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DEL.ICIO.USHeels, Williams hit right between the eyes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
San Antonio — Roy Williams says he rarely looks at the score. Maybe that explains how he could allow his North Carolina Tar Heels, the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, to fall 26 points behind — a deficit soon to grow to 28 — before deigning to call his first timeout.
But what explains a team that seizes a 28-point lead on the game’s biggest stage having to hang on to win? What explains the strangest game the Final Four has seen since … well, since Duke overrode a 22-point lead against Maryland in 2001?
“It was three different games,” said Bill Self, the Kansas coach. “In the first game we were great. In the second we weren’t very good, and they were great. And we were super down the stretch.”
For 14 minutes Kansas looked like the greatest team in the history of basketball. The Heels couldn’t complete a pass, let alone make a shot. (Carolina would finish the first half having made 10 turnovers against nine baskets.) The Jayhawks were everywhere, blocking layups and stealing interior feeds and making every shot of their own. And this wasn’t Davidson they were trashing — truth to tell, Kansas was lucky to beat that Carolina-based school — but the snooty crew from Chapel Hill.
But then you could see it start to happen. You could see the Jayhawks begin to think, “Hey, we’re playing so well we can do anything.” So they tried to do everything. They tried to win by 50. Having gone so fast, they sought to play even faster. And by halftime the lead was only 17, and midway through the second half it was down to …
Four.
Were you believing this?
We all know about the famed Carolina Comebacks — trailing Duke by eight with 17 seconds left; Dean Smith saving all those timeouts — but this would have been the mother of all comebacks. This would have made Kansas fans hate Ol’ Roy more than they already do, something heretofore thought impossible.
It was 54-50 with 10 minutes left and Kansas had gone 11 possessions without a point and Carolina’s Wayne Ellington was making like Walt Frazier. The Jayhawks were so rattled they were yelling at one another and shaking their heads when someone didn’t go where he was supposed to go, and everyone along press row was thinking, “Bill Self might as well resign after the game if his team blows this.”
And then we saw the flaw in all of Ol’ Roy’s teams, same as we’d seen in those first 14 minutes. His teams simply don’t defend the way they should for more than a few minutes at a time. (His one national title, with Carolina in 2005, was a case of overwhelming talent masking inherent defensive deficiencies.) When finally Kansas calmed down — and it took a long, long while — it found that it again could get any shot it wanted.
And that was the difference. The Jayhawks started going inside again, and soon everything was a lob-dunk or a layup, and soon it was Kansas breezing again, as if all those palpitations had never happened. The Jayhawks would win by 18 and wound up making 53.1 percent of their shots — a week ago, Louisville made 52.7 percent against Carolina — on a night when they trumped not just their own jitters but their old coach to boot.
“They hit us right between the eyes,” said Ol’ Roy, who looked as if he’d been hit right between the eyes. “They were really something … We had a marvelous run, but our dreams were bigger than this.”
Waiting in the final is Memphis, which put to rout the last questions about its legitimacy by dispatching UCLA with something approaching disdain in the first semifinal. Waiting is a team that can match Kansas for talent and speed and defensive commitment, and it seems unthinkable that either could steal a 28-point march on the other. But the more you come to this event, the more you realize: You never ever know.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech/ACC
Comments
By slim
April 6, 2008 1:57 AM | Link to this
Carolina mostly stunk up the joint. Seemed like in 2k5 they could count on Ray Felton to hit some clutch shots. Seemed like they had no equivalent this time. You’ve got to have at least one guy that can reliably drain the three pointers.
By Howard
April 6, 2008 7:06 AM | Link to this
In North Carolina, where I was born and raised, there were several well known facts of life in college basketball: 1) Carolina was either loved or hated…no middle road there. 2)Carolina could always be called on to choke in the big games, despite having a plethora of talent never seen anywhere. Dean Smith presided over more chokes than any other coach in BB history and he was hated. Roy Williams just presided over choke #1 in his career…and yes, he was hated…by the people on the Kansas side who have not recovered or forgotten how he left them for Chapel Hill. I picked this one in a pool…but blew the other side. Didn’t go with Memphis or UCLA. But I always figured Carolina would make me look good by choking on the big one…and voila, they did!
By Jack Wagner
April 6, 2008 8:19 AM | Link to this
what was the final score?
By E. Dillingham
April 6, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this
It is amazing how “fans” love to hate coaches and sometimes players because of a game at the national level. Coaches are humans and Roy Williams,Bill Self, John Caliperi, and Howling are all humans. Only one coach will leave the final four as a hero. One could comment on the refs, the media, and mindless time spent in speculation about which team dominates. Seems as though there will be little mention after the tournament winner has settled in as to what might have been with 64 teams.
To much is made of the live or die situation of sports. Look at the money that is paid to the professional athletes and what is paid to the people who work with the children of the United States day in day out. Seems pale when we struggle with crime rates, economy, and the way of life of the professional athletes in America!
By mart
April 6, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this
This wasn’t “choke #1” for ol’ Roy in his career. He had lots of them at Kansas. More than once he had at least 3 NBA lottery picks on his roster (hello, Paul Pierce) and didn’t get past the 2d round of the tournament.
Like his daddy, Dean, ol’ Roy will win 30 games every year and have a program you can be proud of, but when it comes to true crunch time … yikes, he’ll fold (almost) every time.
By SamJam
April 6, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this
Good teams almost always come back to some degree. That’s a near certainty. The question then becomes can they turn the corner and take a lead or will they remain those last 4 or so points behind and eventually lose, even by double digits.
IOW, they fall behind then shoot their wad trying to come back. It’s neither complicated nor unexpected.
Still, it never stops the talking heads from a collective shock and disbelief that it all occurred in such a way.
By Rock-Chalk
April 6, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this
I still repect Roy Williams as a coach and thank him for 15 wonderful years at K.U. did I want a little revenge for his leaving? sure. I think K.U. gained an even better coach in Bill Self, He’s such a relaxed coach and doesn’t complain to officials he expects his players to respect the officials.I think officials appreciate that in coach Self. I believe the championship will be fantastic and hope to hear the ROCK-CHALK JAYHAWK K.U. chant will be coming from the rafters the last 2 min of the game with the Jayhawks winning the title.
By old Tech fan (in NC)
April 7, 2008 8:25 AM | Link to this
Heels get the tar knocked out of them! Wow, what was Roy thinking about saving all those TO’s during that first half run???
Now they have to wait for the NBA to come calling on two—-three???
By Cry Babies
April 7, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this
Carolwhina’s phony coach got what he deserved, his 2005 team won in spite of him, I’m surprised he didn’t cry crocodile tears.
By whatever
April 9, 2008 9:49 AM | Link to this
Can you spell CHOKE?