02-07-2011, 10:11 PM
http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011/02/...ACC_Sports
QUOTE
Wiederer: Let's rewind back to your recruitment. Obviously, as one of the top players in the country, your recruitment was so high-profile in so many ways. And then a lot changed we all know on Sept. 4, 2009, when you were here in Chapel Hill on a visit as they were launching their "100 years of Carolina basketball" celebration. I've told people, if you have any appreciation for college basketball, it was hard to be in the Smith Center that night and not feel the aura. Give me your experience of that night and that weekend.
Barnes: That was 100 percent ridiculous. I've never seen or felt anything like it. Not only to walk in as a recruit and see all the guys here, all the coaches, but to see how Carolina basketball came to be. Seeing Dean Smith talk to Roy Williams, that was the man he learned everything from. To see the 2005 championship team, to see the '09 championship team. To have Michael Jordan come back. Vince Carter. Antawn Jamison. Rasheed Wallace. All of those guys are back. All of a sudden Carolina basketball and all of the history and legends that they talk about? It's all literally right in front of you. I wouldn't say it was an out-of-body experience. But there was definitely something surreal about that. It was like a live and in-person history lesson. The history of the program was playing right in front of me.
Wiederer: For Carolina, that was the perfect storm. The building is filled with all these icons of the game. They unfurl a national championship banner that night. What kind of impression does that make on a teenage kid?
Barnes: For any recruit that was there, I don't know how you could say no after that. For me, it seemed like Carolina was the place to go. That was probably the climax for Carolina basketball to be honest with you. I'm not sure there will ever be a night that can top that in terms of everyone coming back the way they did, for Coach Smith to be sitting next to Coach Williams who was sitting next to Michael Jordan. Coach Guthridge. You could see the happiness all those people had to be back with each other, to feel the pride that this is what they had all helped build. For me as a recruit to sit there, you stop yourself and say 'These are the guys that put in all the hard work. These are the guys that put in the blood, sweat and tears to build this place into what it is today. And now I have a chance to do that, to join this family because of Coach Williams. It was incredibly exciting and very humbling.'
Wiederer: Was that the turning point in your recruitment?
Barnes: No question. I had done a lot of research, looked into the history of the other schools on my list. But I hadn't done as much on Carolina, quite frankly because they had started recruiting me a little late and I was still getting to know them. But that weekend was: 'Oh. So this is what it's about. OK.' I won't forget that visit for the rest of my life, regardless of where my basketball career goes.
[/quote]
that might be the best thing I have ever read from a Tar Heel - and a freshman like Harrison from Ames. just wow.
I am now officially rooting my ass off to see HB's jersey in the rafters.
Wiederer: You obviously know Jordan's legacy?
Barnes: He was one of the few who won an NCAA championship, an NBA title and Olympic gold. That hasn't been lost on me.
QUOTE
Wiederer: Let's rewind back to your recruitment. Obviously, as one of the top players in the country, your recruitment was so high-profile in so many ways. And then a lot changed we all know on Sept. 4, 2009, when you were here in Chapel Hill on a visit as they were launching their "100 years of Carolina basketball" celebration. I've told people, if you have any appreciation for college basketball, it was hard to be in the Smith Center that night and not feel the aura. Give me your experience of that night and that weekend.
Barnes: That was 100 percent ridiculous. I've never seen or felt anything like it. Not only to walk in as a recruit and see all the guys here, all the coaches, but to see how Carolina basketball came to be. Seeing Dean Smith talk to Roy Williams, that was the man he learned everything from. To see the 2005 championship team, to see the '09 championship team. To have Michael Jordan come back. Vince Carter. Antawn Jamison. Rasheed Wallace. All of those guys are back. All of a sudden Carolina basketball and all of the history and legends that they talk about? It's all literally right in front of you. I wouldn't say it was an out-of-body experience. But there was definitely something surreal about that. It was like a live and in-person history lesson. The history of the program was playing right in front of me.
Wiederer: For Carolina, that was the perfect storm. The building is filled with all these icons of the game. They unfurl a national championship banner that night. What kind of impression does that make on a teenage kid?
Barnes: For any recruit that was there, I don't know how you could say no after that. For me, it seemed like Carolina was the place to go. That was probably the climax for Carolina basketball to be honest with you. I'm not sure there will ever be a night that can top that in terms of everyone coming back the way they did, for Coach Smith to be sitting next to Coach Williams who was sitting next to Michael Jordan. Coach Guthridge. You could see the happiness all those people had to be back with each other, to feel the pride that this is what they had all helped build. For me as a recruit to sit there, you stop yourself and say 'These are the guys that put in all the hard work. These are the guys that put in the blood, sweat and tears to build this place into what it is today. And now I have a chance to do that, to join this family because of Coach Williams. It was incredibly exciting and very humbling.'
Wiederer: Was that the turning point in your recruitment?
Barnes: No question. I had done a lot of research, looked into the history of the other schools on my list. But I hadn't done as much on Carolina, quite frankly because they had started recruiting me a little late and I was still getting to know them. But that weekend was: 'Oh. So this is what it's about. OK.' I won't forget that visit for the rest of my life, regardless of where my basketball career goes.
[/quote]
that might be the best thing I have ever read from a Tar Heel - and a freshman like Harrison from Ames. just wow.
I am now officially rooting my ass off to see HB's jersey in the rafters.
Wiederer: You obviously know Jordan's legacy?
Barnes: He was one of the few who won an NCAA championship, an NBA title and Olympic gold. That hasn't been lost on me.