It took 21 days from UNC's last game until three players tossed their names into the hat for the NBA draft. It's another 51 until the deadline for withdrawing their name - June 16th. That's two days after the College World Series starts, and two weeks after the Stanley Cup Finals will have ended, if everything goes to seven games. Hell, the NBA playoffs may even be out of the second round by then.

Hence the political talk. Or more accurately, the political as it applies to Carolina basketball talk. Or more succinctly, will Obama's scrimmage effect recruiting?

No.

The cosmic alignment of a) a Democratic primary that stretched out so long the state of North Carolina actually mattered, and b) a presidential candidate young enough to run up and down a gym floor isn't going to come around every year. Or every four years. Frankly, it's going to come around as often as that leap year that's not supposedly a leap year but is a leap year because the year is divisible by 400. Which I suppose would be every 400 years. That's science.

In other words, when the great-great-great grandaughter[*] of Dean Smith is recruiting the great-great grandson of Tyler Hansbrough, then yes, UNC's awesome ability to bring presidential hopefuls in from a pickup game will definitely be a plus. (State will have to resort to reflected post-primary speech glory) Until then, well, with the political activism of your average eighteen-year old I don't think Obamamania is going to be a big concern.