The word "drive" comes up a lot these days when you talk to Harrison Barnes, the North Carolina sophomore forward who just might be the best player in college basketball.

Barnes, the ACC's rookie of the year last season, has packed about 15 more pounds of muscle onto his 6-foot-8 frame and now weighs close to 225.

"That's because I want to drive the lane more and withstand the contact," he explained.

Then there's the other kind of driving. Barnes didn't acquire a driver's license until this summer, at age 19, when he returned to his hometown of Ames, Iowa. In Iowa, Barnes said that in high school he had lived close enough to school and the gym to walk to both places. He didn't feel the need for a license last year since college freshmen can't have cars on campus at Chapel Hill.

So Barnes' first collegiate road trip of the white-knuckle kind came Tuesday night when he drove teammate John Henson and himself 140 miles from Chapel Hill to Charlotte - in the rain - to participate in the ACC's annual Operation Basketball media day Wednesday.

"I was like this the first few miles," Henson said, widening his eyes and gripping the side of his seat in mock terror.

"Getting out of Chapel Hill was tough," Barnes said. "I'm nervous when driving there. People don't use the crosswalks at all - they just cross the road wherever they want to."

But Barnes settled down. Henson taught him how to use the cruise control halfway through the journey, and from then on Barnes had no problems.

Henson said Barnes - who was picked by 57 of 59 media members Wednesday as the conference's preseason player of the year - drives like he plays basketball. "He's very cautious and just very aware of his surroundings," Henson said.

Barnes also is the Tar Heels' most dynamic scorer. He flirted with the idea of leaving after his freshman season for the NBA, where he could have been the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft. Instead, Barnes eventually duplicated big men Henson and Tyler Zeller and stayed in Chapel Hill - a decision that quickly installed the Tar Heels as the favorite to win the 2012 national title.

Henson and Zeller announced their decisions to return to school nearly two weeks before Barnes did in mid-April. Barnes said Wednesday that if his teammates had gone pro early that he would have been more likely to do so, too. He was more open to the NBA idea than the two big men and did more investigating before deciding to stay.

"We had a lot of discussions, the three of us," Barnes said. "It wasn't me sitting in a room every day for eight hours wondering what I would do. The biggest thing was that if we all came back we could really do something special."

Last season the Tar Heels won the ACC regular-season championship and advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to Kentucky. That defeat weighed heavily on Barnes, whose reputation as a great shooter during the final minutes of games was honed during the season's final two months.

"I was sort of the guy who came through in the clutch," Barnes said. "And to not come through against Kentucky in those big moments - it took a toll."

The Tar Heels never would have made it that far if not for Barnes, who averaged 15.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game as a freshman. That included a spectacular performance against Clemson, when he set a freshman ACC tournament record with 40 points.

Barnes' season began slowly - he went 0-for-12 in one loss - but picked up momentum during late January when he scored 25 points in 26 minutes in a win against N.C. State.

Said N.C. State forward Scott Wood of Barnes: "He's really strong. He can take you out to the 3-point line and knock it down or take you down low and get into the lane. Of the points he had against us, probably 15 came against me. I think the rest of the ACC is mad at us, because we were the ones who basically got him going."

Barnes sounds like a 19-year-old sometimes when explaining his love of video games, his awkwardness at table tennis and his fear of parallel parking.

At other times, Barnes sounds like an older soul. He said Wednesday he's not on Twitter or Facebook because "I didn't grow up with them" and that he would like to embody former Boston Celtics great and Hall of Famer Larry Bird.

"Bird was such a competitor on the court, and then he sneaked out the back door once the game was over," Barnes said. "They say you never saw him except when he was playing basketball or mowing his yard."

Barnes said he wants to better his defense, his ball handling and his shot selection. With a 42.3 field-goal percentage last season, there is room for improvement.

"He worked exceptionally hard in the offseason," Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said of Barnes. "He's a very focused individual. We've talked about being more efficient on the offensive end, getting to the free-throw line, being a better defender - and being 15 pounds stronger will help all of that."

Whenever Barnes does go pro, he wants to be the top pick. When explaining this, he gave much the same reason as Cam Newton used to do before the Carolina Panthers picked him No. 1.

"As a competitor, you always want to be No. 1 more than No. 2 or No. 3," Barnes said.

More than anything, though, he wants this Tar Heels team to end the season at No. 1. "But it's not national championship or bust for us," Barnes insisted.

It largely will be perceived that way, however. And Barnes must be great for it to happen. For even on a Tar Heels team brimming with stars, he remains the driving force.