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SAN ANTONIO -- There have been teams in this tournament who used the word "disrespect" like it was an expletive. It became an overused cliché, a cheap bumper sticker slogan, like Freedom Fries, while the team that was slighted and ignored as much any in the Final Four just shut its mouth and played ball.
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| UNC coach Roy Williams says he apologized to his team following the loss to Kansas. (Getty Images) |
I never, ever thought I would witness this North Carolina team, which many in the media thought was unbeatable, play such heartless interior defense. Serena Williams could have driven in the paint without a butt cheek getting touched.
The Tar Heels sure did pick a lousy time to get full of themselves.
And to all of you now claiming you knew Kansas could win, just be quiet. Don't rewrite history after seeing Chalk and Awe. No one saw this upset coming. Not after Kansas barely beat Davidson. Not a single, rational soul.
In a tournament that hasn't been great and lacked compelling storylines, we just got one. The unexpected title game guest, the Jayhawks, against the robust awesomeness of AND 1 Memphis.
But first, this candid piece of truth: Roy Williams absolutely, positively choked. Scott Norwood thinks Williams is a choker. So does Greg Norman. Years from now, this will be seen as one of the great game-time coaching failures.
"I apologized to them," Williams said, speaking of his players. "Because some way, somehow I didn't have our team as ready to play as well as Bill (Self) did."
Sure, the Jayhawks aren't Napa Valley Community College. Kansas is, after all, a top seed, but there are top seeds and then there is Carolina, the top dog. For the Tar Heels to come up so small in such a big spot is the fault of Williams.
It's not solely that Carolina lost, it's how it lost. The Tar Heels were averaging almost 90 points a game. Kansas went on remarkable runs like 18-0 and at one point held the Tar Heels six minutes without a field goal.
"They jumped on us," said North Carolina's Wayne Ellington. "They hit us between the eyes. We were too casual. You know, they pressured us. They got us on our heels. They just kept attacking us."
They were too casual? In the Final Four?
Since the media gives Tyler Hansbrough all of the credit when North Carolina wins, maybe the media will assign blame after this embarrassing loss. Hansbrough scored the quietest 17 points in recent Final Four history. The man people say has more grit and collegiate greatness than Michael Jordan never put his imprint on the game.
When the Jayhawks went inside offensively, Hansbrough was pliable and, at times, invisible.
Again, the Carolina loss is mostly the fault of Williams, who did finally get his Tar Heels motivated as they made the expected and hearty second-half comeback, but they shouldn't have been trailing by double digits to Kansas anyway.
This is not to take anything away from the Jayhawks. They handled themselves extremely well in this tournament, like grownups, refusing to spit in the face of the doubting media, who portrayed this game as a Carolina forgone conclusion. Schedule the parade, put the crown and cape on Hansbrough and call it a night.
So congratulations to the Jayhawks. You earned it.
But as my friend Stephen A. Smith would say ... howeeeeevvver.
In terms of pure talent, the Tar Heels have far more than Kansas. When they bleed, the blood type is All-American. They had the player many think is the best in the sport. This should have been an easy North Carolina win.
All of the awards and accolades got to North Carolina's heads. That can be the only explanation for the bizarre start to the game. The Jayhawks were hungry and North Carolina was arrogant.
So was Williams. In that crucial first half, as Kansas went supernova, Williams rarely dipped into his timeouts. It was as if he saying: We're North Carolina. We don't need no stinking timeouts.
So it's the unlikely Final Two: Kansas and Memphis.
Just what everyone predicted, right?