SAN ANTONIO — We all know college basketball in the state of Colorado is in various forms of disrepair and reconstruction and is, well, an embarrassment to the Union. But that doesn’t mean we have no connection with this weekend’s Final Four. We do. In fact, a part of Colorado is deeply entrenched in the No. 1 team and player in the land.
They won’t score a point or grab a rebound at the Alamodome, but without them, North Carolina would be in disarray.
Preston Puckett and Brandon Rhodes, two of North Carolina’s team managers, are graduates of Boulder’s Fairview High School.
Making sure all the balls are at practice and all the equipment is packed may not seem like a life’s passion to some, but in North Carolina, Puckett and Rhodes are big deals. Puckett, the head manager, can’t walk across campus without someone handing him an item for Tyler Hansbrough to sign.
Puckett is the guy you want to know if you want to know the national player of the year. They’re roommates.
Strangers in class tell him all the time they saw him on TV. And, of course, everyone thinks they are both North Carolina ticket brokers.
“Probably in the last week or so I’ve had between five and 10 people try to contact me on Facebook to see if I can get them tickets to the Final Four,” Rhodes said. “These are people I’m not even great friends with. As managers, we don’t get tickets anyway. I wouldn’t even have tickets for my best friend, let alone random people I don’t even know.”
Not that being a North Carolina manager doesn’t have its perks. Every day at practice they realize they have the best job in the world. All they have to do while they’re rolling the balls out or pouring drinks is see their workplace decorated in Carolina blue.
“It’s being part of a great program and a great team,” Puckett said. “This is my fifth year doing it. It’s something when I got to campus I felt I could be a part of, like I was part of the team. Obviously I wasn’t playing anymore, but I was able to keep going to practice.”
Said Rhodes: “Just being able to going into the Dean Dome, to look up at everything they have there and to know you’re part of that tradition . . . I really love that.”
While everyone in Tar Heel Nation surfs the Internet for any tidbits about their favorite players, Puckett and Rhodes know the skinny on all of them. Puckett even knows where Hansbrough throws his dirty socks away from the court.
Guess what, folks? Ol’ Psycho T does not have the same hellfire intensity at home as he does on the court. That would be problematic when doing the dishes.
“He’s cool,” Puckett said to a question he’s heard 1.2 million times. “He’s like a regular guy. Everybody thinks he’s crazy on the court. He’s definitely a dedicated person, but he’s also normal. He makes jokes. Hangs out. Plays video games. Watches TV. Just like anyone else in college.”
Since when did Fairview become a manager pipeline for North Carolina? It started with Preston’s parents, both of whom are North Carolina grads who moved to Boulder, where Bill Puckett is a clothing sales rep. But Preston also dabbled at Roy Williams’ basketball camp when he was Kansas coach. Williams told Preston that if he ever wanted to, he could come work the camp.
When Puckett graduated from Fairview in 2003, Williams left for North Carolina and Preston wanted to follow in his father’s tarred footsteps. He worked Williams’ camp the summer before his freshman year and got hired. He has even been on full scholarship the past two years.
Rhodes, 20, was a Fairview manager while Puckett was a little-used reserve and Fairview coach Frank Lee suggested he continue at North Carolina when he graduated in 2005. When he visited, Puckett was there to show him around. They’ve been working together ever since.
Appreciate them, Colorado. It’s the closest you’ll get to the Final Four for a while.
