Tar Heels Look Awfully Good

By John Feinstein
Friday, March 28, 2008

CHARLOTTE North Carolina is making March look like November. It has played three NCAA tournament games now, and the walk-ons have gotten a chunk of playing time in all three of them. Only the opponents aren't Iona, South Carolina State and Nicholls State. They're NCAA tournament teams, and the Tar Heels are now one step from the Final Four without having played a game that was even close to being close.

Thursday night at Charlotte Bobcats Arena against Washington State in the East Region semifinals, the final score was 68-47 and, to be honest, the Tar Heels could have named any final score they wanted. They have now won three games in this tournament by the astounding total of 91 points.

They're really good. But how good?

"We're usually pretty good at getting back and stopping teams once we get set up on defense," Washington State center Aron Baynes said. "But these guys just ran it right down our throats."

There is a tendency, when a very good team blows out a good team this late in the NCAA tournament, to anoint the winner as unbeatable.

In 1985, after Georgetown crushed St. John's in the national semifinals, it almost seemed pointless for Villanova to show up for the national championship game. Villanova, as every basketball fan knows, won the game.

Three years later, Oklahoma manhandled Arizona on semifinal Saturday. It had already beaten Kansas, its opponent in the final, twice that season. Kansas, of course, won the title. Three years after that, Nevada-Las Vegas arrived in Indianapolis 34-0, a shoo-in for a second national title. The Rebels lost in the semifinals to Duke.

And then there was Kentucky in 1995. The Wildcats were so impressive in destroying Arizona State in the round of 16 that one veteran columnist declared them national champions and said North Carolina, Kentucky's opponent in the regional final, would be lucky to lose with dignity.

That column, not surprisingly, found its way to the Carolina locker room. The Tar Heels -- naturally -- won the game.

Flash forward to Thursday night. Washington State came into the East Region semifinals with a 26-8 record, coming out of what was arguably the best conference in the country this season. North Carolina was the only team left playing from a once-proud basketball conference that can't even win NIT or CBI games at home anymore.

And yet, for a third straight game in the NCAA tournament, the Tar Heels made it look easy. Very easy. Okay, Mount St. Mary's was supposed to be easy. Arkansas came out of a down Southeastern Conference. But Washington State had size, it had maturity and it played great defense.

What's more, it had Baynes, a 6-foot-10 junior center who clearly wasn't intimidated by Tyler Hansbrough, the consensus national player of the year. Hansbrough had two points at halftime -- and no field goals.

Yet North Carolina led, 35-21.

"We do have great balance on offense," Carolina Coach Roy Williams conceded after going through a litany of missed shots by his players. "The first thing I put on the board tonight was 'attack.' I didn't want us to just settle for a half-court game. I thought we did a good job with that."

Said Washington State Coach Tony Bennett: "They're better at attacking you than any team we've played. They attack off turnovers, off rebounds, off makes. We're good on transition defense. But we couldn't stop them."

The Tar Heels just had too much speed, too many shooters and too much savvy for the Cougars. They gave up the occasional open shot, but Washington State rarely took advantage, shooting less than 32 percent for the game. They outrebounded the Cougars, a tough, rugged bunch, 46-32. Notre Dame, a very good offensive basketball team, scored 41 points against Washington State. North Carolina had 35 in the first half and didn't shoot the ball especially well.

Coaches are paid to worry and find flaws in their teams. Even Williams had to concede that, in spite of shooting just 43 percent, his team was impressive Thursday. If the Tar Heels have shown any vulnerability this season, it has been on defense. They have had a tendency to give up too many open shots, something that has frequently irked their coach.

"Let's be honest: They missed some shots they would normally make," Williams said. "But I thought we played pretty good defense tonight. I was pleased with that."

"They're better on defense than people think," Bennett said. "I feel bad that we didn't represent the Pac-10 better tonight. But they're good. Very good."

In this basketball tournament you are only as good as your last game. It is, however, difficult to believe that this Carolina team, still smarting after blowing a 10-point lead late to Georgetown in last season's East Region final, is going to come up one game short of the Final Four again, especially now that Ty Lawson, its jet posing as a point guard, is healthy again. Thursday, Lawson consistently penetrated against Washington State's defense to either score or set up his teammates.

"We tried to set up a wall to stop him," Washington State point guard Derrick Low said. "We couldn't stop him."

Washington State played UCLA twice during the regular season, losing to them by seven and by eight.

"UCLA plays a lot like we do," junior forward Daven Harmeling said. "Except they're bigger, faster and more athletic than we are. If they played North Carolina, that's a game I'd like to see."

He paused. "Then again, if you told me right now Carolina would win that game by 10, I'm not sure I'd argue."

North Carolina can't play UCLA before the championship game. It still has to get by Louisville here on Saturday and might have to face Kansas in the semifinals. That's a long way from here to a week from Monday in San Antonio.

One thing, however, is pretty clear: It's going to take a very good team having a very good game to beat the Tar Heels. Everyone left playing at this stage is very good. There's a big difference between good and very good and a bigger difference between very good and special.

This North Carolina team has a chance to be special. It is now halfway home. Chances are it will get tougher from here to the finish line.

Which is why, as John Wooden pointed out shortly after UNLV had lost to Duke in 1991, they play the games.

"A lot of great teams have won one in a row," said the man who won seven national titles in a row and 10 out of 12.

North Carolina is going for two in four years. It may not be UCLA, but it would be pretty impressive. So far they've been a lot better than that.