Ellen Ozier-USA TODAY Sports
North Carolina junior forward James Michael McAdoo has had a lot of hype built around him since he walked onto campus at Chapel Hill. No one could have ever matched what was expected of McAdoo and at times, including this season, it looked like the pressure was getting to him.
McAdoo was considered an All-ACC level player in the preseason and he actually started off nicely with several stellar games. Then, for whatever reason, he hit a wall. He did not look confident on offense, took ill-advised shots and could not hit free throws to save his life.
Over McAdoo’s last five games, his play turned around for the good as quickly as it went sour earlier in the season. He is shooting 46.5 percent from the field in his last five outings and is starting to come around on his free throws. He hit 6-of-8 against Northern Kentucky last week. Overall, McAdoo has now scored at least 11 points in those last five games.
Maybe McAdoo has stopped listening to the haters and is just playing the game at his speed and in the style that suits him best. Whatever he us doing now, it works. McAdoo is now a go-to player again and takes the pressure off of Marcus Paige.
McAdoo has the talent and athletic ability to take over games and turn close games into blowouts with his relentlessness on both ends. If he can carry this over into every game and does let not one bad box score get to him, North Carolina can win an ACC regular season championship and be right in the middle of the conversation for an NCAA championship.
Gregory T. Philson is an ACC college basketball writer at www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @GTPhilson, “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.
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