In the lane
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/220749/
Williams unhappy with logo
Even with a 31-point victory over Arkansas under his belt, North Carolina Coach Roy Williams found something to complain about Sunday: the NCAA logo mat at midcourt.
Tar Heels guard Marcus Ginyard slipped on the logo in the first half, leading to a Sonny Weems breakaway dunk for Arkansas’ first points on the break.
“Before we get to the fun stuff, you guys write a little bitty note in your columns,” Williams said to open his postgame news conference. “The NCAA [says ] I can’t bring a Coca-Cola cup up here. They can say everything in the world. [I ] can’t say let’s stop putting those stupid logos on the floor where kids slip and slide around and somebody is going to get hurt, and I’ve said that for years and years.”
A Maryland-Baltimore County guard also slipped on the logo in the Retrievers’ loss to Georgetown on Friday night.
“They are slick,” Williams said. “I’ve said this for five or six years.... They washed it with ammonia, they washed it with Wendy’s super burger, whatever... they need to rip the dadgum things up. It’s just a fact.” Dressed for success
It wasn’t just the vast majority of fans in RBC Arena who were wearing North Carolina’s sky blue.
Even the security guard behind the Arkansas bench wore a Carolina-blue shirt to go with his dark-blue pants. Who do you want ?
As North Carolina was in the process of building a 27-point lead in the first half, some fans in the Arkansas cheering section could be heard yelling, “Put in some other players !”
Unfortunately for Arkansas, the 1994 Razorbacks weren’t available. Running with Wooden
North Carolina Coach Roy Williams won the 47 th NCAA Tournament game of his career, tying him with UCLA great John Wooden for third place all-time. Williams, who is coaching in his 19 th consecutive NCAA Tournament, is 47-17 all-time in the NCAAs, with 14 years at Kansas and five at North Carolina. Better than freebies
North Carolina’s 73. 5 percent second-half shooting was a season high for any half for the Tar Heels. It was also a lot better percentage than many teams — most notably South No. 1 seed Memphis — shoot from the free-throw line. Good bounce North Carolina looked as good as its No. 1 ranking in whuppin’ up on Arkansas, but the ball also seemed to bounce the Tar Heels’ way most of the game. Case in point: Ty Lawson appeared set to turn the ball over as he drove for the lane and it came off his hand, but it went straight to Tyler Hansbrough and the All-America forward finished with a dunk for an 87-54 lead.
THUMBS UP To North Carolina’s shooting, which was hotter than the chicken wings at any of the local sports bars. To Arkansas sophomore Stefan Welsh, who was doubtful because of a sprained ankle but gamely played four minutes off the bench in the first half before things got totally out of hand. THUMBS DOWN Arkansas’ defense was simply not up to snuff, making it an easy game for North Carolina’s clockwork passing. The Tar Heels had a season-high 28 assists and only seven turnovers, making for a plus 21 assist-toerror ratio, their best of the season by a margin of five.