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CHAPEL HILL -- When the moment came, Danny Green didn't flinch.

At the end of a brief interview last season, a reporter asked for the phone number of Green's father, apparently not knowing the complex family history.

"My father's in prison," Green answered.

It would have been easy for Green, a basketball player at North Carolina, to duck the question, to avoid having to get into his father's arrest in the spring of 2006 on drug trafficking charges. But that wouldn't have been Green.

"He's an open person," said Sharima Morton, the fiancée of Green's father, a.k.a. "Big Danny."

Green is open about his father's problems, open about the way they've affected him and his family, open about why he struggled last season and open about why he's playing so much better this season. He's open about ... well, being open.

"I have nothing to hide," Green said. "That's just the type of person I am. I don't have any secrets, really."

Just ask the rest of the Tar Heels.

Green was the one who regaled the media last season about how the Tar Heels likened road victories to "taking brownies" from the other team. He talked about how teammate Marcus Ginyard yelled, "We're going to take somebody's brownies!" just before UNC stepped onto the opposing team's floor.

It was a great story, except for one problem. It wasn't meant to be shared outside the Tar Heels' locker room.

"Danny can't keep a secret to save his freakin' life," coach Roy Williams declared.

'big Danny'

Not even when you would think Green would really want to keep something private. When Daniel R. Green, was arrested on Long Island on March 30, 2006, as part of an alleged multi-state cocaine trafficking ring, the story made newspapers in this state because of his basketball-playing son in Chapel Hill.

The publicity essentially ended there. The topic seemed too sensitive to broach with a college-age player. But when the questions about Green's father finally did come up -- and surfaced again just before Carolina's game this season against Rutgers -- Little Danny didn't try to guard his family secret.

"It didn't really occur to me," Green said. "I feel comfortable discussing it."

A big reason for that: Green believes firmly that police "got the wrong guy." Though his father pleaded to one count of conspiracy in October -- and received a one- to three-year prison sentence -- Green said that decision was driven more by his father's desire to get out of jail as soon as possible. Thanks to time served, the elder Green could be eligible for parole as soon as the end of this week.

"That whole stereotype, I don't think it means anything to Danny," Morton said. "He's not ashamed."

Life With Roy

Similarly, Green has no qualms discussing the occasional public tongue-lashings he has taken from his coach. Consider the halftime tirade Green was subjected to during one of Carolina's games at the Las Vegas Invitational.

"I was so mad at him," Williams said, "I was about to choke him."

Green, a 6-foot-6 junior, had a philosophical view of the incident.

"I had a couple of turnovers, and I wasn't being productive," he said. "He had a right to be mad at me."

Williams said Green then went out and played much better in the second half. To Williams, this was proof of the more mature Green, the one who could handle tough criticism from his coach.

But Green will tell you he has been taking heat from coaches all his life. His dad has been pointing out Green's on-court deficiencies since Little Danny started playing organized basketball at age 5, and he still was doing it in phone calls from jail. It was the same for Green even when he was a star at St. Mary's High in Manhasset, N.Y., playing for Tim Cluess. Williams is just the latest in the line.

"I'm used to people getting on my case," Green said.

Chicken or egg?

That's not the only topic in which Green's frank nature causes him to diverge a bit from the Tar Heels' party line.

It's clear that Green is playing much better this season than the last. He's averaging 13.1 points, up from 5.2, and his field-goal percentage has shot up from 41.1 to 54.3.

Asked to explain Green's improvement, Williams talked about the offseason work Green put in and how Green focused on specific areas, such as defense and decision-making. Then it was his turn to get a bit philosophical.

"It's the chicken or the egg," Williams said. "Last year, the ball didn't go in the basket as much for him, so he wasn't as confident. Now is it going in because he's more confident, or is he more confident because ... which one do you want to put first?"

Green sidestepped the conundrum. The other stuff plays a role, but to him the main explanation is clear: He's playing better because he's playing more minutes -- an average of 20.6 per game, up from 13.6 last season.

"This year, he gives me a little more freedom and lets me play through my mistakes more," Green said of Williams. "Last year I would have a couple of minutes here and there. This year it's more minutes at a time, where I can get into a rhythm."

Coming from another player, that might sound like a veiled criticism of the coach -- "See, he should have played me more last season." But if there's anything Green is not, it's veiled.

No, to Green the most direct answer is the best one. That sometimes gets him in hot water with his teammates, but it also has gotten him through the most trying period of his life, to the point that he's playing the best basketball of his career.

"A lot of pressure was put on his shoulders to succeed," Morton said. "Either you're going to rise to the occasion or you're going to buckle. And he's risen to the occasion."

Contact Jim Young at 373-7016 or jim.young@news-record.com