University of North Carolina Athletics
Williams Ready For Chills
November 20, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2003
By Adam Lucas
Roy Williams didn't have to say a word to make it clear that something was different about North Carolina basketball.
Williams met with the media Thursday afternoon, the usual pregame press gathering complete with a mix of praise for the opponent and concern about the home team. But it wasn't what Williams said that made an impression--it was what he wore.
Williams attended the 30-minute press conference in shorts, thereby becoming the first UNC basketball coach to ever attend a regularly scheduled press conference in anything that didn't reach below the knee. Laugh if you want to, but around Chapel Hill the sartorial selections of the head coach are a big deal. And here's the big news: his choice of ensemble didn't cause the Smith Center to shake at its foundation or the familiar Carolina blue court to turn blood red.
Presumably, he'll be wearing long pants on Saturday evening when his Tar Heels open the regular season against Old Dominion, the most overlooked opponent this side of the Washington Generals. All the pregame hype is about Williams's debut as Carolina head coach, but he's well aware that the Monarchs put a scare into the Tar Heels last year, pulling within seven points with under two minutes to play.
"It's not the kind of game you go into trying to decide where to go eat after the game," Williams said. "We realize we have to go out there and play. When somebody has four of their top six guys back and played us very well last year, we have to understand that we have to respect everyone and fear no one."
Among those returning players are 6-foot-9 Alex Loughton, who scored 13 points in last year's meeting, and sharpshooting guard Isaiah Hunter, a former AAU teammate of Rashad McCants who made just one of 12 field goal attempts in last season's game but is unlikely to repeat that performance this year.
The game, which tips off at 8 p.m., will not only be the debut for Roy Williams--it will also be the first regular season appearance for freshmen Justin Bohlander and Reyshawn Terry. Bohlander, a walk-on from Winston-Salem's RJ Reynolds High, has been a pleasant surprise during exhibition play, but his head coach knows that everything changes on Saturday.
"A lot of times with freshmen, even if they have real good practice sessions, it's a different animal to start games," Williams said. "It's tougher for us because we don't have a lot of great competition during our practices. The quality of the opponent could be a little bit of a shock for both Justin and Reyshawn."
The quality of the Tar Heels' play, meanwhile, is facing some serious expectations. Despite missing the NCAA Tournament last year, Carolina is ranked in the preseason top-ten of nearly every poll, and the ACC sportswriters selected them second in the ACC.
This despite, as Williams likes to point out, losing 36 games over the past two years.
"It's been a little bit of a shock to me how good we think we are sometimes," he said. "We haven't beaten anybody yet. I like confidence and I don't mind that, but we have to understand we haven't beaten anybody."
Beating Old Dominion, however, is likely to be a secondary storyline on Saturday night. Williams has received standing ovations upon taking the floor at the blue-white game and both exhibitions, and it's a certainty that he'll get a fourth straight warm reception from a pinch-me-is-it-really-true Smith Center crowd on Saturday.
Eventually, his thoughts will turn to the game. But the man who (for the sake of posterity) completed his ensemble Thursday afternoon with a white golf shirt and a navy sweater vest--yes, a Carolina sweater vest--knows his debut will be special for him as well as the fans.
"It's my first game back in Chapel Hill, and I'm a guy who grew up in North Carolina dreaming about North Carolina," Williams said. "There's no question I'll have a different kind of cold chills when I walk out of that tunnel."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
