Despite No. 8 Seed, UNC Men’s Basketball Prepares For NCAA Play

Here is Tar Heel Head Coach Roy Williams on the seeds.

“It was disappointing,” says Williams. “It was disappointing for our league to get that little respect. It was disappointing to have two twos and two eights, and everybody has their own opinion. But it doesn’t make any difference, you have got to go play. I’m not going to spend too much of my time discussing things that don’t make sense.”

Williams is making his 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance as a head coach, tied for seventh in history. He has coached 81 NCAA Tournament games with 61 wins, a winning percentage better than 75 percent, which is third all time.

This year will mark the 44th NCAA appearance for the Tar Heels, the second most in history. North Carolina has played in 149 tournament games with 108 wins and 41 losses. That is a tournament percentage of 72.5 percent winnings. The wins, games played, and the winning percentage for the Tar Heels are second best all time.

As the Tar Heels approach NCAA Tournament time, Williams commented on the post season.

“There is a little more of a sense of urgency and understanding from the players, but they never fully understand until they are upper classmen,” says Williams. “The quickness, the suddenness, with which your season can be over with. It’s you win and keep going, or you lose and go home. It makes no difference.”

Going into the tournament the Tar Heels are 24-10 overall and 12-6 in the ACC.

Six of the ten season losses were against No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams.

Junior guard Reggie Bullock and sophomore forward James Michael McAdoo were named to the 2013 Coaches’ All-ACC Second Team. Sophomore guard P.J. Hairston was selected as an honorable mention. Freshman point guard Marcus Paige was one of six total named to the All ACC Freshman Team.

North Carolina will face the ninth seed Big East’s Villanova Wildcats on Friday night at 7:20 p.m. in the second round. The Wildcats enter the tournament 20-13 overall.

It is likely that the Tar Heels will go back to the big lineup in the tournament. Villanova has had some big wins this season. They have beaten Louisville, Georgetown, Marquette, andSyracuse.

Here is Williams on Villanova.

“Jay [Wright] has done a great job,” says Williams. “They struggled early. They have 13 losses, a majority of which were early. They had a hot streak in there where they were as good as anybody when they were beating those teams.”