University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: One Business Day Left
April 3, 2005 | Men's Basketball
April 3, 2005
By Adam Lucas
North Carolina is playing for the national championship on Monday night.
That statement is provided as a helpful reminder just in case you can't tell from the laid-back approaches of the Tar Heel players themselves. Melvin Scott's glowing Final Four belt buckle is only the most tangible example of a team that's decided they're in St. Louis to play basketball--and have fun while they're doing it.
This is a squad that just a few weeks ago included no player who had ever advanced past the NCAA Tournament round of 32. That was near the top of the list of weaknesses assigned by most observers to the Heels before the tournament. Instead of being a detriment, though, it may have turned out to be a positive.
"Coach Williams has been here before, but we haven't," David Noel said. "Since it's new to us, we're trying to soak it all up. We're trying not to take everything so seriously.
"But at the same time, we know what we're here to do. When it's time for business, that's what we do. Until then, we're having fun."
There's going to be a lot of talk during the buildup to the championship game about the way this team tussled throughout last year. The "attitudes" of Rashad McCants will be brought up yet again--when it happened at Sunday's off day press conference, McCants could only look skyward while his teammates chuckled--and it's a safe bet at least one analyst will make wildly inaccurate comments about their role in the departure of Matt Doherty.
The Tar Heels can't completely deny everything that's said. After all, it's much like reality television--no matter how jarringly it's edited together, it's still you up there on the screen and you still did those things. But it was also over a year ago. For every time someone mentions locker room dissension last season, they should be required to mention scenes like Sunday, when Marvin Williams tried to field a question in front of most of the nation's media but struggled getting his words out because of the wily interference of a bemused Jawad Williams.
In many ways, it's that same media that has given Carolina a target this week. The Heels have been anointed the "most talented team" in the country, a distinction that's started to wear on some of the players.
"It's kind of making me upset that people are saying we're not a team, we're just talented," said Raymond Felton, the engine of the nation's leading assist squad. "We are a team. We haven't won 32 games off talent alone."
Noel, who has family working in the television sports industry, understands the storyline.
"If we win it, they're going to say we were supposed to because we had the most talent," Noel said. "If we lose, they're going to say, `See, they weren't a team.' I told the guys while we were here, we just have to play for ourselves. We've got one game left. That's the way it has to be."
That's the type of us-against-the-world mentality that can rally a team. The just-have-fun mantra goes all the way to the top of the Tar Heels. When Roy Williams, who is supposed to be spending all his time nervously chomping his fingernails at the mere thought of playing for a title if you believe the depiction in some circles, gathered his squad in their cavernous Edward Jones Dome locker room Saturday night before the game, he wrote three keys on the dry erase board. It's a Williams ritual, a last chance to impart some strategic points to his team.
This time, though, one of the points had nothing to do with offense, nothing to do with defense, and included not a single x or o. It read simply, "Have fun."
Notes: There is, of course, a fine line between being loose and careless. Carolina ventured into the latter territory early against Michigan State, committing seven turnovers in the first 10 minutes, several of the unforced variety. That gave the Spartans just enough opening to be able to build a 5-point halftime lead despite some early struggles of their own. Illinois is unlikely to be as forgiving...Rashad McCants had the perfect answer when a reporter tried to persuade him to say he was looking forward to the championship game more because the opponent was Illinois. "I'm looking forward to the opportunity of playing on Monday night," McCants said. "That's what I'm looking forward to."...Monday marks Sean May's 21st birthday...Fans in Carolina's section Saturday night got a special treat when Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge sat in the stands to root on the Tar Heels. There's a chance there could be even more special guests in attendance on Monday night.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. His book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about the book, click here.
