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The North Carolina academic scandal, which embroiled the school's African and Afro-American Studies department in accusations of fraud motivated by athletic success, has long since moved off the radar. In December, a probe by former North Carolina Governor Jim Martin found that students in the AFAM department of all stripes, athlete or no, benefited from weird advantages in the department, such as "unauthorized grade changes, forged faculty signatures on grade rolls and limited or no class time," as Robbi Pickeral wrote at the time.

"This was not an athletic scandal," former North Carolina Governor Jim Martin told UNC's board of trustees. "It was an academic scandal, which is worse."

That may be so, and is a failure in its own right. But if UNC athletes were frequently enrolled in those classes, the athletic department did its players a disservice disguised as a favor, which is what one former Tar Heels professor -- Mary Willingham, who first blew the whistle on the dozens of UNC athletes being passed through no-show "independent study" courses across a number of years -- keeps loudly saying within ear shot of the media.

The News & Observer of Raleigh was in the building last week when Willingham, who is still a UNC professor, received the Robert Maynard Hutchins Award from The Drake Group, which "is given annually to a university faculty or staff member who defends the institution’s academic integrity in the face of college athletics." The Drake Group's stated mission is to “to defend academic integrity in higher education from the corrosive aspects of commercialized college sports.” During her remarks, Willingham remained as vocal as ever:

“Many athletes told me what they would like to study,” she said. “And listen to what we did. Instead, we directed them to an array of mismatched classes that have a very, very long history of probable (athletic) eligibility. And sadly, it’s still happening."

Willingham, who worked as a learning and reading specialist inside UNC’s academic support program for athletes, talked Thursday about her struggle to combat the system. She spoke of NCAA paperwork that arrived annually that required a signature and promise that she hadn’t seen cheating, or been a part of it.

“I’ve got to tell you that most of the time, I scribbled my initials on it,” Willingham said. “So yeah, I lied. I saw it – I saw cheating. I saw it, I knew about it, I was an accomplice to it, I witnessed it. And I was afraid, and silent, for so long.”

Willingham is still an assistant director in the center for student services and academic counseling, but she no longer works with athletes, many of whom she insisted were not ready to do real academic work when they arrived at North Carolina. Her list of issues runs the gamut -- athletes go to school whether they're academically prepared or not, they take whatever classes they need to get by, professors take it easy on them, and on and on. It's all very typical, really, the kind of thing we quietly assume happens at most big college athletics programs.

Of course, this is not only an insult to the players, and laughable hypocrisy in the face of the larger NCAA amateurism debate, but it's also hugely disrespectful of university faculty, people for whom intellectual respect is kind of, you know, a thing. It's probably not a good idea to make these people feel like toy soldiers. That will surely backfire, as it did at UNC.

Say what you will about how way-too-early Joe Lunardi's annual postseason Bracketology is -- and of course it's early; that's the point! -- it does provide a pretty sizable general snapshot of the also way-too-early expectations of the college basketball landscape as of this way-too-early date.

This is especially true of the top of the bracket. The bubble range is surely more unpredictable, but a look at the top three or four seed lines gives us a pretty decent idea of teams we can expect to be ranked in the top 10 to start the season, barring injuries and recruiting decisions and everything else that can happen in six months.

Myron and I discussed much of this earlier in the week, so why am I bringing it up now? Because after James Michael McAdoo announced his decision to return to North Carolina for his junior season, Joe slotted the Tar Heels in on the No. 3 line in his bracket. Expectations-wise, that strikes me as exactly right.

McAdoo is will receive the lion's share of attention in the offseason -- he is a former potential lottery pick who decided to stay two years longer than anyone expected, after all -- but the fact is his return isn't anywhere near as important as Marcus Smart's. Fact is, McAdoo had kind of a rough year. His counting numbers (14.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game) look solid, but he shot just 44.7 percent from the field, turned it over on 18.2 percent of his possessions, grabbed just 8.5 percent of available offensive rebounds, and finished with a 91.3 offensive rating. It was pretty ugly stuff.

