Before Rashad McCants dated Khloe Kardashian (pictured) at the end of his 4-year NBA career, he was in the top 2% of all college basketball players while at UNC. He managed to win an NCAA title and–according to him–get several A’s in classes he did not attend. The latter is similar to a report I had regarding a 1970s UNC player, but coach Roy Williams is denying the “paper classes” Friday night.
ESPN’s Outside the Lines gathered the details in their interview with McCants.
Years ago it was reported to me that a UNC basketball player in the 1970s was pushed into a Portuguese class at registration despite his protests that he had taken several years of another language in high school. He relayed to mutual friends that when showed up for class, he saw only fellow athletes. I was never able to talk directly with the player to let him confirm or deny the story.
Forty years later UNC coach Roy Williams denies claims from McCants that the same things was still happening during his time at UNC leading up to the 2005 title (see Charlotte Observer article).
McCants ranked in the top 2% (80th or better out of 4,000) of all college basketball players for all three of his years at UNC, according to the database at www.valueaddbasketball.com.
| Season Rank | Player | Off | Def | PG Per | Value Add | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78 | McCants, Rashad | 3.44 | -1.1 | 0.5 | 5.5 | 2003 |
| 26 | McCants, Rashad | 5.38 | -0.93 | 0.5 | 7.42 | 2004 |
| 80 | McCants, Rashad | 4.27 | -0.44 | 0.5 | 5.68 | 2005 |
He was one of five players on the 2005 NCAA championship roster who would go onto play in the NBA. According to www.valueaddbasketball.com he was the third best player on that team behind Sean May and Raymond Felton. Marvin Williams and Felton went on to be greater NBA players and just finished their ninth seasons. However, McCants scored a solid 2,479 points in four seasons before being demoted to the D-League, where he won rave reviews for donating his entire salary to charity.
| 2005 Rank | UNC Title Roster | NBA seasons | NBA Pts | College Off | College Def | PG/Per | Value Add |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | May, Sean | 4 | 821 | 5.6 | -2.43 | 0 | 8.76 |
| 34 | Felton, Raymond | 9+ | 8737 | 3.63 | -1.24 | 1.5 | 6.95 |
| 80 | McCants, Rashad | 4 | 2479 | 4.27 | -0.44 | 0.5 | 5.68 |
| 99 | Williams, Marvin | 9+ | 6748 | 3.44 | -1.53 | 0 | 5.42 |
| 155 | Williams, Jawad | 3 | 340 | 4.25 | 0 | 0 | 4.64 |
| 585 | Manuel, Jackie | D-League | only | 1.15 | -0.32 | 0.5 | 2.15 |
| 706 | Noel, David | D-League | only | 1.19 | -0.48 | 0 | 1.81 |
| 1016 | Scott, Melvin | D-League | only | 1.2 | 0.13 | 0 | 1.16 |
| 2086 | Thomas, Quentin | No | pros | 0 | -0.13 | 0 | 0.14 |
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