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As North Carolina tries to recover from one of its most embarrassing Final Four flops ever, many questions swirl around the program.
Foremost among them: Will Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson leave for the NBA or return for another shot at the national title in 2008-09?
If I'm guessing, I'd say Ellington and Lawson both will leave and that Hansbrough will stay. Coach Roy Williams said he would spend the early part of this week talking with his players. But it's likely the "will-they-or-won't-they?" process could drag on for weeks, as Williams gathers information about where each would be drafted.
Then there's this question, which I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around: How could UNC look so ill-prepared and downright scared in its biggest game of the season?
I've been around UNC basketball off-and-on for 25 years, and I've never seen a Tar Heels locker room as desolate as the one I walked into following Saturday night's 84-66 loss to Kansas. The Tar Heels weren't just sad. They appeared to be in shock.
Listen to these quotes. From Marcus Ginyard: "This is the first time this North Carolina team panicked."
Panic? It's a word you hardly ever hear in regard to a UNC basketball team. But Ginyard's word choice was both blunt and appropriate.
From Quentin Thomas: "I told someone it looked like we have never played basketball before. It looked like the first time we had ever walked on a court."
From Hansbrough, the national player of the year who had 17 points and nine rebounds but was obviously outplayed by the Jayhawks' Brandon Rush: "Kansas just did whatever they wanted to do. And we let them do it."
Blame the coaches, for they obviously didn't have the team ready. This looked like one of those routs during UNC's awful 8-20 season under Matt Doherty. And Williams so stubbornly clung to his timeouts during the huge Kansas run of the first half that the Jayhawks were up 38-12 before he finally gave in and used one -- that was way, way too late. This was the time Williams should have broken from the old Dean Smith "save your timeouts" mold, for the game was leaping away from him.
Blame the players, for they let themselves get pushed around and outsmarted for much of the game. "They hit us right between the eyes," as Williams said. Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson appeared totally out of their league, as the best rebounding team in the ACC got outrebounded by nine. Lawson played as poorly he did against Georgetown a year ago. Hansbrough got outmuscled a time or two.
Blame everyone, because UNC choked this one away as a team. This game will be remembered as the Tar Heels' worst Final Four loss (by point margin) since 1969. It was analogous to the furball the Carolina Panthers coughed up at Seattle in the 2005 NFC Championship Game.
I thought UNC would beat Kansas and proclaimed that opinion in Saturday's newspaper. Oops! I was as off as the Tar Heels were. If you had told me one team would take a 40-12 first-half lead on the other, I sure wouldn't have thought it would be the Tar Heels who found themselves 28 points down.
Still, as bad as it was Saturday night, it's important to note that UNC's season was far from a total loss. The Tar Heels didn't roll over after that horrible start. They came back to trail by only four points with 11 minutes left, then got run over one last time. They set a school record with 36 victories, won both the ACC regular-season and tournament championships and earned the school's 17th Final Four berth.
Next season the Tar Heels have more talent coming: 6-11 center Tyler Zeller, 6-8 forward Ed Davis and 6-foot point guard Larry Drew. All could play very big roles, depending on UNC's NBA defections or lack thereof.
But now, the Tar Heels must gather their thoughts, as well as their egos, because those just got splattered all over San Antonio.
<table border="0" class="story-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> KANSAS</td>
<td> Min</td>
<td> FG-A</td>
<td> FT-A</td>
<td> OR-TR</td>
<td> A</td>
<td> PF</td>
<td> PT</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Arthur</td>
<td> 32</td>
<td> 3-9</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-9</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 6</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Jackson</td>
<td> 17</td>
<td> 5-6</td>
<td> 2-2</td>
<td> 1-4</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 3</td>
<td> 12</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Robinson</td>
<td> 30</td>
<td> 2-5</td>
<td> 2-2</td>
<td> 0-4</td>
<td> 4</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 7</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Chalmers</td>
<td> 31</td>
<td> 5-10</td>
<td> 0-2</td>
<td> 0-4</td>
<td> 3</td>
<td> 3</td>
<td> 11</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Rush</td>
<td> 32</td>
<td> 11-17</td>
<td> 1-2</td>
<td> 3-7</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 25</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Teahan</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Collins</td>
<td> 30</td>
<td> 4-9</td>
<td> 2-2</td>
<td> 1-4</td>
<td> 4</td>
<td> 4</td>
<td> 11</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Case</td>
<td> 1</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 1</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Reed</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Kaun</td>
<td> 10</td>
<td> 2-4</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 3</td>
<td> 4</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Aldrich</td>
<td> 17</td>
<td> 2-4</td>
<td> 4-4</td>
<td> 4-7</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 1</td>
<td> 8</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Kleinmann</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Totals</td>
<td> 200</td>
<td> 34-64</td>
<td> 11-14</td>
<td> 11-42</td>
<td> 17</td>
<td> 21</td>
<td> 84</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Percentages: FG .531, FT .786. 3-Point Goals: 5-15, .333 (Rush 2-7, Collins 1-1, Chalmers 1-3, Robinson 1-4). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 9 (Arthur 4, Aldrich 4, Rush). Turnovers: 19 (Collins 7, Rush 3, Arthur 3, Aldrich 2, Chalmers 2, Robinson, Kaun). Steals: 10 (Robinson 3, Chalmers 3, Jackson 2, Aldrich, Collins). Technical Fouls: None.
