North Carolina basketball: 5 Tar Heels who didn’t live up to the NBA hype
North Carolina basketball has a rich history but NBA success has eluded some greats.
No matter how you slice it, the history and tradition of North Carolina basketball is exceptionally rich. They have titles, they have sustained success lasting over a century and they have produced one NBA great after another. The latter part, of course, is headlined by the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan.
The list of NBA greats that suited up for the Tar Heels isn’t just limited to Jordan, though. James Worthy, Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse and many more all made their way to the pros through Chapel Hill. But for every great player in any program, even one as great as North Carolina, there is also the opposite end of the spectrum.
Those are the players we’re looking at today, the North Carolina basketball greats who starred in college but never quite replicated that success once they got to the NBA.
UNC Basketball NBA Busts: Kendall Marshall
While North Carolina basketball has a terrific legacy of college point guards, there are also a fair number of examples of players at the position who didn’t quite translate in the NBA. One of the most recent examples in this regard is Kendall Marshall, who was a standout for the Tar Heels during his time with the program but the next level proved to be a different story entirely.
Marshall took over as the starting point guard in Chapel Hill midway through his freshman season and proved to be the perfect player for the role. While not a terrific scorer, averaging just 6.2 points per game, his ability to distribute made him a breakout star. He earned a spot on the ACC All-Freshman team and was named to the All-ACC Tournament team that year.
The following season as a sophomore, Marshall improved upon his great debut season. He became a more confident shooter and averaged 8.1 points per game but remained an absolute stud with his passing, putting up an impressive 9.8 assists per game. Unfortunately, his NCAA Tournament was cut short due to a wrist fracture but Marshall still won the Bob Cousy Award for his efforts that year.
He made the somewhat surprising decision to head to the NBA where the Phoenix Suns nabbed him at No. 13 overall. From 2012-16, Marshall played for four different teams and in 160 games but never found his niche as he bounced around the D-League/G-League as well. He retired in November 2017 and joined the Tar Heels staff in late 2019.