CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The Shot and The Dunk.
If you've heard or seen nothing else about women's basketball over the past 10 months, chances are you know about the three-pointer at the buzzer of last April's national championship game, which gave North Carolina the NCAA title.
Likewise, you've heard or seen something about the first dunk in a women's game in 10 years, the second overall, which came 17 seconds into the Tar Heels' Dec. 4 game with North Carolina A&T.;
The woman responsible for both, Tar Heels senior Charlotte Smith, has been talking about them for a while, and she would just as soon have you stop talking about them.
"I couldn't tell you," Smith said with a weary laugh when asked how many interviews she's done. "Yes [it's tiring], but I understand it's your job and you have to do it."
It's not that Smith, a 6-foot forward from Shelby, N.C., isn't happy with the consequences of her actions. Smith's shot from the right wing, launched with seven-tenths of a second on the Richmond (Va.) Coliseum clock, gave North Carolina a 60-59 win over Louisiana Tech and its first women's basketball championship, three years after the Tar Heels were in last place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
And the dunk, the first in a women's game since Georgeann Wells of West Virginia did it during the 1984-85 season, has helped bring a record number of fans -- more than 9,400 for a game against Virginia two weeks ago -- into Carmichael Auditorium to see the women play.
It's just that Smith, who had been best known as the niece of North Carolina State legend David Thompson, has become the object of attention, more than she ever dreamed possible.
"After the shot, there was floods and floods of mail. Then, for a while, it died down. The fan mail and media requests sort of tailed off. Then, the dunk happened and there was more fan mail and more media requests," said Smith. "It's fun at first, but with basketball picking up, every minute you have to yourself is so valuable."
It's not the same kind of notice that say, another Tar Heel who wore No. 23, Michael Jordan, would attract, but it's more than the reticent Smith is used to.
But after her brother and some of his friends were rudely turned down for autographs after an NBA Hornets game at Charlotte Coliseum, Smith vowed that she would never reject an autograph request, so she has accepted the celebrity as a part of the game.
"From then on out, even though I was just in college, I knew I didn't want to be that way, and I would always try to be polite as possible to people, because they're the ones who get you where you're going," she said.
And the fame does have its positives. Smith won two ESPY awards last week, a video award for the outstanding college basketball play of the year and a second trophy as the outstanding women's college player.
Smith, who leads the 12th-ranked Tar Heels into Cole Field House tonight against Maryland, might be on her way to another ESPY for the 1994-95 season, as well as serious consideration for national Player of the Year honors.
The Tar Heels have lost twice as many games (four) as they did all last season, but not because of Smith, who can move into third and 12th place on the all-time ACC rebounding and scoring lists tonight with seven rebounds and nine points.
She leads the ACC in scoring (18.9) and rebounding (10.3) and is fourth in field-goal percentage (53.6) heading into the final week of regular-season play. Smith has 15 games this season with double-figure marks in points and rebounds and has seven straight double-doubles.
It all has come against a steady opposition of double- and triple-teams from defenses that dare her teammates, guard Marion Jones and forward Stephanie Lawrence, to beat them from the outside.
"I've had to make myself versatile because it seems like everybody is after me," said Smith. "I have two and three people guarding me, but with the guards that we have on our team, when I've got two or three people on me, I can kick it out and know that Marion will hit the three or Stephanie will hit the three. Then when they have to check them, that opens up more room for me."