Roy WilliamsOn the shocking mid-January night that North Carolina lost by 20 points to Georgia Tech earlier this winter, Tar Heels coach Roy Williams groaned, “I’ve got to become a better coach really quickly.”
Said Williams six weeks later, the Baby Blues having just defeated defending national champion Duke 81-67 this past Saturday night: “One of my buddies just said that I’ve gotten a lot smarter over the past couple of weeks. I don’t know about that, but my team’s gotten a lot better.”
The Tar Heels have gotten so much better that they’ve won seven straight games and 12 of their last 13 heading into this weekend’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.
They’ve come so far from a 5-3 start that they now stand 24-6 overall and are ranked sixth in the Associated Press poll.
Although Williams rotates no more than eight players – starting two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior – there is even talk among experts and ESPN’s bracketologists that the Tar Heels could wind up with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament if they win the ACC tourney.