But even if McAdoo's return might receive outsized attention, he still has plenty of promise, and the same can be said of the rest of the Tar Heels. P.J. Hairston actually did have a pretty great offensive season (rating: 120.3). Point guard Marcus Paige should improve as a sophomore. Forward Joel James is a big body on the block who could benefit from just one go-to low-post move. And Roy Williams has a solid recruiting class -- featuring the No. 8-ranked power forward and five-star prospect Isaiah Hicks -- on deck.

The notion that North Carolina is routinely overrated in the preseason, simply because it's North Carolina, probably has at least some basis in fact; the Tar Heels are almost always expected to be a top-15 team whether or not their circumstances demand. It would be easy to make that case again here. But if McAdoo and Paige in particular make genuine strides in the offseason -- and that's a crucial if -- a No. 3 seed feels eminently doable. Fortunately, we've got a few months to settle the issue.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said during his radio show Monday night that he will be contacting NBA personnel to gather information about the pro prospects of his players, as usual. But at this point, he’s not sure whether any Tar Heels will be leaving early for the NBA.

“We’ll look into it and see,’’ he said. “I don’t feel the sense of urgency right now with it that as I have in years' past. We were an 8-seed [in the NCAA tournament]. We finished third in the league. We had 11 losses. The NBA usually likes to find those guys that come off teams that won 30 games and go to the Final Four. And our guys understand that. That’s not saying anything negative.

“But with P.J. [Hairston] and Reggie [Bullock] and James [McAdoo], those three for example, they’re going to be NBA players; there’s no doubt in my mind. Is it going to be next year? I think that is a big question. And I think each one of those kids can gain a great deal from coming back and improve their game.

“John Henson’s dad said it better than anybody: It’s not how quickly you get to the NBA, it’s how ready you are to play when you get there. And I think all three of those kids, I’ll have discussions with them and I’ll have discussions with the NBA people about them, but I don’t think there’s any cut-and-dried guy that’s going to be leaving for sure.”

None of the Tar Heels’ three leading scorers currently are currently listed in the top 20 of ESPN draft analyst Chad Ford’s draft prospects . McAdoo, a sophomore, was considered a lottery pick last season, but opted to return.

The Tar Heels, which lost in the NCAA Round of 32 to Kansas on Sunday, lose only one scholarship senior, starting shooting guard Dexter Strickland. Williams noted that the Tar Heels posted 106 victories during Strickland’s tenure.

“Dexter had a fine, fine career, and he’s a youngster that has a chance to continue playing basketball,’’ Williams said. “It might have to be one of those routes where he goes to Europe or somewhere like that. But if he works at it and gets lucky and stays lucky, he has a chance.”

This is why Roy Williams made it clear, earlier this month, that North Carolina’s four-guard starting lineup was fine for now, but not forever.

This is why next year’s team -- no matter who stays or goes -- will almost certainly go back to boasting more of a traditional, two-big-guys look.

Leading top-seeded Kansas by nine points at halftime, the change that propelled UNC to the NCAA tournament is the thing that ultimately pushed the Tar Heels out in the end. The smaller, faster, higher-scoring offense went cold Sunday, with UNC making just 30.1 percent of its shots for the game (including only 28.6 percent of its 3-pointers). In the second half, in particular, it had no answer for Kansas 7-footer Jeff Withey who, finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds.

The eighth-seeded Tar Heels got out-rebounded by 17, and the tallest player in its starting line-up, 6-9ish James Michael McAdoo, was 5-for-19 from the field in the 70-58 loss in the NCAA Round of 32.

“It was definitely a nightmare in the second half, there's no question about that," Williams said during the post-game news conference. “You know, the change in the lineup, I tried to get the best five basketball players on the court for us. We knew we were giving up some rebounding, but we knew we were adding some things offensively from the perimeter.

“We decided to make that change. Down the stretch we basically decided to stick with it because we thought that was best for our team.”

And until Sunday, it was, what with young centers Desmond Hubert, Joel James and Brice Johnson never really establishing themselves during the season, while 6-5 sophomore wing P.J. Hairston -- finally inserted as the starting ‘4’ on Feb. 13, in place of Hubert -- often looked like the best player on the floor.

