Chansky's Notebook: Perfect Storm II?

We should rejoice that this happens just every so often.

Roy Williams loves to say how lucky he is to be a college basketball coach — and you know he’s sincere. From a childhood when he was lucky to have a floor in every room of his house; to be the first in his family with a college education; to pick a career he loves and be chosen by Dean Smith as a protégé; to having won 876 games at schools like Kansas and Carolina; and becoming a Hall of Fame coach with few peers in the profession.

So while what is happening to his latest Tar Heel team eats at him, he must also know that a perfect storm like this season can happen every once in a while. You can say the pieces aren’t fitting together like they usually do, or the recruiting failures stemming from the academic scandal have finally caught up with him, or that a serious injury bug has bitten his program.

It happened ten years ago after the Tar Heels won the 2009 national championship. They lost four starters, and the pieces to the 2010 team didn’t fit together either. There would be no quality point guard until Kendall Marshall arrived the next season; future pros in the program Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller each missed about half the schedule with injuries, and Carolina became easy to scout and defend. It ended up as Ol’ Roy’s only year in the NIT.

This season seems headed down the same rabbit hole. Three straight losses on what is the toughest schedule in college basketball. There was little depth to begin with after losing five players to pro ball, and now with star guard Cole Anthony and defensive ace Leaky Black injured, who knows when, or if, the Tar Heels can recover. Williams says his guys have got to play better, but he also knows he needs better players.

So it may very well get worse before it gets better. This week brings a game at Gonzaga, which has lost two straight marquee match-ups to UNC and is likely licking its collective chops; and a Las Vegas trip to face UCLA, which would be tough for even a better-shooting opponent. Carolina could well start the spring semester at 6-6 and would need to jump out in ACC play to avoid similar comparisons to 2010, such as NIT-bound, maybe.

But this is also a good lesson for all of us, who have been lucky to support a basketball behemoth for decades. Since returning to Chapel Hill, Roy Williams has won more NCAA tournament games than any other coach and more NCAA titles than most conferences. It’s true, look it up.

And, meanwhile, let’s be grateful for it.

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Chansky’s Notebook: Perfect Storm II?

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