40 TO 12

That’s hard to overcome. Giving up an 18-0 run to a #1 seeded team in the National Semi-final in the first half, and another 13-0 in the second half is simply impossible to overcome.

The Jayhawks started the game shooting 16 of 24 (66%) and their ability to score easily kept the Tar Heels from jump starting their up-tempo transition game. Carolina looked slow and out of focus.

The Heels never recovered. Even though Billy Packer declared the game over with 7:32 left in the first half (a point which will further aggravate Carolina fans who are convinced Packer hates all things Heel), UNC pulled to within four in the second half. They were down but five when a Green three pointer rimmed out. In retrospect, that may have been the final blow for the Tar Heels.

The Jayhawks went on another 30 to 9 run to finish the game and waltz into the Final Monday night.

Ultimately, the Heels defense let them down. An Achilles of sorts all season, Carolina simply couldn’t generate the intensity they needed to slow down the high flying Jayhawks. The key to the transition game is making the other team miss and getting the rebound. Carolina owned the largest rebound differential in the country and that’s a big part of the formula that led to 37 wins.
In the first half, Kansas didn’t miss much and when they did miss, they out-rebounded the Heels. On the other hand, Kansas’ defense was as stingy as it’s been all year.

Part of this equation is Carolina’s lack of size. It’s easy to forget as their flying up and down the court that the starting lineup of Ginyard, Thompson and Hansbrough measures 6-5, 6-8 and 6-9. While Hansbrough is the largest, he’s not a defensive stalwart, and that’s not an accident.

While he would never be confused for Bill Russell, Hansbrough had 23 blocked shots as a freshman, but only 14 this season. We surmise that’s not a coincidence. Knowing how critical Hansbrough’s offense was to the Tar Heels success, we believe Ol’ Roy and boys taught him to play position defense and to stay out of foul trouble. The system works until the offense goes cold against a red hot Kansas team that many pick to win it all…

Lost in the shuffle of a great 37 win season that included regular season and ACC Tournament championships, was how different this team is from the squad that won in 2005. That team had FOUR first round NBA draft picks. This team has two – Hansbrough and Lawson. Ellington will be drafted if he leaves, but we don’t think he’s first round material…yet.

One of those four NBAers was a kid named Marvin Williams. Williams had “length” (the new overused buzz word for commentators and coaches alike) which simply means he was extremely athletic and played “bigger” than he actually was. Sound familiar?

Can you say Brendan Wright? Another front court player with length, the 6’9” Wright played like he was much bigger. He blocked 65 shots last year, and his defensive presence in the middle was sorely missed in 2008.

If everybody stays in Chapel Hill, which is unlikely at best, the Heels will need to cultivate a stronger inside presence to make it all the way to the 2009 championship game. It will have to come from Hansbrough, Thompson or Stepheson or new kid Tyler Zeller (6’10”, 215) who will need to bulk up a bit.

Finally, some folks will wonder why Williams didn’t use more timeouts during the 40 to 12 onslaught. Give Williams credit for a variety of things including consistency. That’s not what he does…Ol’ Roy lets ‘em play, and he saves his timeouts for end-half/game situations.

He doesn’t believe in stopping the game. He has said before that the players know exactly what is going on and exactly what they need to do, and stopping the game makes them question that and lose confidence.

Like most things Carolina blue, most nights that works.

But not last night.

(Photos by AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images, Streeter Lecka/Getty Images, and AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)