In the end, the Tar Heels won nine of their final 13 games with that starting lineup -- making the NCAA tournament, something that had been in doubt before the switch -- and giving this team something to build upon.

“For me, we had an unbelievably young team, and they tried and tried and tried," Williams said. “We've got a chance to be a sensational basketball team again.”

Indeed, the Tar Heels, who finished 25-11 overall, lose only one scholarship senior, starting shooting guard/backup point guard Dexter Strickland. But the status of several underclassmen is still up in the air.

Sophomore McAdoo, junior wing Reggie Bullock and Hairston all told The News & Observer after Sunday’s loss that they hadn’t thought about the NBA yet – comments you would expect them to make in the moments after their season ended so harshly. Traditionally, Williams meets with players in the weeks after the season to discuss their options, and talks to NBA team contacts on their behalves about where each player would possibly be drafted if they left early.

Williams reports back to each player, offers an opinion, and then it’s up to the athlete and his family to make the choice.

None of that threesome are currently listed among ESPN draft analyst Chad Ford’s list of top-20 draft prospects (although McAdoo was considered a lottery pick last year, had he left). And there’s not a whole lot of time to decide.

Although the NBA’s deadline to declare for the draft is April 28, the NCAA’s early-entry withdrawal deadline is April 16. Players also can apply to an NBA undergraduate advisory committee for their feedback before making a decision, but there no longer is any time to “test the waters,” so to speak.

Whatever the decisions of UNC’s top three scorers, the Tar Heels do have another triumvirate of incoming freshmen who could make an immediate impact. Nate Britt, ranked 20th on ESPN’s list of incoming ballhandlers, should be a strong back-up to Marcus Paige at point guard. Meanwhile, Williams will certainly look to Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks -- rated the No. 8 power forward prospect and No. 4 center, respectively -- to bolster a more traditional, comfortable, big-man-in-the-post approach.

“That [four-guard] line-up has been better for us, so we’ll stick with that right now,’’ Williams said before the ACC tournament. “But Ol’ Roy is not going to be small for the rest of his coaching career, I tell you.”

Sunday showed why: Going small got the Tar Heels to the NCAA tournament. It just couldn’t keep them there.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Standout freshman and future NBA lottery pick Ben McLemore was so mediocre on Sunday that he could hardly get off the Kansas Jayhawks' bench in the second half.

It didn't matter.

With McLemore struggling, Kansas used its other main weapon -- experience -- to advance to the Sweet 16 with a 70-58 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Jayhawks got a combined 53 points from seniors Travis Releford (22), Jeff Withey (16), Kevin Young (10) and Elijah Johnson (5) in a come-from-behind win before 18,000-plus fans at the Sprint Center.

McLemore entered the game averaging a team-high 16.2 points, but for the second straight game, he seemed spooked by the NCAA tournament's big stage. McLemore scored just two points (both on free throws) in 18 first-half minutes before going scoreless after intermission. McLemore played just six minutes in the second half. He went 0-of-9 from the field overall.

Instead coach Bill Self turned to the same group of seniors that played pivotal roles in last season's march to the NCAA title game, where the Jayhawks lost to Kentucky. The foursome contributed in a number of ways that didn't show up on the scoreboard. Withey had 16 rebounds and five blocks. Releford collected eight boards and three steals. Johnson dished out four assists (and committed just two turnovers) while Young snared nine rebounds.

The other key factor for the Jayhawks was the player who replaced McLemore. Naadir Tharpe, a sophomore backup guard, scored 11 points off the bench and made a trio of clutch 3-pointers during a key second-half run that put the game out of reach for UNC.

The Tar Heels actually jumped out to a 30-21 lead thanks to a horrendous shooting effort from the Jayhawks, who made just 28 percent of their field goals in the opening 20 minutes while committing 12 turnovers. Kansas, though, opened the second half with a 33-10 run and never looked back. Self's squad outscored No. 8-seeded North Carolina 49-28 in the second half.

