Williams' Message: Party Over, It's Time to Focus

North Carolina head basketball coach Roy Williams was relaxed on Tuesday as he met the media. He has been through this so many times, first at Kansas and now at Carolina. He knows how to get a team ready for the NCAA tournament.

Williams knows it was nice to win his first ACC tournament, but he also knows full well that’s not the prize he wants in the end—and he says it’s up to him to make sure his team gets that message.

“You’ve got two days of everybody patting you on the back and feeling good about yourself,” says the veteran coach. “Now, let’s really go to work.”

Sophomore Marcus Ginyard has already gotten the message. He says winning the ACC tournament was nice, but it left him hungry for way more.

“It didn’t feel as good as I thought it would, because I think that everybody still understood that this wasn’t it,” Ginyard said on Tuesday. “If we didn’t think that we could win the national championship, it would have felt better. But the fact that this team truly believes that we have a higher goal set, it almost felt unfulfilling, knowing that there was more work to be done.”

That’s what Roy Williams wants to hear. He wants his team focused on what’s ahead, and the talented Tar Heels—the No. 1 seed in the East—seem to be peaking at just the right time.

Carolina will say the right things about Eastern Kentucky, the Ohio Valley Conference champs, but let’s face it: no No. 1 seed has ever lost to a 16th seed, and it won’t happen Thursday unless UNC has a huge meltdown.

Eastern Kentucky has no one over 6 foot 7, and the school has never won an NCAA tournament game. Carolina’s inside game should be able to pound the smaller Colonels.

Yes, Carolina will get by the first round, but to Roy Williams it will be important how they play. A sloppy victory he does not want. How a team plays in its first game can sometimes set the tone for the tournament.

It appears that once more Tyler Hansbrough will have to wear the dreaded mask to protect his broken nose. Hansbrough didn’t hide his disdain for it during the ACC tournament. Williams said Tuesday he expects he’ll have to wear it on Thursday. He did say there may be some modifications to make it more comfortable.

Hansbrough, despite the mask, remained aggressive in the ACC tournament. He loves contact and didn’t shy away from it. But the mask seemed to hurt him offensively more than anything, and the Tar Heels will, without question, need Hansbrough’s offense as the competition grows tougher.

Six games to win a national championship. Carolina is one of the favorites. Many think they can win it all. They all have the talent to do so, but basketball is not just a game of talent. At tournament time it can be just as much about the mental aspect as the physical. The team that wins it all is usually the team that doesn’t panic and that keeps its focus at all times.

Ginyard understands this. He keeps a box score of last year’s second-round loss to George Mason in his locker to remind him of how much pain that season-ending loss caused. He wants everybody else to remember as well.

“You understand that there’s not room for a letdown. If this team doesn’t understand that, then you’re just out of whack, says the sophomore from Alexandria, Va. “We’ve got to use that ACC tournament win as momentum, to keep everything flowing. If we sit back and relax, we’ll be out in the first or second round again.”

Roy Williams says his team will go at it one at a time, and that’s not just a cliché.

“I will not speak of six games. I will not speak of winning a national championship. We’ve already set our long-term goals before the season started,” the coach said.

And they all know the biggest goal was to cut the nets down on April 1.

50 years ago, Carolina won the national championship. Twenty-five years ago, the Tar Heels were kings of the court.

You see the pattern—but history won’t win a championship.

Carolina’s chances in 2007 are better than most. Their bracket is tough, but it’s doable.

Roy Williams knows what it takes. Can he convince his players?