University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Stages
February 20, 2010 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Feb. 20, 2010
By Adam Lucas
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.--One of the joys of being a Carolina basketball fan is the opportunity to watch a team learn to make winning plays. This, it seems, is part of our birthright. You just know that when the game gets tight in the second half and the score is tied, someone wearing blue will figure out a way to take a charge or get to the free throw line or save a loose ball. That's part of being North Carolina--the ability to leave the opponent shaking his head, wondering exactly how you just pulled that out.
Wins beget wins beget wins. The Tar Heels win precisely because they know how to win, and that's the ultimate difference between us and them.
If there's one lasting, uncomfortable lesson from the 2009-10 season, it's that the opposite is true, too, and the line is razor thin. Winning can become a habit, but so can losing. Those same tight situations still happen. There were several in Saturday's 71-67 loss to Boston College. This year, though, the plays aren't made. There are no stops. There are no big shots.
"It seems like every time, the other team always finds a way to do something to hurt us," John Henson said. "It happened numerous times today."
In spurts, the Tar Heels looked like a capable basketball team against the Eagles. They started solidly, played well immediately after halftime, and put together a nice rally to get the game close after falling behind, 63-53. Too often, though, they looked like a .500 team playing .500 basketball, which in the ACC is enough to get you smacked more often than not.
Throughout the struggles, it's been possible to watch Roy Williams go through the various stages of disbelief. A few weeks ago, he was compassionate. Then he moved on to incredulity. Next was encouragement (the head coach told his team Friday night they could easily get on a run, win five straight to get to 8-8 in the ACC, and qualify for the NCAA Tournament).
Now, he's getting close to aggravation. "You've got to freaking play,' he said Saturday after noting that his team's intensity was not consistently what he would have liked. "If my back's against the wall and I'm getting my tail kicked, I'm going to fight you until I freaking die."
He looked around the room, saw a couple familiar faces, and shook his head. "I better stop," he said.
If you're trying to figure out his reactions, it's pretty simple. For 22 years--longer than his players have been alive--he's had the answers. It might have taken a few days or even a week in extreme circumstances, but he's always known how to solve anything within the recognizable confines of 94 feet of hardwood. Imagine a surgeon going into the operating room, using his or her years of training to cut open a patient, and seeing absolutely nothing that looks familiar. That's where Williams is now.
It's a basketball team, and his entire identity is built on knowing how to flawlessly run a basketball team. But this one...this one is different. When he says, "It's the most frustrating time in my coaching career," he means it. This season--and especially this last month--makes trying to help Rashad McCants understand the nuances of team play look like coaching the pre-K team at the Chapel Hill YMCA. If you couldn't do the one thing you've always been able to do the best--grill a steak, fix a car, hit a golf ball--what kind of doubt would that create?
Somewhere between Atlanta and Chestnut Hill, reality seems to have popped the Tar Heels square in the face. Williams, who rarely looks that far ahead, was downcast about his team's NCAA chances. Henson said Carolina was "playing for pride." Even in the darkest moments of this 2-9 stretch, there seemed to be some hope. Walking through the Tar Heel locker room Saturday afternoon, it felt like that light had been extinguished. Henson talked about what he would work on over the summer. Drew once referred to the season in the past tense.
Deon Thompson was sitting at his locker in full suit and tie, staring straight ahead.
"It hurts," he said. "I'm missing so many easy shots. If I make those shots and make plays, I help my team win the game. Nothing is going our way. Or my way. Or the team's way. Or Coach Williams's way.
"It doesn't get better the further you get from it," he said. "It gets worse as the day goes on and you think about what went wrong. Until you get a chance to play again and do something about it, it lingers. This feeling just sits there."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of five books on Carolina basketball, including the just-released book on the 2009 national title, One Fantastic Ride. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter.