Tar Heels coach Roy Williams fell to 0-3 against his former schools, with each of the losses coming in the NCAA tournament. KU beat UNC in last year's Elite Eight. Kansas is now 31-5. North Carolina ends its season with a 25-11 record. P.J. Hairston scored 15 points for the Tar Heels, who shot 30 percent overall.

Turning point: A 3-pointer by Johnson forced a 35-35 tie at the 15:26 mark of the second half. Perry Ellis followed with a tip-in and then Releford converted a traditional three-point play that gave KU a 40-35 cushion. At that point Kansas had the momentum and never lost it again.

Key player: Releford. His 22-point effort came on 9-of-13 shooting. He also contributed eight rebounds and three steals. More importantly, he helped set the tone of toughness for the Jayhawks when they were struggling in the first half.

Key stat: Kansas, which made just one shot outside of the paint in Friday's win over Western Kentucky, didn't connect on a jump shot until Releford swished a 3-pointer two minutes into the second half.

Next: Kansas advances to the Sweet 16 for the third straight year. The Jayhawks play No. 4 seed Michigan Friday in Arlington, Texas.

In this ESPN insider piece, Paul Biancardi of recruiting nation takes a look at who the Tar Heels lose and who they are adding for next season.

Here's an excerpt:

Who it loses: The Heels don't lose much in terms of overall numbers. The only senior who played meaningful minutes is guard Dexter Strickland, a slasher and defender who started at shooting guard and also played some valuable minutes at the point. ...

Who it adds: The Heels bring in a highly rated three-man class of ESPN 100 prospects, all of whom can contribute right away if they do their job in the offseason.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- At their shoot-around on Thursday and again during Friday’s win over Villanova, the North Carolina Tar Heels received rousing ovations from an unlikely group of supporters.

Kansas fans.

For nearly a decade almost anyone who called themselves a Jayhawk held resentment toward former coach Roy Williams for leaving KU in 2003 and returning to North Carolina, his alma mater. But if this week is any indication, Kansas fans have moved on and come to appreciate Williams for what he accomplished during his 15 seasons in Lawrence.

“Time heals all wounds,” Williams said Saturday. “The people have been really nice. There have been people driving by on the streets when we’re out walking in the morning that have been yelling and saying nice things.

“I’ve only had one person yell something that wasn’t quite as nice, but that’s part of it.”

Williams’ Tar Heels -- the No. 8 seed in the South Region -- will take on top-seeded Kansas at the Sprint Center on Sunday for a chance to go to the Sweet 16. The Tar Heels are 0-2 against the Jayhawks since Williams became their coach. KU beat UNC in the national semifinals in 2008 and again in the Elite Eight last season.

A lot of the attention leading into each of those games centered on the ill will that some Kansas fans held toward Williams for leaving in 2003, just two years after vowing he’d retire at Kansas. “Benedict Roy” shirts were a hot seller in Lawrence. One barbershop owner went so far as to hang Williams’ picture above his toilet.

This season, though, most of the buzz during Saturday’s news conference centered around the actual game. That had to have been refreshing to both Williams and KU coach Bill Self, who coached for three seasons at Illinois before taking over for Williams.

“Nobody can ever take away that he did a fabulous job and ran a first-class program [at Kansas],” Self said. “Anybody that doesn’t feel that way isn’t real, because that’s the reality of it.

“Since we’ve had a chance to play a couple of times in the tournament, I think there were some story lines [before] that probably aren’t as good of a story line now.”

Self has certainly made it easy for KU fans to move on. By beating No. 16 seed Western Kentucky Friday, Self became the first coach in history to guide his team to four consecutive 30-win seasons. (It should be noted that John Calipari accomplished the feat from 2006-09, but the Tigers’ wins from the 2007-08 season were vacated.)

Kansas has also won nine straight Big 12 titles under Self and one national championship. Self is 299-58 (.838) during his tenure at KU, while Williams is 282-78 with six ACC championships and two NCAA titles at North Carolina.

