The one thing Roy Williams has worked on this year above everything else is character. Not just bad free throws, silly turnovers, and selfish play. But team character. Something that Duke has seemed to have more of recently given the two game losing streak at home UNC's Tar Heels had suffered on its home court to those Devils.
But then came February 20, 2014. And it all seemed to make sense. The time UNC had taken. The hard work. And the crowd had all come to play. And the result was a true beat-down. Not from what one writer said after the Pittsburgh game, the first game from which Carolina won after trailing at half-time. But from an eleven point deficit during the second half. Just when it was time to collapse.
Giving credit where credit is due, unlike Coach K will ever do, this was classic Roy Williams. He disrupted the disrupting. He took Coach K's "brilliant" orders to his stars to drive on UNC and meshed it into his second half plans to use a 1-3-1 defense. And it worked like a charm. As did the repeated switching of defenses.
So many say that defense wins championships it is truly old hat. And yet, with Carolina disrespected in every way possible, unranked, given a strength-of-schedule rating as recently as last week in the 50s, ranked that low by those who should know better, having its losses to minor players treated as more significant than those wins against the first four in the pre-season AP rankings, Carolina punched Duke in the nose more than any Duke player has intentionally punched, elbowed and otherwise hit Carolina players.
About a year ago, I published an article with almost the same title. During a poll that many thought worthy of publishing, apparently many coaches made Roy Williams the most over-rated coach in college basketball. What? How is that? Well, they claimed he should have done more with the talent he had.
Over the next year, Jay Williams, perhaps the most anti-Williams sports commentator ever, reared his ugly head. Now, along with Jay Bilas (can't ESPN hire anyone not from Duke whose name is not Jay?), Duke has a one-two punch unlike any other school in the nation. (True, when the Big East reigned over college basketball, announcer prejudice was everywhere. After all, East Coast does mean New York, doesn't it?)
But Jay Williams has such a bias, he found during one game UNC won during this latest eight game streak not one Carolina player playing properly. Each time up or down the court, they were doing something to be criticized.
A not so subtle way for Jay Williams to attack Roy Williams. If I were Roy, I would refuse to talk with Jay Williams. But of course, Roy is not. Among others, he is a Carolina gentleman. But I digress.
Last night, Duke played UNC and, for all to see, superior acting stuck up Coach K was there to show how his great ranked team was going to demolish UNC.
While at least one line had UNC getting two points, the truth is that even those of us who are die-hard Carolina basketball fans had little or no belief that Carolina would win this game. But they did, 74-66.
And the typical Coach K excuse emerged immediately after the game with a bit more of a twist. He blamed "it," which resulted in Carolina winning a game they should not have won.
Too bad that Duke did not have "it." Yes, how better to cast an aspersion on the brilliant coaching job Coach K faced after half-time. How many ways has Coach K dissed Roy Williams? No doubt he and his henchmen were behind at least some of the "over-rated" vote against Roy.
The work against Roy Williams continued out of its typical source. As he tells it, the problem was not the sensational job UNC and it coach did against him, but:
"We looked tired," Krzyzewski said. "We didn't have life ... and that, to me, is the disappointing thing. I'm not afraid to lose and respect people who beat us. But I would've liked to have done more tonight in the second half. So I'm walking out of here frustrated -- not with the loss but with the fact that we didn't ante up the way we should've."Yes, they were tired, one of the excuses he and his former players had given out earlier in the week on the air. And he did not respect the people who beat them, i.e., Carolina. He said so above, saying he is not afraid to respect "people." After all, he can respect them when they win. But here, Carolina did not win. Duke lost. And he cannot ever respect Roy Williams.
We had one of the most recent ESPN articles saying essentially that Roy Williams has only coached offense during his entire tenure at UNC. This guy is supposed to know basketball? But again, I digress.
Now we have a very important event for those teams Carolina has beaten. Michigan State on its home court at ESPN's and the polls' most favored basketball conference these days. Louisville on a neutral court. Duke on Carolina's court. And Kentucky.
That event is that, despite its perennial placement with the hardest road to the finals because of the nonsense in seeding that happens every year, UNC is on its way to see one or more of them again. Maybe Duke in the ACC tournament as well.
And if they do, watch out. Even without its own home court (Coach K's other diss was of course that it had nothing to do with the Carolina crowd who supported their team unlike any time in the past ten years), Carolina can beat you.
And the message? That the commentators, voters and whoever else influence the NCAA tournament (some even claimed last week they did not know if Carolina would make the tournament) can shove it.
This team of far lesser talent, that lost their main scorer and had less to work with earlier this year than they do now, have a great coach who has molded them into a team.
And they will beat you.
Maybe Carolina will not make the Final Four. But Jay Bilas, who is generally quite neutral, said last night that he would not be surprised if they make it there.
I favor his view. Not just because I am a Carolina fan. Because the facts speak for themselves.
