n January 16 of this year, the North Carolina Tar Heels were 12-5, having just beaten Virginia Tech in a close game in Chapel Hill. The grumbling old men of Franklin Street were grumbling about what they had been grumbling about for the past two years: Larry Drew II, the team's starting point guard, was playing horribly. In the Virginia Tech game, he had picked up more fouls (4) than assists (3), points (3), or rebounds (2). Kendall Marshall, Drew's freshman backup, had played spectacularly. In 24 minutes, Marshall put up the following line: 3-4 from the field, 2 rebounds, 9 points, 9 assists, and zero turnovers. But statistics, even advanced ones, don't really tell us much about point guard play in college. Yes, Marshall thoroughly outproduced Drew. But when you're the point guard at Carolina, production is a secondary concern. You can shoot badly from the floor, turn the ball over, and have teammates botch assists, but as long as you're pushing tempo and finding streaking and cutting teammates, you're doing your job. Marshall set a torrid pace, but he did it in a strange, almost counterintuitive way. Carolina fans were still dizzied from the memories of Raymond Felton and Ty Lawson — two of the fastest players to ever set foot in Chapel Hill. But Felton and Lawson set pace through more traditional means — they got the ball and ran like jackrabbits up the court. Marshall, who runs with his back as straight as a ramrod and keeps his head up at all times, was much, much slower than those two. He was slower than Larry Drew II. But through long lead passes, clever dribbling, and the unteachable ability to see three beats ahead, Marshall set the Heels humming at their optimal pace.