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GREENSBORO — North Carolina freshmen basketball players Jackson Simmons and Stilman White both planned on squeezing in one last game of high school ball in the East-West All-Star game tonight in Greensboro.

White, a point guard who starred at Wilmington Hoggard, hurt his hand Friday and dropped out of the game on the advice of doctors in Chapel Hill, but Simmons, a power forward who stood out at Sylva Smoky Mountain, will still play tonight at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Although originally set to face off against each other with Simmons on the West team and White planning to play for the East, the current roommates will now forget about the playful trash talk they dished back and forth this week and prepare to don the same Carolina blue jerseys this fall.

"We should be the best team in the country in my mind," White said. "I'm so excited for this season. At first it was little overwhelming. A couple months ago I was watching these guys on TV and I was just a high school kid, but now I've settled in and I feel like I'm one of the guys."

Beyond helping the pair get used to collegiate school work, summer school in Chapel Hill has been filled with pickup games against former Tar Heels and plenty of workouts with current teammates.

"Playing against Raymond Felton's fun," White said. "Well, it's not really fun because he's really good, way too good, but just getting to guard a guy like that is a challenge. You want to step up and play your best so you don't embarrass yourself."

Nearing the final week of summer classes, both Simmons and White are unsure of just what their roles on the team will be come November.

"The plan right now is to work as hard as I can," White said, "and see if I get to spot Kendall (Marshall) some minutes where I can. I hang out with him more than anyone else on the team. I feel like I've gotten so much better just from working out and playing against him every day."

But other than that, only time will tell where these two freshmen fit into head coach Roy Williams' plan for the 2011-2012 season.

White, a Mormon, is planning on playing at UNC this year before taking a two-year leave of absence for his Mission and then returning to complete three more years with North Carolina.

Simmons, who signed last August as a preferred walk-on, was awarded what he had hoped for since his initial commitment and is now a scholarship player for the Tar Heels.

For now, though, Simmons is enjoying his last time on a team filled with former teammates and rivals in a game he's watched and hoped to play in of most of his life.

"Four years have gone by in a hurry, and I've only got one more game to enjoy it," Simmons said. "It's a little bit emotional, but at the same time you just have to enjoy the experience of playing in such a prestigious game with the guys you've grown up with."

Contact Megan Walsh at 373-7016 or megan.walsh@news-record.com