North Carolina embraces great basketball expectations
Garrison Brooks #15 of the North Carolina Tar Heels hangs on the rim after dunking against Tajuan Agee #12 of the Iona Gaels during the second half of the game in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. The North Carolina Tar Heels won 88-73. Credit: Getty Images/Elsa
COLUMBUS, Ohio—After finishing second in the rivalry that defines them, the North Carolina Tar Heels will just have to settle for trying to be first in the nation.
Really, that always is their goal, as much as it seems like they exist just to torment and be tormented by Duke, winner of the Zion Williamson recruiting sweepstakes and the 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship (with a win over North Carolina in a semifinal). The basic reason that star players enroll at Chapel Hill is to play in the biggest games, mindful that they are expected to win them.
“When I decided to come here, it was two months after a national championship,” said leading scorer Cameron Johnson (17.1 points per game), a transfer from Pittsburgh in 2017. “It’s what the fans and the program and the coaches and the players expect. We expect to compete at that highest level.”
What would make a person want to take on that pressure? “What wouldn’t make you want to do that? When you compete at a high level, you want to compete at the highest level,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be hard. Wherever you play, you’re going to have to do a lot of conditioning, practices are going to be hard, hours are going to be tough. So why not do it at the highest level?”
A No. 1 seed for a record 17th time, North Carolina (28-6) will try to take its next step when it faces 9 seed Washington (27-8) here Sunday afternoon in a second-round NCAA Tournament game. The latter side recognizes the challenge. “One of the great coaches to ever do it,” Huskies coach Mike Hopkins said of Roy Williams, “and one of the great college basketball programs of all times.”
That said, though, North Carolina was not the most celebrated program in its own state this season. The Tar Heels were overshadowed by Duke, despite going 2-0 in the regular season against the rival. Williamson played only briefly in one of those games and not at all in the other. He has been far and away the most publicized player in the college game, leaving North Carolina a runner-up in the Q rating race.
“It hasn’t affected me at all. I’m serious, not one iota,” Williams said, adding that Williamson has deserved his accolades. “We tried to recruit him as hard as I’ve ever recruited anybody. I thought he was a unique young man.” The coach pointed out that his wife of 46 years accompanied him to one of Williamson’s high school games and she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that.”
What North Carolina has over Duke is a fresh memory of holding the big trophy. It was only two years ago. “I actually watch it pretty frequently,” senior guard Kenny Williams said. “Just because it was one of the best days of my life. It’s always fun to go back and relive it. It’s also a reminder of how great it can feel when that confetti is coming down and you hear the buzzer go off and you’re on top.”
First, the Tar Heels will have to shoot over the top of Washington’s zone defense, which is patterned after the scheme used by Syracuse. Hopkins was a longtime assistant to Jim Boeheim there before taking over the Huskies program last season.
Washington players affectionately call their coach “crazy” for habits such as doing impromptu pushups during practice. Williams was asked his opinion of Hopkins’ quirky reputation and replied, “What the crap do you think people say about me? I spit in rivers.”
He also chases national titles, one every year.
