports?
There’s probably going to be a couple popular choices here, including one Julius Peppers. For one, Peppers just played two sports in general, and was at least a contributor in both. Peppers was obviously better on the football field, where he went on to be a top NFL Draft pick and had a career that got him inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
However, Peppers was also a very handy basketball player. He played on the Tar Heels’ basketball team in the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons. In the first of those, he helped Carolina go on an unexpected run to the Final Four, averaging 4.5 poings and 3.5 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game.
Also, just look at this man, they made one of those.
However, my own personal choice is someone who played solely on the basketball court, but also doesn’t require much explanation.
I came of a sports-watching age in the late 1990s into the early 2000s. At that time, there was no basketball player cooler for a kid than Vince Carter. Part of that was that he played for a pro team with a name would appeal to a child on the Toronto Raptors, with fun jerseys. (He also played for a college team that had awesome jerseys.) Oh, and there was also the dunks.
I personally chose the #15 to wear in basketball for my grade school team — who had light blue jerseys, it should be said — just because of Vince. He was so cool. (I mean, he probably still is, he just was then too.)
What about you, who do you think the biggest freak of nature you ever saw play at UNC was?
