ESPN Men's Basketball

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- His eighth-ranked team left Puerto Rico a disappointing 1-2, but North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he’s not panicking.

Maybe that’s the case. It’s a long season, after all. But UNC also departed here late Sunday night without knowing if it truly has a leader on its team.

Williams is taking on the responsibility of trying to develop one amid the locker room, but it remains to be seen if anyone among the current Tar Heel personnel has the right personality to take charge of the team.

“Right now, we don’t have one,’’ said Williams after Sunday night’s 72-65 loss to Vanderbilt. “It has to be the coaches until the players develop it on the floor. We don’t have bad kids. They all want to do the right thing. They just don’t know how to do it. It’s up to me to teach them and it might be by running the dickens out of them or they’ve go to accept it themselves.’’

North Carolina struggled with Lipscomb in their opener before pulling away in Chapel Hill. And then the Heels dismantled Hofstra in the first round here Thursday. But North Carolina was essentially manhandled by Minnesota in Friday’s semifinals and never had great flow Sunday against the Commodores. And there was no player to shake them out of their funk.

There is undoubtedly plenty of talent, led by AP preseason all-American Harrison Barnes. But the freshman thus far hasn’t exhibited the personality of taking over a game from a vocal standpoint. He also struggled against a more physical team (0-for-12 against Minnesota). Point guard Larry Drew II doesn’t have that extroverted personality on the court, either. Neither does Tyler Zeller or John Henson and it’s too soon to say whether or not the newcomers like Kendall Marshall can command that role.

“I’m not panicking by any means,’’ Williams said. “I feel 100 times better than I did last year. We’re still a work in progress.’’

The Tar Heels lost an unthinkable 17 games last season. Williams called the season the most frustrating he has had as a coach. Carolina had leadership -- at least some outspoken types like Deon Thompson -- but could never mesh. Thompson is gone and the offseason brought about the abrupt departure of the Wear twins to UCLA, as well as the dismissal of senior shooting guard Will Graves, the top returning 3-point shooter.

The Tar Heels will have their moments when they’re not a proficient 3-point shooting team (like Sunday’s 3-of-11 performance) and there will be games where they’re on. The ability to score on the break and from the wing shouldn’t be a question. But North Carolina shouldn’t be as dominated physically as it was by Minnesota and Vanderbilt. If that’s a trend, then the Tar Heels will be in trouble.

“I said after the first home game that this team will get better as the season goes along,’’ Williams said. “Z and Larry are the only guys we’ve had that have ever started a game before this year. We’re a work in progress.’’

Williams said the Tar Heels will show flashes of being a really good team.

Whether or not that can come on a consistent basis -- especially with plenty of quality games left on the nonconference schedule -- remains to be seen.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Vanderbilt arrived in Puerto Rico last week with the confidence that it was an SEC East contender. But the team wasn’t completely sure it had a true identity.

It is now.

Quite simply, the Commodores are a tougher, more aggressive and more balanced team than they were a season ago, when A.J. Ogilvy was in the middle and Jermaine Beal held down the perimeter.

All you needed for proof was to watch the Dores suffer a rugged, three-point semifinal loss to West Virginia on Friday and then bounce back Sunday to finish out No. 8 North Carolina 72-65 for third place at the Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

“We’ve learned that hard work pays off,’’ said Vanderbilt forward Festus Ezeli. “We’ve learned that we’re a very tough team. The thing [in the past] was that we were soft. We’re done with that. It’s time to play.’’

The UNC frontcourt of John Henson, Tyler Zeller, Justin Knox and to some extent Harrison Barnes, who was forced to play more power forward Sunday, had the headlines and the hype. But the force of Ezeli and the complimentary play of Lance Goulbourne, as well as the rebounding and defense of wing Jeffery Taylor, were the difference against the Tar Heels. Goulbourne at one point sailed through the taller Heels and flushed down a dunk that sent a strong message to Carolina.

“We knew we had a tough group of guys that didn’t back down,’’ Goulbourne said. “We were down 11 at halftime to West Virginia and came back. We got down nine and tied the game twice. We had a 10-point lead against North Carolina, blew that, tied it and kept going. We’re fighting for each other. In the past, we didn’t have that same intensity. But we’ve got a tough group of kids and it showed.’’

Goulbourne said Vandy’s ability to come off the weak side and attack was a difference on Sunday.

The Commodores were supposed to be known for their perimeter of Taylor, John Jenkins and the combo point of Brad Tinsley and Kyle Fuller. And they will be at times. But there was so much more to this team with the way Andre Walker, Rod Odom and Steve Tchiengang also contributed. Taylor outplayed the heralded freshman Barnes, finishing with a solid 15 points and seven boards. He also played solid defense when he had the chance to guard Barnes. As for Fuller, he gives the Commodores more speed at the point while Tinsley can be a steadying influence, although he didn’t shoot as well on this trip.

Bottom line: Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings has a solid nine-player rotation with no scrubs.

"I’m happy for the poise and toughness they showed when Carolina came out and socked us straight in the mouth about the first 10 minutes of the second half,’’ Stallings said of UNC storming back to take the lead. “We were able to keep the game back in our control and do what we needed to do."

Vanderbilt leaves San Juan with two wins. And you can expect the Commodores to get plenty more. They should be taken very seriously as a contender in the SEC East. Stallings said this summer he thought his team would contend because it was more balanced and tougher. He was right.

“I thought we could win the tournament when we came down here,’’ Stallings said. “I told our team I thought we could win and we could’ve at least been playing for the championship. I tell you, Minnesota’s got a really good-looking team to me. I don’t know how we would have fared if we had gotten to play them, but we didn’t because West Virginia outplayed us two days ago. I’m not surprised with what we’ve done. I expected us to have a chance to be in the thick of this thing and I didn’t look at other teams and think that anybody was a lot better than us down here."