North Carolina Basketball: The Stone Masons

Every Final Four run and every national title won leads to mass exodus from any college program. Teams that traverse the Ides of March, with success, find themselves, more often than not, watching their best players depart into the Heavens on chariots of fire, leaving behind a roster of role players, bench warmers, and incoming freshmen to lead the program out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. For the more elite programs of college basketball, this feat takes place with so much regularity people often fail to appreciate the ethereal labor that goes into the construction of great teams.

In 2009, the North Carolina Tar Heels captured their fifth national title. Following their blowout victory of Michigan St., the team saw four seniors graduate, most notably Tyler Hansbrough, and two juniors, Tywon Lawson and Wayne Ellington, leave early for the NBA. The Carolina teams that featured Hansbrough, Lawson, and Ellington are among the most successful in the school's history: a national title, two Final Fours, three Elite Eights, two ACC Tournament championships, and three ACC regular season titles; for most schools, their departure would temper expectations, but Carolina is a program adept at the commissioning of prophets. The sky blue of their uniforms wreaks of predestination.

When Moses could no longer lead and could not enter the Promised Land, Joshua became the leader of the Israelites, marching them without fear into hostile territory. In the classic film The Ten Commandments, Joshua is a stone cutter, a fitting occupation for a man who would help to lay the foundations of Israel. His story is one of legacy through obedience. Without a Joshua to carry the burden of leadership after Moses, the story of the Israelites stalls out; their blood drying up like a drop of water on desert sands. No House of David. No Wisdom of Solomon. No Temple. No Messiah. And Constantine is just an emperor who dreams with the sun in his eyes. No Pope. No Schisms. No Martin Luther. No Puritans. No Thanksgiving. The chain of western heritage breaks into pieces that evaporate in the sun. But there was a Joshua, so history flows on like a mighty river, like the written word, like the traditions that guide our daily lives. The Israelites had a Joshua, and Carolina has a Marcus Ginyard, a man who went part way up Mount Sinai with the 2009 team, before succumbing to a foot injury that led to his redshirting the season and his current place on the 2010 roster.

The leadership role that Marcus Ginyard provides this UNC team is nothing new; it is a role that is vital to any program's ongoing success, year after year, decade after decade. Every time the Moses' succumb to the Golden Calf that is the NBA, or the Elijah's ride off in a fiery chariot, a Joshua, an Elisha, must come forward for the story to continue. When the time came for Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter to pass into the next realm of being, Ademola Okulaja was their to guide the young Tar Heels through the '99 season. Okulaja eventually gave the reigns over to Easy Ed Cota, but, when Cota departed, no leader was ready, and captivity in Babylon followed. Times were tough, but faith overcame; and the Promised Land was regained through the triumphs of Felton, McCants, and May. After 2005's success, David Noel seized the banner, laying the foundation for a freshman named Tyler Hansbrough.

Every group of heralded freshmen learns the "Carolina way" by seeing it modeled by those who are left behind, who work behind the scenes like a secret fraternity, pushing, prodding, and pulling strings. Their sense of duty is the mortar that runs through the Carolina program. Without them, there is nothing to build. If Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, Dexter Strickland, Leslie McDonald, and John Henson maximize their potential, then know that the effort, time, and deliberation of Marcus Ginyard laid the cornerstone for whatever eminence they achieve.