As much as he hopes to win Saturday’s game, Williams has made it clear that he doesn’t enjoy playing Kansas.

“It’s not immoral to love two schools,” Williams said. “Someone asked me the other day if I would ever consider coming and playing a home-and-home against Kansas. I said no. My athletic director would understand and the Pope will understand, because I will never walk out of that far tunnel. That will never happen.

“I said this before I left Kansas: 'The day I ever walk into Allen Fieldhouse and don’t get cold chills, I’ll know it’s time to stop.' I feel the same way about the Smith Center. If I walk out on game night and don’t have cold chills, I’ll quit."

Kansas City news and notes:

• North Carolina’s switch to a smaller lineup earlier this season could make things difficult for KU center Jeff Withey, who will likely have to guard players such as James Michael McAdoo outside of the paint from time to time. Withey said the shortage of true centers in the Big 12 has forced him to become a better perimeter defender. “I’ve definitely gotten used to it,” Withey said. “I’ve had to learn to guard and move my feet.”
• Kansas leading scorer Ben McLemore is averaging just seven points in his past three games -- more than nine points below his average of 16.2. He had just 11 points in 32 minutes against Western Kentucky on Friday, when he only attempted five shots. “He’s young,” Self said of McLemore, a redshirt freshman. “Obviously this is his first time on a big stage. He’s capable of doing it all. When he’s aggressive, we’re better. We’ve just got to get him to be more aggressive.”
• Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson celebrated Friday’s victory over Wisconsin by hanging out with some of his friends at a bar across the street from the arena. Photos of Henderson (who was holding a clear cup containing a red drink) ended up on Twitter, which prompted Rebels AD Ross Bjork to summon Henderson back to the team hotel. “It wasn’t like he was guzzling a beer,” Bjork said. Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy was asked if he approved of Henderson hanging out in bars in between NCAA tournament games. “He’s 22 years old,” Kennedy said of Henderson. “I didn’t give him an alcohol sobriety test. We didn’t make him recite his ABCs backward, but I know this. I know we had a pretty intense 10 o’clock meeting and he was involved in it, as they all were.”
• LaSalle coach John Giannini said playing in the “First Four” has been beneficial to his team. The No. 13 seed Explorers upset No. 4-seeded Kansas State on Friday. “You’re certainly in a better rhythm,” Giannini said. “If you look at yesterday’s game, it perfectly demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages. One team was really in a rhythm in the first half. There is an advantage to having played, working out some nerves and being comfortable on the court.”

 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams picked up his 700th career victory when North Carolina defeated Villanova 78-71 at the Sprint Center on Friday. But after the game, Williams said he was equally as proud of another number.

Twenty-five.

That’s how many wins Williams’ current crop of Tar Heels has achieved during what some would call a transition year. Considering UNC had four players selected in the top 17 of last summer’s NBA draft, the coaching job Williams has done in 2012-13 is one of the more impressive of his career.

Friday’s victory propelled UNC to a third-round NCAA tournament game against either Kansas or Western Kentucky. That hardly seemed like a possibility three months ago, when the Tar Heels were manhandled by a struggling Texas team that a few weeks earlier had lost to Division II Chaminade.

“It was terrible,” guard Dexter Strickland said about the loss. “We didn’t have any experience. We didn’t know how to play with each other yet. We didn’t know the level of intensity we needed to play with as a team. We were just trying to find ourselves.”

Strickland paused.

“We’ve come a long way since then,” he said.

Indeed, North Carolina finished third in the ACC with a 12-6 record. During Friday’s first half, the eighth-seeded Tar Heels looked capable of making one of the more unlikely Final Four runs in school history.

Williams’ squad led by 20 points in the first half. The basket must’ve looked like hula-hoop to the Tar Heels, who shot 50 percent before the break.

North Carolina, however, became complacent in the second half and allowed the ninth-seeded Wildcats to take a 45-44 lead.

“We thought we were good enough to win this game,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

The Wildcats (20-14) almost did, keeping it close until the waning minutes, when some timely 3-point shooting by Reggie Bullock, P.J. Hairston and Marcus Paige helped North Carolina to victory. The Tar Heels closed out the win by making their last seven field goal attempts.

