The curse of 2010 strikes again.  First Ed Davis goes pro, then the Wear twins transfer, Will Graves is dismissed, Larry Drew quits, Leslie McDonald blows out his knee, and now the purging of that ill-fated season continues at the expense of Dexter Strickland’s right ACL.

I should start by saying that I was never among the set clamoring for Strickland to relinquish his starting spot after Bullock’s gutsy performance against Long Beach State and his succeeding stretch of accuracy from beyond the arc.  The Dex Factor was a highly underrated and often overlooked glue guy and crucial component for this squad.  Opponents took him for granted at their own peril, and he had a combination of gifts that cannot be replicated by anyone else on this team.  There’s no question his injury hurts.  But it also opens up some intriguing possibilities.

First off is the new look with Bullock in the starting five.  The added offensive potential is obvious, with opposing defenses now having to prepare for two legitimate scoring threats on either wing, one of whom is now a 6-7 shooting guard who already ranks 7^th in the ACC in offensive rebounding during conference play.  That’s a difficult cover for your average two guard.

But Bullock is also really good on the defensive end.  He’s the team’s second-best perimeter defender, behind Strickland, and has been singled out by Roy for excellent defense multiple times this year.  What he lacks in Strickland’s quickness he makes up for in length.  And Roy points out that while Strickland was unmatched in his ability to lock in on and lock down a single offensive threat, Bullock is much better at understanding the defense as a whole, seeing the entirety of a possession and recognizing which holes need to be filled and exactly where and when to help or apply pressure (the equivalent of having a really good safety instead of a really good cover corner).

The addition of Bullock to the starting lineup may very well end up helping more offensively than it hurts defensively.

A second intriguing possibility comes in how the Heels navigate backing up Marshall.  Roy estimates that there were about three minutes each half where Marshall was getting a breather.  He’d probably like those minutes to stay the same (if not increase) in Strickland’s absence, and there will most likely be games where Butter is sick, lame, or finds foul trouble.  Stilman White will likely pick up a share of the burden, but how great would it be to watch a Hairston-Bullock-Barnes perimeter for six minutes a game?

The fast break might be dampened a bit, and there’s no telling how full-court pressure would affect them, but how does a 6-6, 6-7, 6-8, 6-11, 7-0 lineup sound once the ball crosses midcourt?  Especially with a perimeter trio that averages over 66 points and 23 rebounds per 40 minutes, shoots over 38% from deep, and includes three of the team’s top four free throw shooters.  With Henson and Zeller, that’s a lineup that includes five of the 25 highest offensive ratings in the ACC and five of the league’s top 17 in points per 40 minutes.

Talk about changing things up on an opponent.  To overplay the football analogy, that’s like a Cam Newton-DeAngelo Williams-Jonathan Stewart wildcat ten times in a row.

The third intriguing possibility is the secondary effect Strickland’s injury will have on the team mentally.  If there was one thing this Carolina team was lacking, even with Strickland in the lineup, it was a sense of urgency.  Call it an intensity issue, call it a focus issue, call it whatever you want…they seemed to satisfy themselves with having all the right pieces for a championship run and were content to sit back and defer to fate, waiting for the magic to happen.  But, aside from a handful of instances (Bullock vs. Long Beach State, Barnes vs. VT), they also seemed to forget that in competitive sports, by and large, you determine your own fate, and it’s up to you to make the magic happen.

Now that one of those pieces is missing, perhaps each player takes it upon himself to turn it up a notch, and that could translate to greater determination, greater focus, and greater intensity.  Which would be nice.

The Heels will undoubtedly miss Dex, and they’ll be tested right off the bat tonight against a gifted, deep, and well-rounded Pack team.  But Heels fans still have a lot to look forward to and a lot to be excited about.  The pieces still fit nicely into Roy’s preference for a defense-oriented starting five with offensive firepower coming off the bench, and we’re deep enough in the season for our best players to start logging more minutes anyway.

So, as we continue to expiate the demons of 2010, look for Strickland’s injury to shake up a largely uninspired Heels team, hopefully for the better.  And pray for John Henson.