Patience Will Pay Off for Young Heels

When Roy Williams was asked exactly where he felt his North Carolina team stood at this point in the season, he responded with the sort of enthusiasm usually reserved for a weekend with your mother-in-law.

And, being Roy Williams, it was in the form of an anecdote.

"I had a friend of mine tell me, Roy, you have more patience than anyone I've ever seen,'" the Tar Heel coach said. "So I looked at him and said, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'You haven't used any of it yet, so you've got it all stored up."

Now might be the appropriate time to start using a little.

In the Tar Heels first real test of the season against Ohio State, North Carolina opened with a Broadway worthy debut, pushing around Big Ten title hopeful Buckeyes on the way to a 77-73 victory-slash-statement.

At least for the first 39 minutes.

The remaining 60 seconds served precisely as a reminder as to why Job never picked up a clipboard.

The Heels, who led by as many as 19 midway through the second half, pushed their advantage to 10 points with just over a minute left in the game. But in the next 49 seconds, they would miss four of six free throws, give up two offensive rebounds and wind up on the wrong side of a 10-2 run.

But when Larry Drew stepped to the free throw line for the fourth time in the final minute, he made both and put the finishing touches on one of the biggest wins of the young seasons.

"I liked our competitiveness tonight," Williams said. "It is a very good basketball we beat. I think we have a good chance of being a very good basketball team. I wanted it to come sooner than it is coming to us."

According to Williams, though, the colorful coach didn't much dip into that overflowing cache of patience.. At halftime, the coach says he berated fifth-year senior leader Marcus Ginyard to make a point in front of his youthful club.

"I chewed his rear end out probably the hardest I've ever got on him," Williams said. "If I'm going to chew him out, it scares the dickens out of the rest of the team. He's one of my pets."

After all, Williams has been here before. For the third time in his North Carolina career, Williams is starting with a young team and building towards a national title. Each of the first two ended successfully. But that doesn't mean they started there.

The Heels' early so-so wins over Florida International and Valparaiso began the whispers that this squad is an overrated group. But the first 39 minutes proved how good this team can be. The last proved how trying they are.

But this is the stuff of young basketball teams. Occasional bouts of greatness coupled with occasional bouts of nausea.

And these Tar Heels are young, even for college basketball, a sport where all but start handing out walkers at the beginning of junior year. North Carolina lost four starters from last year's team, including all-time ACC scoring leader Tyler Hansbrough and the player who beat him out for ACC player of the year honors last year, point guard Tywon Lawson.

Of the 11 players that Roy Williams played against Ohio State, eight were freshmen or sophomores.

But this is precisely the sort of challenge Williams has grown into as a coach. Where Williams was regarded as an outstanding recruiter at Kansas, he's become as good at player development as any coach in the nation.

Four years ago, while coming off his first national title in 2005, Williams also lost the heart of his team, when Sean May, Ray Felton, Rashad McCants and star freshman Marvin Williams all joined the NBA.

Those Heels, led by a freshman Hansbrough, were an inconsistent bunch for the first three months. They beat Kentucky early in the season, but then lost to a USC team that would fail to qualify for the postseason and dropped three of four to Miami, Virginia and Boston College. Only Boston College made the NCAA tournament.

And Williams again wore out his patience and probably his entire vocabulary of fricks, shucks and gosh dangs.

But by February, the Heels were again a top 10 team. At season's end, they beat No. 1 Duke in Cameron, courtesy of a 3-pointer from the freshman Hansbrough.

By the end of the year that started every bit as unpredictable as this one, they were a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.

And this is what the Heels have to look forward to.

Eventually.

Right now, they're being judged in the shadow of last year's team

"We could play a heck of a lot better than we have and still not win," Williams said."Last year, we said if we play well we're going to win, no matter who. That team isn't there yet."

But it might be getting there.

Ginyard, the fifth-year senior who was sidelined by a foot injury last year, has emerged as a team leader and is still one of the nation's most tenacious defenders. Against Ohio State, he forced the Buckeyes' versatile star Evan Turner into 11 turnovers. How impressive was that? Entering Thursday night's game the Buckeyes only had 15 turnovers in their first three games ("We had 15 turnovers by the first TV timeout [against Valpariaso]" Williams quipped earlier this week).

"I thought he competed his tail off tonight," Williams said of his defensive standout and occasional rant target. "He guarded Turner, he guarded Diebler. He made a big three at the end in front of our bench. I was nicer to him tonight than I was to him on Sunday night but he deserved it."

And for a team searching for someone to take the reins in the final minutes, the sophomore point guard Drew seemed more than willing to take on the pressure.

"I wanted the ball in my hands, especially for the last two free throws," Drew said. "You have to go through bad times to enjoy the highs, and I enjoyed making those last two free throws."

It might not immediately get easier for the Heels. They face No. 2 Michigan State Dec. 1, No. 4 Kentucky Dec. 5, and No. 3 Texas Dec. 19.

But North Carolina will likely turn into a national title contender by the end of the year. It may just take a little patience.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.