<table border="0" class="story-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> N. CAROLINA</td>
<td> Min</td>
<td> FG-A</td>
<td> FT-A</td>
<td> OR-TR</td>
<td> A</td>
<td> PF</td>
<td> PT</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Thompson</td>
<td> 25</td>
<td> 2-4</td>
<td> 3-4</td>
<td> 0-4</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 7</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Hansbrough</td>
<td> 36</td>
<td> 6-13</td>
<td> 5-6</td>
<td> 6-9</td>
<td> 1</td>
<td> 3</td>
<td> 17</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Ginyard</td>
<td> 32</td>
<td> 0-3</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 1-3</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 1</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Lawson</td>
<td> 28</td>
<td> 2-8</td>
<td> 4-4</td>
<td> 1-3</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 1</td>
<td> 9</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Ellington</td>
<td> 33</td>
<td> 8-21</td>
<td> 1-1</td>
<td> 2-6</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 3</td>
<td> 18</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Campbell</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Thomas</td>
<td> 14</td>
<td> 0-2</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-1</td>
<td> 2</td>
<td> 1</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Graves</td>
<td> 3</td>
<td> 0-2</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 1-1</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Green</td>
<td> 21</td>
<td> 6-13</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 1-5</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 3</td>
<td> 15</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Tanner</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Wood</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Wooten</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Stepheson</td>
<td> 7</td>
<td> 0-1</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> Copeland</td>
<td> 1</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0-0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
<td> 0</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Totals</td>
<td> 200</td>
<td> 24-67</td>
<td> 13-15</td>
<td> 13-33</td>
<td> 7</td>
<td> 14</td>
<td> 66</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Percentages: FG .358, FT .867. 3-Point Goals: 5-24, .208 (Green 3-9, Lawson 1-2, Ellington 1-9, Hansbrough 0-1, Graves 0-1, Ginyard 0-2). Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 3 (Green, Stepheson, Ellington). Turnovers: 18 (Green 5, Ellington 3, Hansbrough 3, Lawson 2, Stepheson, Thompson, Graves, Thomas, Ginyard). Steals: 7 (Ellington 3, Hansbrough 2, Thomas, Green). Technical Fouls: None.
<table border="0" class="story-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> Kansas</td>
<td> 44</td>
<td> 40</td>
<td> --</td>
<td> 84</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> North Carolina</td>
<td> 27</td>
<td> 39</td>
<td> --</td>
<td> 66</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Att.--43,718. Officials--Tony Greene, Tom Eades, Verne Harris.
IN MY OPINION
Final Four Flops
A list of the Tar Heels' five worst defeats in their previous 17 Final Four appearances:
<table border="0" class="story-table">
<tbody>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> 1969</td>
<td> Purdue 92, UNC 65</td>
<td> Purdue's Rick Mount scores 36 in a semifinal rout</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> 1968</td>
<td> UCLA 78, UNC 55</td>
<td> Lew Alcindor dominates with 34 points, 16 boards</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> 2008</td>
<td> Kansas 84, UNC 66</td>
<td> Jayhawks jump to 40-12 lead in first 15 minutes</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-odd-row">
<td> 1981</td>
<td> Indiana 63, UNC 50</td>
<td> Isiah Thomas deflates UNC in title game</td>
</tr>
<tr class="story-table-even-row">
<td> 2000</td>
<td> Florida 71, UNC 59</td>
<td> Bill Guthridge's final game as UNC's head coach</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
NOTE: This chart does not count results from the old third-place "consolation" game, which is no longer played at the Final Four.
www.charlotte.com/sports_breaking/story/569872.html
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