NEWARK, N.J. — North Carolina’s basketball players have heard from friends far and near of late, but freshman point guard Kendall Marshall said today they have yet to hear from ex-teammate Larry Drew II.

Drew, the starting playmaker for much of the season, quit the team after a game against Boston College on Feb. 1.

During the first few days after Drew’s departure, several Tar Heels players said they expected to hear from him after things settled down.

While North Carolina is preparing for the ACC tournament, its former point guard, Larry Drew II, is apparently practicing for a rap career.

This twitvid of Drew rapping at his 21st birthday party has surfaced, and although all of the lyrics are difficult to make out, his rap seems to deal partially with his decision to leave UNC. A couple of excerpts:

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. –  After being walloped at Georgia Tech 78-58 roughly three weeks ago, it was hard to imagine that North Carolina would bounce back to win four straight games – including Tuesday’s 106-74 blowout at Boston College (the Tar Heels’ largest ACC road victory since 2005).

Yet UNC has won 9 of its last 10 games, is back in the Associated Press top 25 (at  No. 23), and tied atop the conference standings with fifth-ranked Duke.

Three reasons the Tar Heels have bounced back, and are now 6-1 in the ACC:

CHAPEL HILL – What’s point guard Larry Drew II’s solution to finally getting his shot to fall?

Take better ones, said the North Carolina junior, who is 8-for-34 (25.5 percent) this season.

 “I know why my shots haven’t been falling – even my dad brought it to my attention,’’ he said, referring to his father, Larry Drew, who is head coach of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. “All of my first shots have been 3-pointers, and it’s kind of like where I’ve been getting the ball through the offense, early on in the game. If my first shot is a 3 all the time, and it doesn’t go in, the basket might shrink a little bit. He tells me just to get easier [shots] or a better shot. Instead of getting a 3 for my first shot, get to the foul line, or shoot a floater or a pull-up. Work my way out.”

CHAPEL HILL -- After last year’s 17-loss campaign, North Carolina point guard Larry Drew II said he’s never been so eager for a season opener.

And he knows it’s more important than ever to get a confidence-building strong start.

“We’ve just got to go out there every game and bury people from the get [go],’’ said Drew, whose eighth-ranked Tar Heels play Lipscomb on Friday. “I feel like last year, we would just let teams hang around, we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that we had …. I feel it’s going to be different this year, and everybody has the same attitude, the same mindset, as me.

Part I: Duke, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Maryland
Part II: UNC, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami
Part III: N.C. State, Virginia, Boston College, Wake Forest
 

2009-10 record: 20-17 overall, 5-11 ACC (10th)

Postseason: NIT (4-1, lost to Dayton)

Projected starting lineup: G Larry Drew II, G Reggie Bullock, F Harrison Barnes, F John Henson, F Tyler Zeller

Clarification and update at the end of this story

It appears as if North Carolina's players got a talkin' to about what is -- and is not -- acceptable on twitter.

At about 5 p.m., rising sophomores Dexter Strickland and John Henson, plus rising junior Larry Drew II, all posted variations of the same message on their individual twitter accounts: "well coach just talked to us about twitter and told us we offend some people n what not so this is a farewell to bein' myself... lata tweeps."

NEW YORK –- Point guard Larry Drew II once again tried to quash persistent rumors that he plans to transfer during the offseason.

Asked if there’s any question that he’ll be back in Chapel Hill next season, the junior said: “Yeah, man. I’ll be back.”

NEW YORK -- Rhode Island tripped on its chances to advance to
the NIT championship game on Tuesday night. But then again, North
Carolina, who will instead play Dayton on Thursday, gave the Rams some
help.

After UNC's Larry Drew II missed a shot in the closing
seconds of overtime at Madison Square Garden, the ball got tipped out,
and briefly ended up in the grasp of URI's LaMonte Ulmer.

GREENSBORO — North Carolina wants to play in the NIT.

Now the question is: Does the NIT want UNC?

Les Robinson, N.C. State’s former athletics director and a member of the eight-person NIT selection committee, said this morning he was not allowed to reveal who was on his list of 32 teams that he will submit to begin the selection process. (Each committee member submits a list, and they begin whittling down from
there.)

"I would be surprised if they [the Tar Heels] weren't on the board, but I can say that about 25, 30 teams," he said, adding that that includes the Wolfpack, which “hasn’t hurt themselves’’ by winning Thursday night against Clemson in the opening round of the ACC tournament.