Chansky’s Notebook: A Big Blue Night

For Roy Williams, another big fix looks to be in order.

During his frustration-filled press conference following Carolina’s embarrassing loss at Michigan, Williams said, “I’ve been coaching for 31 years, and right now my coaching sucks.”

If you root for good sports teams, sometimes they play like they will never lose another game. And occasionally they play like they can never win again. To quote one local report from courtside, “It was a 17-point victory that felt like almost 40.”

However, history shows that Williams’ Tar Heels have recovered from similar losses in their best seasons. For example:

In 2012, when ranked No. 3 in the country, Carolina lost at unranked Florida State 90-57. That team reached the Elite Eight, and if not for injuries to John Henson and Kendall Marshall might have won the national championship.

In 2017 — the year of UNC’s last NCAA title — the Tar Heels lost at unranked Georgia Tech by 12 points and at unranked Miami by 15 in games that weren’t as close as their final scores might have indicated. So after his team lost an early 10-point lead and found it almost impossible to score from a set offense against the wily Wolverines’ defense and looked like a team that had never been coached in the second half, Williams was justifiably out of his mind.

Carolina got very little in transition and from 13 offensive rebounds; and on defense generally failed to either fight through or switch off effectively against Big Blue ball screens and pick-and-roll plays. Once Michigan opened up a double-digit lead in the first few minutes of the second half, you knew there was no comeback coming this time. Ol’ Roy seemed to know it too.

When asked late in the Ann Arbor night what went wrong, Williams said after substituting wildly, trying to find any combination that did something right, “If I knew, I would have fixed it by now.”

We’ve heard him say that before. Go to work, Coach, there may be another big fix in your future — and ours.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

‹

"Carolina Firsters"?

This notion of “Football First” or “Basketball First” fans at Carolina amuses me. Having graduated from UNC and been around for four decades, I am hard-pressed to think of a Carolina alumnus or rabid fan who roots passionately for one of the sports and disses the other. If you’re a Tar Heel fan, your pull […]

A Way Out

You remember the classic Kevin Costner movie in which he seemingly had No Way Out of his pickle as a double secret agent?   Carolina avoided that dilemma in the first phase of a path to restore its reputation and integrity. It can also keep its football program on track as a contender in the Coastal […]

Thorp's True Legacy

For a change, Holden Thorp made a decision that left everyone happy.   His detractors who grew since the firing of Butch Davis 14 months ago are happy, and some may be demented enough to think that score has been settled.   Those who support Thorp and care about what he and his family have […]

The Site That Knew The Score

UNC Athletics is re-launching its official website under the url of GoHeels.com, which is hardly a new name to Tar Heel Internet junkies. In the early days of the web, about 15 years ago, GoHeels was the website of choice for Carolina fans because it was the first out of the gate with news and […]

Good Chemistry, At Last

Even as Larry Fedora injects a youthful, wide-eyed energy into Carolina Football not seen here since Mack Brown, the Butch backers and Holden haters continue to view the glass as more than half empty. I ran into such a group this week having lunch at the Crook’s Cafe — one who said he had three […]

Blue Skies Ahead

It still may not seem so to the knuckleheads who hate Holden Thorp, but the Chancellor had a plan that he could finally hatch last July 26, when he decided that Butch Davis and the embarrassment his football program cost UNC had to go. For whatever reasons Thorp did not dump Davis in August of […]

Carolinas Connections

A gala wedding party was thrown at Litchfield Plantation in South Carolina last weekend, and among other things it was a great example of why people who live in both Carolinas argue and joke over which is the REAL Carolina. Each state has so much to offer, no wonder so many people claim them both. […]

Chansky's Notebook: On To The Next One

I love a coach who no longer has to prove anything. When people ask me about Roy Williams, I give them my opinion: he’s just a good ol’ guy, using the adjective that Williams often does when referring to himself in the third person. In the 31 years as a head coach, Williams has won […]

Inside Carolina: Analyzing The Win

A 75-69 victory last night over the Fighting Irish is exactly what the Tar Heels needed, no matter how “ugly” it may have been, and today’s edition of “Inside Carolina” takes a closer look at the mechanics of that win and the performance of the players that pushed UNC to success.

Chansky's Notebook: A Big Blue Night

For Roy Williams, another big fix looks to be in order. During his frustration-filled press conference following Carolina’s embarrassing loss at Michigan, Williams said, “I’ve been coaching for 31 years, and right now my coaching sucks.” If you root for good sports teams, sometimes they play like they will never lose another game. And occasionally […]

›