“There were a few moments, to say the least, when we were really ugly,” Williams said. “I loved the mental toughness of our team in the last eight or nine minutes.”

Williams deserves credit for developing that toughness. Hairston, Bullock and James Michael McAdoo are NBA-caliber players, but certainly not at the level -- at least not yet -- of some of the lottery picks of UNC’s past. This team has needed more molding and grooming and coaching than recent Tar Heel squads.

That’s why, in some ways, win No. 25 (against 10 losses) felt just as fulfilling to Williams as victory No. 700.

“I’m human,” Williams said. “I wanted to get 700. I’d like to get 800, 900, 1,000, 1,500 ... but I know that’s not going to happen.

“My focus was not on that, it really wasn’t. I was trying to get No. 25 and have this team stay and play in another game.”

Seth Greenberg goes to the game film to preview the round of 64 matchup between No. 8 seed North Carolina and No. 9 seed Villanova.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- It was no surprise to North Carolina coach Roy Williams that his team made the NCAA tournament. But the Tar Heels’ seeding, destination and the number of ACC teams that made it? That, he said, was a shock.

“It was a confusing [selection] show,’’ Williams said Tuesday. “And I’m still confused.”

Despite winning eight of their last 10 games, making it to the ACC tournament championship game and boasting a No. 17 RPI, the Tar Heels ended up with a No. 8 seed in the South, where they will play ninth-seeded Villanova on Friday in Kansas City. Win that, and they’ll likely end up playing top-seeded Kansas -- Williams’ former team.

The Selection Committee always insists that they don’t finagle for certain match-ups (and reiterated that this year; click here for Inside Carolina's story about what the Selection Committee chairman had to say about UNC). But Williams, who has lost twice to the Jayhawks in the post-season since he came to UNC in 2003, isn’t exactly buying it.

“I’m not much of a buyer right now, guys,’’ he said. “They can say anything they want to say, and they’ve got numbers to substantiate it, and you can sit right across the table from them, and substantiate it with some other numbers. They don’t put North Carolina at Kansas City to fill the arena; the arena is going to be full if [the Jayhawks] play Slippery Rock.”

Upsetting to Williams, too, was the fact that the ACC only earned four bids. Miami, which beat UNC in the league championship game, is the only team to win the outright ACC regular-season title and the tournament, but not earn a No. 1 seed. Williams was so impressed with the Hurricanes this season that he went into the locker room after losing at Greensboro Coliseum on Sunday and congratulated the Miami players.

But the Canes earned a No. 2 seed along with Duke; NC State is also a No. 8; and Maryland (No. 71 RPI) and Virginia (76) missed the 68-team cut.

“I was disappointed for our league; two 2s and 2 8s,’’ he said. “I didn’t think that was good for our league, I didn’t think that was necessarily fair for our league.”

Despite his angst, Williams emphasized that no matter the Tar Heels’ seeding, destination or opponent, “you’ve still got to frickin’ play.” And play well.

“Anybody that beats Louisville, Georgetown, Marquette and Syracuse down the stretch, that’s pretty doggone impressive,’’ Williams said of Villanova. "And you’ve got to understand that."

STITCHES UPDATE: Sophomore P.J. Hairston, who needed eight stitches between the middle and ring fingers on his left hand after he sustained a cut in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, said the stitches may come out prior to UNC’s first tournament game.

“They told me five to seven days, so hopefully it will be before the game Friday, or after,’’ he said.

Hairston said there has been so much tape on his non-shooting hand that if feels like a cast, but it has not affected him too much. He was 3-for-10 with 13 points in the semifinals against Maryland, and an impressive 9-for-17 (with six 3-pointers) in the championship game loss against Miami.

//

Six-year-old Jessica Rekos loved whales. “The Little CEO” of her family also liked organizing projects.

So hopefully, she really would have enjoyed this.

To honor Rekos, one of the beautiful children killed in December’s Newtown, Conn., shooting, Team Jessica Rekos has put together a Tournament Challenge pool to raise money for whale education and conservation.

