It’s not about what Ol’ Roy says, it’s how he says it.

A tweet from ESPN commentator and former coach Fran Fraschilla has given Tar Heel followers a chance to redirect their frustration about this season’s team. Fraschilla coached at three Division I schools and had a winning record — but not a great record.

Fraschilla was talking more about how what Roy Williams has been saying lately paints him as an ungrateful whiner after his team has suffered six straight losses, some of them in the hard-to-believe category.

Most bloggers debating about Williams don’t know him very well, some haven’t even met him. They cannot truly appreciate how competitive the Hall of Famer is, how hard he works and how much he thinks he’s letting everyone down.

After 32 years, this is pretty new stuff for him, and having to march right into a presser after almost incomprehensible losses isn’t easy for someone who wears his emotions out loud.

But when Williams pledges “we’re going to freaking compete,” when his team competed hard but gave up another big lead, that isn’t the best message. Losing those games to Clemson, Duke and Notre Dame don’t happen unless your mistakes, the opponent’s good play AND some bad luck all contribute.

Obviously, he and his kids are working hard and trying to get better. He won’t, but it would almost be preferable for Roy to laugh at what has been going on during this bad stretch.

“I’m the luckiest coach alive,” Williams has said so many times. He might follow that up with, “Can you believe how freaking unlucky we are right now?”

UNC had a 90-plus percent chance to win those games before everything that could go wrong went wrong. The Heels had to play doggone well before that to get such an advantage.

The roster isn’t that great, injuries are holding them back even in practice and they aren’t getting the one basket or rebound or call that would make a difference.

The coach’s job isn’t in jeopardy and he has one of his best-recruiting classes on the way, so everyone needs to chill. Given all that, it is what it is.

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