CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -Marcus Ginyard is relieved and grateful to have the chance to keep playing at North Carolina. It doesn’t matter that the reigning national champions are reduced to playing in the NIT, either.
“I’m just really excited for another opportunity to play,” the fifth-year senior said. “I’m just hoping we finish this off better than we did the regular season.”
Mary on Tuesday night.
said he didn’t expect the Tar Heels (16-16) would be invited, while Williams began to worry when they weren’t in the first three brackets.
Even then, Williams said the mood was “very subdued” when the Tar Heels were finally in as a No. 4 seed.
“After it was over with, I got up and asked the guys, “What was your feeling? What was your feeling?”’ Williams said. “And the word that was used the most often was ‘relief.”’
That’s not to say Williams is totally OK with missing the NCAA tournament. He didn’t go his first year at Kansas when he inherited a program on probation, but he had won at least one NCAA game every year since – a run of 20 straight years capped by last season’s dominating run to the championship.
In the days following last week’s loss to Georgia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, Williams said it seemed he couldn’t get away from televisions showing teams celebrating big victories that would send them to the NCAAs.
“I’ve been like a spoiled little brat,” Williams said. “I’ve taken my ball and gone home. I haven’t watched one play and it’s the most unusual feeling I’ve ever had. It’s a feeling I never want to experience again. … It was a fantastic 20-year run and I’m ticked off that it’s over with.”
m 1972-75 – had his own reasons to be irked. By most any measure, the Tribe (22-10) had a more successful season and even beat ACC teams Wake Forest and Maryland on the road, yet earned a No. 5 seed and must travel to face a team that finished 10th in its league.
“I think it’s a real injustice quite honestly, but I’ll say very, very quickly that we’re way passed that,” Shaver said. “For us to play in a national tournament, we’ll play anywhere, anytime.”
The game will also mark a return for the men’s program to Carmichael Arena, its former campus home and the building where legends Phil Ford, Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins once played. With renovation work starting on the coaches offices at the Smith Center, it will be the program’s first regular-season or postseason game at Carmichael since leaving in 1986.
Extra games can only help young players like Larry Drew II, John Henson or Dexter Strickland gain experience for next season, when a heralded recruiting class led by Harrison Barnes arrives to help the Tar Heels return to prominence. But Williams isn’t thinking about anything more than this tournament.
“I’m playing for this year,” Williams said. “I don’t think I can cheat (seniors) Deon (Thompson) and Marcus, that’s not fair. … I’m coaching for this year, this team, trying to get this team to win one more game. And if we do that, I’ll try to get them to win one more game. I think that’s the best way I can do it.”
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AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.
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