in My Opinion: Drama ends early for Unc

Charlotte.com

March 22, 2008

North Carolina turned Mount St. Mary's into a molehill Friday night.

Layup. Dunk. Repeat. That was the pattern as the top seed in the NCAA tournament made the most of playing an obviously overmatched opponent. The Tar Heels' 113-74 dismantling of Mount St. Mary's gave them just what they needed to start the tournament -- a good sweat, no injuries and crowd-pleasing plays by the dozen.

For some teams like Davidson or the 2008 version of Duke, making the second round of the NCAA tournament requires a herculean effort like Stephen Curry's 40 points or Gerald Henderson's weaving layup.

For the No. 1 seeds in the tournament, though, the first game is supposed to be short on drama, long on laughs and little more than a glorified scrimmage. No No. 16 seed has ever beaten a No. 1 seed in the men's tournament. Ideally, the guys at the end of the bench get to play the last five minutes, with the starters waving towels and urging them on to what will be their only points of the NCAA tournament.

So it was with the Tar Heels.

'We were just more gifted and talented is what it boils down to,' Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said.

Indeed, North Carolina's top five players would have had more trouble beating the Tar Heels' second five than in beating Mount St. Mary's. North Carolina hadn't scored this many points in an NCAA tournament game since 1988.

The Tar Heels raced to 60 points in the first half against a Mount St. Mary's team that loves to run as much as the Tar Heels do.

But this was a race between a souped-up Corvette and a 1976 gray Ford Pinto with a cracked navy blue dashboard and a bad radio (that was my first car -- can you tell I'm still bitter?).

The Mountaineers, behind quicksilver point guard Jeremy Goode of Charlotte, could push the ball, too. But with no starter taller than 6-foot-7, Mount St. Mary's got creamed on the boards 48-22.

Goode was The Observer's high school player of the year over Curry in 2006. The Muggsy Bogues of Mount St. Mary's, Goode had paced 'The Mount' to its first-ever NCAA tournament win Tuesday in the tournament play-in game against Coppin State.

That helped fire up the tiny campus in Emmitsburg, Md., which has an enrollment of 1,526 (Davidson's is 1,700).

Said Mount St. Mary's coach Milan Brown before the game: 'We'll show up with a rock and a slingshot.'

It worked for David against Goliath. Not here.

Reality intruded quickly. The Tar Heels were bigger and faster everywhere. Point guard Ty Lawson, back to his whirling-dervish self in this one, scored 21 points in 18 minutes. 'I was pushing the ball and playing like I normally do,' Lawson said.

None of the Tar Heels starters played more than Hansbrough's 26 minutes. Williams cleared his bench, and 14 of the 15 players scored.

What was most promising was that the Tar Heels actually got something out of Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson, their talented but inconsistent big men. They combined for 27 points and 16 rebounds.

'What Deon and Alex gave us inside that we haven't had recently was really a big plus for us,' Williams said.

The NCAA tournament is mostly about pressure. But if you're a No. 1 seed, you get a single game like this as a reward. The tournament won't really start until Sunday afternoon for North Carolina. This one was fun for the fans, felt like preseason and should give North Carolina an edge this weekend.

IN MY OPINION Scott Fowler

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