The NCAA tournament is way more business than fun this year.
Of the Tar Heels top ten, seven are playing in their first NCAA game against Wisconsin Friday night. But that’s not the only thing new for Hall of Famer Roy Williams who will coach for the 106th time in the Big Dance; his record is 79-26.
While he acknowledges the best event in American sports will have a decidedly different look in 2021, Williams is still amazed the season went off like it did and 68 teams (plus 16 in the NIT) are still playing.
Carolina arrived in Indianapolis Monday night, and there was just more protocol. No pomp and circumstance to greet them. Seven players did not miss it and all have instead spent most of the time in their hotel rooms and eaten food left outside by the kitchen staff.
The team got to lift weights one day, while Williams walked around the hotel for 30 minutes. The next day they went over to the minor league baseball stadium and walked around the outfield. Big whoop. Their biggest whoop so far was a 75-mile bus trip to practice at Purdue’s Mackey Arena, the site of Friday night’s game.
In between being swabbed up the nose every six hours, the guys are watching movies, playing card games in the hallway and reading an occasional book, but after all it is spring break (or is it?). Garrison Brooks is a film buff who binged on Spiderman 1, 2 and 3 in one day. “Where is the real motivation?” Brooks said Wednesday. “Get out of here and go home or succeed under the circumstances.”
So it gives them more time to concentrate on the first-round game and try to run their coach’s record in NCAA openers to 30-0. But the ninth-seed Badgers may be the biggest challenge to that streak, with a slowdown strategy that resembles Virginia (a nemesis of late for the Tar Heels).
“I believe in my heart and soul we can make a run, but I never talk about what’s down the road,” Williams said. “If we do, we’ll be down the road on the way home.”
Williams says he lives for the competition and hopes that the lack of pomp and circumstance will make the Heels hungry to play. His focus is on the job of surviving and advancing.
“It hasn’t exactly been Maui,” he says.
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I believe that too Roy if you would use good judgement in the playing time that you dish out to the players on this team and also if you would just please use your timeouts when it looks like the other team is dictating the flow of the game and we are starting to fall behind in the score. Don’t wait till we are down by double digits, so just pay closer attention to the flow of the game and how each player is adapting. If you need to take a player out then do so, but not if they are hitting shots. Please don’t do wholesale substitutions just take out the one or ones that are not performing and then let the ones that are doing well stay in longer. If you need to change up on defense then please do, if it will stop the other team from scoring or at least allow us a chance to stay in the game. Go Tarheels!