Brice Johnson: Good, Bad, and Intriguing
Brice Johnson is having a fine senior season, but how close is he to escaping the mental lapses of Bad Brice?
Brice Johnson of the North Carolina Tar Heels would himself on the midseason watch list for the Wooden Award. Twenty-five players were named to the list and they included Brice’s teammate Marcus Paige and the young Ted Cruz known as Grayson Allen over at Duke.
Being named to this list should be a big honor for Johnson, but it is hard to see the whole Brice Johnson winning Player of the Year. Good Brice could, because he is productive and versatile. Bad Brice cannot because he losses sense of the game and commits stupid or frustration fouls. The problem is that it is hard to guess which Brice you are going to see in any one outing.
Fortunately this season has seen more Good Brice and relatively little Bad Brice. He is averaging 16 points per contest to lead the team. He is also averaging ten rebounds. Those numbers will be key for North Carolina to make a deep NCAA Tournament run. More importantly though, Brice will need to avoid a let down game in a tournament set.
More from North Carolina Tar Heels
- NC Colleges Provide Coronavirus Results from Athletic Departments
- UNC Football gets Commitment from Top Cornerback
- Four North Carolina players selected in first round of MLB Draft
- UNC Destroyed by Coach Duggs and Tennessee in NCAA Football 14
- UNC Basketball: Former Tar Heel star calls out Roy Williams
Against Clemson, Brice could not buy a bucket until late in the game when he picked up three points. He produced nine rebounds in that game but also had four fouls. It was an uninspired performance for Johnson, and the exact evidence of what cannot happen in a tournament game. Early cheap fouls are the usual Brice Johnson head scratcher. Those have been more important lately when the Heels were going without Kennedy Meeks as an option on the floor.
But for the Clemson game, Johnson responded with the FSU game two games later. Against the Seminoles Johnson put up 39 points and 23 rebounds in a rather unexpected display. No one had done that in the NCAA since current Clippers star Blake Griffin. Sean May and Tyler Hansbrough never had that kind of game. Johnson also had three blocks and a couple steals.
More from Old North Banter
- Carolina Panthers: Secondary battles to watch in training camp 2020
- Carolina Panthers: 2020 training camp kicks off on Tuesday
- NC Colleges Provide Coronavirus Results from Athletic Departments
- Court alleges Zion’s Stepfather received $400k
- UNC Football gets Commitment from Top Cornerback
Just when you think you have pigeon-holed Johnson as a long body who scores and rebounds, he can give a game like the Syracuse game. In that one Brice’s rebounding was down, but another stat was up. Assists. Johnson created eight assists in that game, many of them as part of plays to get Isaiah Hicks to break down the zone. Oh and Johnson contributed sixteen points in that one too.
A game that combined all of these things might have Brice Johnson as the third Carolina player to record a triple-double with Jason Capel and Brendan Haywood. I think the Tar Heels would settle for steady Brice if they got to avoid bad Brice as a result.
Johnson will undoubtedly be a big cog for the Heels as they try to make a title run. However the idea that he will be THE cog still leaves something to be desired. The Tar Heels will find out some more as they take on State on Saturday.