The obstacles between North Carolina and the national championship now arrive at the rate of roughly two per week.
Few come smaller than Miami's Reggie Johnson, the 6-foot-10, 284-pounder from Winston-Salem who missed the season's first nine games while recovering from summer knee surgery. Tyler Zeller, a 7-foot center carrying 250 pounds, didn't bother nominating a distant runner-up in the body mass sweepstakes after the Tar Heels won 73-56 Tuesday.
"It's more about getting around him, because there's no way you're going through him," Zeller said. "I tried. I tried a lot last year. It didn't work. I tried once or twice tonight. It still didn't work."
The circuitous method worked better, enabling Zeller to get 16 points and 10 rebounds against Johnson (12 points, 9 rebounds in 30 minutes). Zeller's resourcefulness underscored the value of navigational experience as the Tar Heels pursue their third NCAA title in eight seasons.
They cruised into October practices as the consensus No. 1 contender, but they lost road games to UNLV and Kentucky before spending a month in Chapel Hill hibernation.
"We knew we were a work in progress," point guard Kendall Marshall said. "We knew we were not the team we needed to be back in November."
While beating Long Beach State, Texas and lesser visitors, the Tar Heels mixed bolts of brilliance with confounding stretches of distracted inconsistency. Almost everything worked sometimes, but nothing worked all the time, prompting Zeller to establish 40 perfect minutes as the foremost goal.
Coach Roy Williams can launch into a tirade about defense or boxing out or sustained effort,as he did after the Tar Heels leaked oil against Boston College in the ACC opener. Even after the persuasive dash past Miami, Williams complained about poor outside shooting that produced two 3-pointers in 16 attempts and defined Harrison Barnes' weakest showing (2-for-12, 6 points).
But Williams' heat seldom approaches the anguished outbursts of 2009-10, when the vital parts from his second title team departed and he dealt with the arm-in-sling side effects of shoulder surgery. Carolina needed a strong NIT run to finish 20-17.
The Wear twins then transferred to UCLA, and 21 games into last season, point guard Larry Drew quit the team. Freshman Marshall fueled an instant recovery. Carolina finished first in the league and eventually lost the East Regional final to Kentucky.
The tenor has changed again.
"My sophomore year was a tough year," Zeller said, alluding to 2009-10. "We had a rough year. It's definitely calmer than that, because nobody was happy that year. Last year we had a lot of people leaving. My freshman year, I was hurt most of the year, but it was fun.
"It's great to be able to be a part of this — how relaxed it is. We enjoy each other, so it does make it fun. It's relaxed, but intense. If we need to be very focused, we're very intense. Over on the bench, we're joking around. We have a good time. I think the biggest thing is, this group gets along together very, very well. We don't have little groups within each other. We all joke around and tease each other. I think that makes this group very unique. It's tough, sometimes, to be able to do that."
The team temperature remains steady, in the medium-cool range that reflects the personalities of inside-outside leaders Zeller and Marshall. The Tar Heels seem almost comfortable but not exactly satisfied, riding down the middle of the road in the middle of the season.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement