North Carolina basketball: 5 Tar Heels who didn’t live up to the NBA hype

UNC Basketball NBA Busts: Rashad McCants

Suffice it to say that Rashad McCants left a complicated legacy with North Carolina basketball. The guard was ostensibly the whistleblower that levied allegations against the program that players were allowed to take fake classes and for tutors to write their papers. Furthermore, he’s had plenty of other unkind words about his time with the program that don’t exactly endear him to fans.

McCants was phenomenal when he was on the floor in Chapel Hill, however, which there’s no denying. His arrival with a celebrated freshman class was much anticipated and the Asheville, NC product lived up to the hype. McCants averaged 17.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per games over his three years with the Tar Heels while shooting 41.5 percent overall from 3-point range, including hitting on over 40 percent of his attempts in every season.

As was the case with May, McCants also ended his career with a bang, winning the 2004-05 National Championship in a brilliant run that saw them topple Illinois to win the title. And while May may have gotten Final Four honors, McCants was no slouch as he averaged 17 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per contest while shooting 50 percent from 3 in March Madness.

With his shooting ability and prolific college career, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected McCants with the No. 14 pick in 2005. He lasted only five seasons in the NBA, however, never fully realizing his overall potential, even if he did shoot 36.8 percent from long range for his brief career. He has since played in China, Brazil, the Big 3 and many other places but never back in the NBA.