Don't ever tell a guy what he can't do.

At least, don't tell it to LeVelle Moton.

Don't tell him that because he came from the projects in Boston and his mama moved him and his brother into some more public housing in Raleigh and his daddy wasn't around, that the chance of him doing anything bigtime is at best a dream that forever will be deferred.

Last night, Coach Moton was on the floor of the Dean E. Smith Center. His N.C. Central Eagles were in the house to shoot some ball with the Tar Heels.

Moton used to hoop for NCCU. He wasn't merely a member of the squad, either -- dude's in the school's athletic hall of fame.

See, don't tell a guy what he can't do. At least, don't tell it to LeVelle Moton.

Don't tell him the most he could do was play the game of basketball, because he doesn't have the pedigree to coach.

There he was, across from UNC basketball guru Roy Williams. Moton was making his debut as a collegiate head coach. And he is in good company, because NBA great Isiah Thomas on Monday coached his first college basketball game against Williams in the Smith Center.

Of course, both Moton and Thomas left the Dean Dome with an "L."

But don't miss the significance here. Yeah, there's Barack Obama with his audacity of hope and all that. But Moton's a guy who grew up down the road in Raleigh, where he went to Enloe High School.

So you have to know Moton came up watching all those ACC hardwood battles featuring players of Tobacco Road lore such as J.R. Reid and Chris Corchiani and Johnny Dawkins. And before Dick Vitale invaded America's living rooms, Moton heard former WRAL sports anchorman Tom Suiter vex vocal chords while going on about Rodney Monroe and Brad Daugherty and Robert Brickey, who as a Duke Blue Devil soared through the air inside the Dean Dome and returned last night as one of Moton's assistant coaches.

Moton, like me and a whole lot of other kids who grew up in Raleigh, would watch those games and catch the highlights and dream about making it onto the reels ourselves.

So don't tell a guy what he can't do.

At least, don't tell it to LeVelle Moton, because there he was last night coaching his Eagles against one of the premier programs in college basketball. There he was weeks ago at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel Convention Center kicking off the basketball season with Williams and NCSU's Sidney Lowe and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski -- coaches with big names in a region where basketball is bigtime.

And there was Moton, pulling a Michael Jordan -- now there's a mighty fine Tar Heel we never saw get down in the Dean Dome -- putting his team on his back, representing NCAA Division I newcomer NCCU with the cr