news-record.com

In the midst of Virginia's 18-0 run Sunday night against North Carolina, a look of disbelief on the face of Roy Williams seemed to sum up everything. And in the quietest moments after Virginia's 75-60 win over Carolina, the emotions of a season in the midst seemed to well up inside him.

Something's wrong in Chapel Hill, and nothing Williams has tried seems to be working.

The shocking home loss to Virginia will be interpreted differently across the commonwealth and around Mr. Jefferson's university than it will here. And the loss will be analyzed and discarded on the national airwaves. But here on Tobacco Road, this one's not going away.

Virginia went on an 18-0 run after halftime Sunday night, in the Dean Dome, and blasted the defending national champions into basketball oblivion. The Tar Heels (13-8) now set out on the road in search of something, anything, that might salvage a season that suddenly looks to be beyond repair.

Williams will now get what every coach in America gets at this point of such seasons. He'll get criticism, and he'll get advice. And he'll get it from everywhere. Carolina fans are bewildered. Fans who pull against the Heels have been slow to mock. Not now. Basketball experts from all over the country will pipe in now. The defending champions are fair game.

And they're also in big trouble.

Part of the reason for the shock and dismay is no one saw it coming. A reloading season stocked around another haul of McDonald's all-Americans, against the backdrop of a rebuilding season within the ACC, seemed to suggest one of those great transitional seasons with Duke moving back even with Carolina and Wake Forest coming hard. This was supposed to be a good year in the conference.

But as Big Four fans know, no matter which side of the fence they sit on, if Carolina's not up and running, who cares how good it is? If the favorite foil isn't rolling, how much fun can it be?

Well, we're about to find out.

"How can it be any worse than it is right now?" Williams asked after the loss.

We'll soon see. North Carolina's restocking of talent didn't take. At least it hasn't yet. And now the Heels are 2-4 in the league as they head out on a run of road games that could wreck the season. Already, the suggestions are coming in. Carolina's backcourt is where much of the howling is directed. In the Wake Forest game Jan. 20, the Tar Heels had zero fast-break points.

Think about that for a second. The program that redefined the fast break in recent seasons couldn't muster even one against the Deacons in an 82-69 loss. It was in that game that a pattern developed. Early in the second half of a close game, it was as if Wake suddenly realized something. Carolina's not any good.

Virginia seemed to come to that realization about the same time in Sunday's game then went on an 18-0 run.

Afterward, the players suggested some odd things. Deon Thompson mentioned a possible crack between the veterans and the new kids. Marcus Ginyard said the players don't seem to be playing as a team. Williams suggested he might've misjudged the potential of his team's ability to play defense.

The soul of Williams' teams has always been built around speed and decision-making in the backcourt. Ginyard and Larry Drew II have provided anything but. Is it time to go to an all-freshman starting backcourt with Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland? Is it time to just turn Will Graves loose? Is it time to find out if John Henson can play in this league, ever?

Carolina's ability to play defense has always been based on its willingness to play all-out on offense. That isn't happening this season. The struggling Heels have become a plodding half-court team without the ability to get out on the break offensively or stop a break defensively.

Six of UNC's last 10 games will come on the road, a stretch that will see the Heels go up against almost everybody ahead of them in the league one more time — Duke twice. That's either an opportunity to save a season in time to stave off the NIT or a disaster looming in the nation's top program. As we've seen in recent years, even Carolina is capable of falling completely apart. And we've also seen in recent years a remarkable ability by Roy Williams to find something just in time.

He looked lost Sunday night. He looked confused and baffled. And he looked like he knew, deep down, that it could get worse. He looked as if he'd just come to the realization that a lot of opponents have come to this season.

Carolina's not any good.

And nothing in this state could be more shocking.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com