Here is the basic summary:
First half: A little sloppy and inconsistent, still lead by 17
First 12 minutes of 2nd half: UNC basketball at its finest, lead grows to 38
Final eight minutes: Heels go to sleep and give up a 23-2 run to close the game.
Not much else I can add there. They can be good when they want to be. However the Heels act like they are flying against Iceman in Top Gun. They get bored, do something stupid or in this case several stupid things which leads to the proverbial wheels rolling off the wagon well short of the finish line. Tonight it was a good eight minutes short and the only thing that save their collective butts is they had a 38 point spot.
And yes Roy Williams is still pretty pissed off about it all though he was a little calmer in his postgame press conference. His biggest complaint is the players are not listening to him . He is frustrated with the same crop of mistakes game in and game out. Listening to both Roy and Deon Thompson it is clear both player and coach are exasperated with the state of play. Roy said(and I am not sure how literal to take this) that the team will be meeting from 2:00 PM until midnight to sort of get everything out in the open. In others words they are going to celebrate Festivus. There will be airing of grievances, possibly a metal pole of some sort and the feats of strength during which I have money riding that a one arm Roy can pin John Henson. Actually, Roy is going to put everything on the table with the explicit goal of trying to find what will work to (1) get the players to take ownership of the team and (2) listen and execute. The issue is not much more complicated than that according to Roy.
Not to doom and gloom following a win, Roy did point out that UNC in 2006 had three losses at this point in the season then hit their stride. I would point out that the team last season looked rather craptastic at times during December last season, then hit ACC play and lost to BC and Wake. In other words, Roy’s teams might take a bit of time to get their feet under them. With this team they are simply unfocused and mistake prone with a dash of poor effort. The problem is UNC does not have enough star quality type players to get by without proper attention to detail. UNC is at a stage of development where coaching and fundamental execution on the most basic level is monumentally important.
In short, Roy said there is still time to work things out, unless the flaws are fatal then it is what it is. At any rate, keeping an eye on the player Twitter feeds during the day tomorrow might offer up some nuggets of information or pleas for help.
