University of North Carolina Athletics
Schedule Toughens North Carolina
March 22, 2000 | Men's Basketball
March 22, 2000
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By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - It appears games against 10 teams who made the NCAA tournament toughened North Carolina - finally.
Coach Bill Guthridge groaned near the end of the regular season that he may have overscheduled, playing road games at Cincinnati, Indiana, Louisville and Miami, and home games against Michigan State and UCLA that helped account for the program's highest loss total (13) since 1990.
Victories over the weekend against Missouri and top-seeded Stanford landed the surprising and inconsistent Tar Heels (20-13) in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament South Regional against Tennessee on Friday night at Austin, Texas.
The trip to the round of 16 is the program's 17th in the last 20 years and, despite a poor season by North Carolina standards, it is two victories away from a third Final Four in four years.
"I don't think we were overscheduled," forward Jason Capel said Tuesday. "If we would have played the way we were supposed to play, we win a lot of those games. I think that has prepared us for this, playing Cincinnati and Michigan State. These are teams that are the same caliber as a Tennessee, as a Stanford.
"We've been around the big-time games. It's just another day for us."
The Tar Heels said they left town last week with an edge that carried over to the court after fading to a 7-9 finish before the tournament began.
"This was our chance to put all the negative stuff aside," Capel said. "We went down to Alabama and we were just in the hotel. We didn't read the newspapers, we didn't read any of it. It wasn't like being here, where stuff is all up in your face. All we had were each other. I can't wait until we leave here and go out to Texas."
Capel then vented further about expectations and the criticism that comes with losing at North Carolina. The Tar Heels were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation early before falling out of the poll for the first time in a decade.
"We're 17-, 18- and 19-year-old kids," Capel said. "As much as we have talent and we're here on scholarship, some of the criticism we took was just unfair. But that goes with the territory. We're not playing for anybody now, we're just playing for ourselves, we're playing for those jerseys up there, we're playing for people in this program."
Senior point guard Ed Cota was quizzed about reasons the Tar Heels have suddenly turned it around.
"The explanation for it is having our backs against the wall, really knowing that if you lose it's your last game," he said. "It definitely hurt us during the season that we didn't play to our potential, but it couldn't be a better time for us to really get it going."
At least one person wasn't stunned the Tar Heels advanced - coach Mike Krzyzewski of archrival Duke.
"I told my staff that Carolina was going to win, basically because they're good," Krzyzewski said of the Stanford game. "They matched up real well, and it looks like (Brendan) Haywood is playing great. There is nobody like him in the country, that big."
Pressed several times to list reasons for North Carolina's two tournament victories, Cota finally responded with a smile.
"I don't know what's gotten into us," he said.
