Time for Dexter Strickland to get more playing time

This has been my opinion for a while, but Dexter Strickland's play at both ends in North Carolina's 81-67 victory over Rutgers really shows that he should be getting as many or more minutes than Larry Drew II.

What happened when Dexter went to the bench in the last few minutes of the game? The Scarlet Knights got dangerously close.

I'm not totally down on Drew's game and appreciate that he's shooting better this season and making better decisions, but I really think the point-guard job should be Strickland's.

Dexter has another gear that Larry doesn't have, speed and quickness near the lightning-fast down-court surge one that Ty Lawson could produce. He also plays better on defense than Drew and creates more turnovers and fast-break opportunities. Yes, Strickland makes mistakes on defense, which Roy Williams pointed out in the postgame press conference. But Strickland also is a better passer. Did you see the excellent one-handed bounce pass in the first half?

I know that Strickland is going to make freshman mistakes like against Rutgers: stepping out of bounds or taking an ill-advised 3-pointer (which luckily went in), but Drew certainly is making his share of errors as well. Given the elements that Strickland brings to the court, it's worth giving him more time.

At the very least, when Marcus Ginyard, left, isn't in the lineup -- which again appears to be the case for Wednesday's game against Albany -- why not start Strickland and Drew instead of starting Justin Watts?

Strickland scored a career-high 18 points against Rutgers. His assist-to-turnover ratio (4-to-3) wasn't great, but neither was Drew's (5-to-4). The numbers I didn't like: Drew plays 28 minutes and Strickland only 18.

Strickland told Woody Durham after the game that he's gaining more confidence in games and in practice and it certainly is showing.

I'm convinced that once the Tar Heels get into February, Strickland will be getting more crunch-time minutes than Drew, so why not give him more minutes now? I'm not too hopeful that this will happen, though.

Another ultimatum from a coach's wife on the way?

The saga of Florida football coach Urban Meyer last weekend -- in which he resigned Saturday and decided Sunday he instead would take an indefinite leave of absence -- reminded me of another coach who dealt with health issues a few years back.

Meyer's chest pains led him to make the initial decision to resign. On Sunday morning, his wife Shelley sent a text message to an Orlando Sentinel reporter saying that there was no chance that he would reconsider his decision to quit. She said that it was "the best decision for him and us right now."

After the Gators' practice Sunday, Meyer changed his mind and rescinded his resignation. Shelley, left, with Meyer after a game, didn't find out about this change of heart until they all were boarding the plane to New Orleans for Friday's Sugar Bowl.

Meyer said that his guess was that he'd be coaching when the 2010 season starts.

Reading between the lines, it appears that his family really pushed Meyer to consider resigning because they were worried that he was pushing himself too much and wasn't taking care of his health.

Flash back to the 1994-95 men's basketball season when Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's program was flying high with seven Final Fours in nine years. Even though he was enduring terrible back pain, Krzyzewski, right, kept pushing himself ... until his wife, Mickie, gave him an ultimatum, as he recounts:

"I'd come back too soon. And my wife Mickie just said, you're either going to the doctor today, or that's it. And that's it, was that's it you- and-me. So that was an easy decision for me to make."

He took the rest of the season off and Pete Gaudet, left, coached the Blue Devils to a forgettable 13-18 finish, going 4-15 without Krzyzewski on the bench.

Krzyzewski, like Meyer, is driven to succeed and committed to his program. Family appears to be important to both of them.

I can't help but wonder if we might see some sort of similar ultimatum from Shelley Meyer to force her husband to take a season off from football. It appears that it will be very hard for him to step away unless he's forced.

What I don't understand is how stepping away from coaching for any length of time will really help Meyer.

Krzyzewski had back issues that were addressed with surgery and rest. Meyer's issues -- chest pains -- seem to be something that can only be addressed by drastically changing his full-speed approach to coaching -- unlikely to happen -- or by simply retiring.

Whatever he does, I just hope that this story doesn't end the way it did for Wake Forest men's basketball coach Skip Prosser, who died of a heart attack.