WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina

Seniors, Roy Williams prepare for final home game against Duke

By David Reynolds

Mar 6, 2009

The lead-up to Sunday's showdown between No. 2 North Carolina and No. 7 Duke appears eerily reminiscent to the March 2006 meeting between the two schools.

Three seasons ago, the Blue Devils were a heavy favorite, and one of the greatest scorers in NCAA history, J.J. Redick, was being honored on Senior Night. A young Tar Heel squad knocked off the national title contender that night on Redick's home court, winning 83-76 in a game Tyler Hansbrough and the rest of this year's senior class remember as one of their favorite victories.

Insert Hansbrough in place of Redick, and this year's UNC team for the 2005-06 Duke squad, and it's not hard to see a few similarities if the Blue Devils were to spoil Senior Day for the Tar Heels.

But don't try to use that comparison to Roy Williams.

"There's the seventh ranked team in the country," Williams said when asked about the possible similarities between the two Senior Nights.

"To answer that question, no. If someone tries to sell you that, let me know because I can sell you a lot of old golf balls and crap.

"I think Duke's players will be thinking that this is our chance to get a share of the conference championship. I think those thoughts are much more dominant than Senior Day."

Instead, Williams used Friday's news conference to talk about one of the most successful senior classes in the history of North Carolina basketball.

A win Sunday against Duke would give UNC its third straight regular season ACC championship, and the senior class has already put together an impressive 4-0 mark against their rival at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"We kind of were that bridge, bridging the gap between the team that won it and the year that everyone thought Carolina was going to be terrible, and keep Carolina basketball going on the up-and-up," Bobby Frasor said. "We still have some things left to accomplish, so I think if we do that we definitely can go down as one of the best classes ever."

Seven seniors will play for their final time in the Smith Center Sunday, the most notable being Hansbrough, who needs 70 points to break the ACC's all-time scoring record.

Williams' biggest problem Sunday might be figuring out which five of the seven to start, but he said he already had a couple of ideas for making the decision.

"I'm going to call Mike (Krzyzewski) tonight and see if he wants to start seven, and we'll start seven," Williams joked. "They're going to be instructed to bring a present to practice tomorrow. The best five presents get to start."

For now, though, Hansbrough hasn't thought that much about starting in his final game at the Dean Dome. He said he's been too busy with the logistics of getting tickets for his family and friends to even think about it.

"It is a big game for us, my ultimate goal is to win and I'll think about everything else afterwards," he said.

As for his speech?

"I'm going on the fly," he said. "I think some of my best moments have been on the fly, so I don't want to jinx myself. I'e got a couple things in mind, but nothing written down."

Frasor predicted that the crowd would see a side not many have seen of Hansbrough in his speech, one that might include a couple of laughs and tears from the Poplar Bluff, Mo., native.

Danny Green, another senior, has also had a share of memorable moments in the Dean Dome, from his dance moves on the sidelines to his vast collection of dunks and alley-oops on the court.

When asked about his best memories in his career, he went back to his freshman year.

"For the most part, I think, just the first time I ran out of the tunnel - that's the most exciting thing. I was kind of overwhelmed when I ran out of the tunnel the first time, 22,000 people were standing up and cheering for me" Green said. "It's kind of hard to take in as a freshman."

When thinking about the senior class that meant the most to him, Williams said that this senior class comes to mind only behind his 2003 Kansas seniors of Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison and Drew Gooden.

He said they've served as the nucleus in UNC's evolution from a team that wasn't even picked for the NCAA tournament in the preseason of their freshman year to the Tar Heels' current status at the top reaches of the polls.

"For them to be such great teammates, that's been a very satisfying to me," Williams said. "You've got to have some special feelings for those kids if you're a North Carolina fan."