The Heels have a week to stew over this one
Feb 22, 2009
Something not so funny happened to North Carolina on their way to their coronation as ACC basketball champions. They found out that just trying to outscore their opponent won't always work.
Carolina played with that mind-set against Maryland, and it's that thinking that may end up being the Heels’ Achilles’ heel.
Roy Williams might not have publicly cursed on Saturday, but I'm sure he had plenty to say privately. His experienced Carolina team played soft, not very smart and with very surprisingly little poise in a loss at struggling Maryland.
Eighty-five points is usually enough for Carolina to win. A 16-point second-half lead is usually enough for a UNC team to hang onto, but not when a lackluster perimeter defense allows a so-so Maryland team to score 88 points while hitting 13 of 30 3-point shots. Not when Maryland junior Grevis Vazquez scores 35 points and looks like the second coming of Magic Johnson en route to a triple double. His 10 assists alone doubled the Tar Heels team output in that department.
No, Carolina didn't play like a team that had won two consecutive ACC championships, had been to last year’s Final Four and was everybody's favorite in October to get there again. They didn't play at the end like an experienced team that had the ACC regular title practically locked away. They sure didn't play like a national champion.
What was most shocking to me about this loss was that Carolina completely lost control at the end. Up by nine points with 1:54 to play and the game in hand, they totally lost their cool. It's usually Carolina staging miracle comebacks, not the other way around. A team with all their talent and experience literally threw the game away.
"We should have won the game," said senior guard Bobby Frasor. "If we make free throws, if we don't turn it over, if we don't go charging, if we don't go for a lay-up and take the ball out and run some time off, it's a totally different outcome at the end of the game. They made plays down the stretch, and they were the better team."
And Carolina helped them make plays with critical turnovers, perhaps the most vexing one being Tyler Hansbrough's attack to the basket that resulted in a charge with 1:17 left to play, 30 seconds on the shot clock and Carolina clinging to a four-point lead. If they had brought the ball back out, valuable time could have been run off the clock. It wasn't a smart play by a smart player.
And Hansbrough continues to have some offensive inconsistency. He's not getting the officials’ calls he's gotten throughout most of his career. He's still flailing around, looking like he's been fouled, but the referees aren't giving it to him. The Maryland game was the fifth straight game in which the man who's made a career at the free-throw line has had single-digit free throw attempts. Maybe teams have finally begun to figure him out, or maybe it's the refs who have figured him out.
Is Carolina still the best team in the ACC? Yes, they are. Nobody in the ACC can match their talent. Everybody in that lineup is an offensive threat. But will they defend with the hard-nosed toughness that makes a champion?
The Maryland game could well be just a blip in a long season. This is still a team that has lost just three games and has the ACC lead. They are still in control, after all.
But I don't think the Tar Heels are as scary to some teams as they once were. Slow them down a little, force them to play defense, and pound on Hansbrough. Be aggressive with the aggressor. It worked for Maryland. Others have had some success with this as well.
The loss to the Terps was disturbing in the way it was lost. Great teams, tough teams don't lose big leads against the likes of Maryland.
A tough-minded team doesn't let an Eric Hayes drive unmolested to the basket in the waning minute of regulation or let a hot player like Vasquez have a wide-open 3-pointer in overtime. He was so open, I could have made that one, which broke the 81-81 tie. Roy Williams has been preaching all season that his team needs to play better defense. Sometimes they do, but certainly not consistently – and certainly not against Maryland.
Carolina has until Saturday to stew over this one. I think Coach Williams will use this loss as a slap in the face back to bring them back to reality.
North Carolina is still a strong bet to make it to the Final Four. But it won't be handed to them. It will have to be earned. The talent is there, everybody knows that – but is the hunger and toughness? With all things equal, that can be the edge as February fades into March. Roy Williams knows that.
And this week he will make that point perfectly clear. In any language he chooses.
