It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Tourney time. The time when we invest hours of research into filling out a bracket for our office’s pool just so Peggy in HR who hasn’t watched a sporting event since Dempsey-Tunney can win that coveted Outback gift card that she is never going to use.
How ceiling is North Carolina’s roof? We’re about to find out in March Madness
UNC has the talent to hang a championship banner from the roof.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
But this year will be different. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. Back in the tourney as a one-seed after a heartbreaking loss in last year’s title game, the North Carolina Tar Heels are telling themselves the exact same thing. The ceiling is the roof, as Michael Jordan so eloquently put it.
The. Ceiling. Is. The. Roof.
We’ll get back to this gem later. As of now, there is another Tar Heel who has been dropping hot fire on the mic. Roy Williams has been going peak Roy Williams lately. And it has been amazing.
Donald Trump was the first victim of his fire flame roasts tour when Roy ever so casually slipped in “Our president tweets out more bullshit than anyone I’ve ever seen” while having a nuanced conversation on the decentralization of media. Boom. Roasted.
He also said “We don’t need the New York Times to tell us what in the dickens is going on in the world anymore” before saying this. Following up a “what in the dickens” with “bullshit” is about as Roy Williams as it gets because you never really know when Roy Williams is going to go Roy Williams. He goes from Ned Flanders to Bob Knight quicker than anyone in the business.
The next victims to get their asses roasted by Roy were his two tried-and-true favorite targets: the media and UNC fans. When questioned about his clock management and reluctance to call timeouts, Roy clapped back with this:
“I’m going to call it when the hell I want to call it. I don’t care what you guys say, what anyone else says. Makes no difference. You hadn’t been on the bench 1,000 games, and I have. So that’s my philosophy. Talk all the hell you want; it makes no difference to me. We’ve won some games, by not calling timeout. One player said if you call timeout, I’m going to panic. And that’s a hell of a lot more important to me than anything you guys say or any plumber that’s putting something on Facebook.”
SHIT. Ol’ Roy came through with the fire and got plumbers and their HVAC licenses and 1998 Dodge Ram cargo vans the hell up out of here in the process.
Roy Williams goes from Ned Flanders to Bob Knight quicker than anyone in the business.
Anyone familiar with Roy knows this is standard procedure for him. There’s something about Dean Smith’s protégés where they are not happy unless they make themselves miserable by fabricating some type of adversity that they have to overcome. Larry Brown always thought his bosses were out to get him. George Karl manufactured feuds with his players. Michael Jordan took up beef with….hell…everybody. Roy Williams decided to set his sights on the media and UNC fans.
Roy drew this clear line in the sand moments after Kansas’ 2003 championship loss, stating that he “could give a shit about North Carolina right now” when asked about his interest in coaching UNC. Roy does give a shit about Carolina. Roy loves Carolina. He worships Smith. Roy just doesn’t like Carolina fans, especially the delusional, ungrateful fans who annually start a #FireRoy campaign for a coach with two nattys, four Final Fours, and seven #1 seeds in 14 seasons. We’re talking about you, Facebook plumber.
Roy has always known there is a sizeable faction of Carolina fans who will never be pleased and that the media serves as their mouthpiece. That’s who Roy Williams doesn’t give a shit about. Roy Williams might look like Huckleberry Hound, but at times he has the cantankerous temperament of Mr. Jinks, the cat who hated meeces to pieces. Just swap out meeces with UNC fans and the media.
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Back to that whole ceiling is the roof thing. With the tournament kicking off for UNC on Friday, now is a good time to ponder how high UNC’s ceiling is. Or rather, how ceiling their roof is.
If we look at history as an indicator, this season’s Tar Heel squad checks off all the boxes of the type of team that Roy wins big with:
- A point guard who can push the pace, score, and facilitate: check.
- A wing who can spread defenses and shoot from deep: check.
- A deep, formidable frontcourt that can run the floor, clean the glass on both ends, get second-chance points, and take advantage of favorable matchups: check.
Roy has cut down nets with this type of team twice. This is a veteran team that can light it up in spurts in the fullcourt and play inside out and score at every level in the halfcourt.
UNC is top seed in the loaded South region. The Tar Heels will likely have to go through a tough Butler squad and an Arkansas team that’s won eight of its last nine before meeting the victor who emerges from that region’s lower-half battle royale of UCLA, Cincinnati, Kentucky, dangerously underseeded Wichita State, and an upperclassmen-laden Dayton team. More than likely, Kansas awaits them in the Final Four and a rematch with Villanova looms as a prospective championship game.
This is a daunting path for Carolina, but this team is built for it. They’re deep. Their bigs rebound 42 percent of their misses on the offensive glass. Justin Jackson is a first-round NBA talent and is good enough to capoeira UNC to the Promised Land with his unorthodox game.
Regardless of what naysayers might believe, UNC’s ceiling really is the roof. And Facebook plumbers don’t know shit about roofs. They’re also not invited to the victory celebration at Outback.
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