North Carolina began the college basketball season ranked 11th in the coaches poll and 9th in the AP top-25, but Roy Williams’ Tar Heels have gone 1-3 against ranked teams and are 1-2 in the ACC to start the year. With star Cole Anthony out with a knee injury, it’s possible that North Carolina (8-6) could go on to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, barring a mid-season turnaround.
Over the weekend, the Tar Heels suffered an embarrassing loss on their own floor to Georgia Tech, falling behind by 20 at halftime in a game they eventually lost 96-83. On his radio show earlier this week, coach Williams called out his team, and labeled them the “least gifted” squad he’s ever coached in Chapel Hill.
Via 24/7 Sports:
“God almighty, they outscored us in the paint, 58-36. They shot 60 percent. We shot 42. How many different reasons – we sucked! Excuse me, we stunk. We were not very good. The crazy thing about it is our team, and we’ve had some very gifted teams, this is not a very gifted team. It’s just not. Two freshmen replace Coby (White) and Nassir (Little) with Armando (Bacot) and Cole (Anthony) and with Cole being hurt right now it’s sort of a decent trade, but that’s not that bad a trade. But Kenny (Williams), Cam (Johnson) and Luke (Maye), there’s nobody to replace those guys.
“So, it’s probably the least gifted team I have ever coached in the time that I’ve been back here. So, if you’re going to be like that, you need to bring your A-game even though your A-game might not even be an A-game.”
North Carolina still has five matchups against ranked ACC teams on the schedule not including the ACC Tournament, including the two annual meetings with Duke, so the Tar Heels have plenty of chances to score marquee victories and improve their resume. Williams’ “tell your players they suck” approach may not be the best motivational tactic, but time will tell.
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