At first glance, one could link the North Carolina Tar Heels’ recent success in women’s basketball to star guard Deja Kelly.
UNC made four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances: the first round in 2021, a Sweet 16 run the following season, plus it earned spots in both the 2023 and 2024 second rounds.
Kelly increased her scoring average each season, starting at 11 points per game in 2020-2021. Kelly then averaged 16.5, 16.5 and 16.3 points per game in her succeeding seasons, proving she could be an offensive leader for North Carolina.
In the offseason, Kelly shocked Tar Heel Nation and announced she’d be transferring to Oregon. We finally learned the reason why on Tuesday:
“I was a big part of that program that’s back on the national stage, and I ultimately just carried that program on my back for four years in the most humble way,” Kelly said in a TikTok Video via Keeping It Heel. “Being a leader, a face of a program is not easy, and it comes with a lot of BS a lot of people cannot handle. So, I give kudos to myself for being able to handle all this stuff that I went through for the past four years. That position is not for everybody. I am completely confident that it has made me way stronger mentally.”
Considering how much help Kelly had over her UNC career, particularly last year with Alyssa Ustby, Lexi Donarski and Maria Gakdeng, this feels like a slap in the face. It also sounds like Kelly wanted out for a while and wasn’t a team player, which is a key part of the college game.
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