The winner of the bracket contest receives an all-expense-paid trip to next year’s North Carolina-Duke game in Durham. And the knowledge that they contributed to the memory of a smiling child who loved to set the table, choose the Friday night movie and read about orcas, which she became fascinated with after watching “Free Willy” and observing whales at Cape Cod.

“She loved whales,” said pool organizer Jason McCallum, a Newtown native, “and this is a wonderful way to remember her.”

Instructions for entering a bracket can be found here. There is no limit to the number of entries you can make, but they must be in by Thursday.

The grand prize is a trip for two to see the greatest rivalry in college basketball, UNC-Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on the weekend of March 7-9, 2014. Airfare, two nights hotel and a rental car are also included.

"We want Jessica and the things she loved," McCallum said, "to never be forgotten."

Updated: 9:20 p.m.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The NCAA selection committee seems to like pitting North Carolina coach Roy Williams against his former team.

The Tar Heels, the No. 8 seed in the South, could face the No. 1-seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the round of 32. But they first have to get past ninth-seeded Villanova on Friday in Kansas City.

“I am extremely happy for our team that it earned a selection to play in the NCAA Tournament,'' Williams said in a prepared statement. "Our players did exactly what I thought they would do– they worked hard and got better and better as the year progressed. Making the field is a reward for their continued improvement. We look forward to hopefully playing our best basketball this coming weekend."

Williams has already faced the Jayhawks in the postseason twice since he took over as UNC’s head coach in 2003 -- in 2008, when the Tar Heels lost to the Jayhawks 84-66 in the Final Four and last March, when UNC lost to KU 80-67 in the regional finals.

Another potentially intriguing matchup for the Tar Heels in the South region: sixth-seeded UCLA, which features former UNC players Larry Drew II, David Wear and Travis Wear. That match-up wouldn’t happen until the region final.

UNC is 6-2 all-time as the No. 8 seed in NCAA tournament play.

Around the ACC: Miami, which beat UNC in the ACC tournament title game earlier Sunday, earned the No. 2 seed in the East. Duke is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest and NC State is a No. 8 seed in the East.

“I am somewhat surprised and disappointed that only four ACC teams are in the field and that the league only received two #2’s and two #8 seeds,'' Williams said in a statement. "I think the ACC deserved better than that.”

//

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Miami point guard Shane Larkin said he plans to sleep with his piece of the ACC Tournament net for at least two weeks.

The Hurricanes’ frenetic, fantastic, down-to-the-final-minutes championship win over North Carolina on Sunday was worth savoring -- in more ways than one.

Not only did the 87-77 victory secure UM’s first ACC tournament title, another accomplishment on an ever-growing list this season, it quieted any doubts that this team should be one to be reckoned with in the NCAA tournament.

“A lot of people were saying we peaked earlier in the year, when we won 14 in a row, and then we lost three of our last five," said Larkin, named the tournament MVP after his career-high 28-point performance. “A lot of people said ... we weren’t going to have any chance in the NCAA tournament. But we just stayed together as a group; we stayed together and believed in ourselves and got three wins in a row against three very good teams.”

Indeed, this didn’t look like a team that was petering out. Just the opposite, in fact.

Pushed by a much-improved Tar Heels squad that also had plenty of doubters not too long ago, both teams put together a first half that was “as high a level of basketball as I’ve seen all year long,’’ Canes coach Jim Larranaga said. They combined for 15 3-pointers, only eight turnovers, 13 lead changes and six ties. And that was just in the first 20 minutes.

In one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it flurry, UNC sophomore P.J. Hairston (28 points) buried three 3-pointers in a row -- interlaced with 3s from Larkin and teammate Trey McKinney Jones (career-high 20 points). It was a stretch of entertaining one-upsmanship, and although Miami led 44-41 at halftime, you knew -- you hoped -- there would be more.

And there was.

“It was anyone’s ballgame with five minutes to go," said Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, emotional about the loss and about how far his guard-led team has come since it lost to the Hurricanes by 26 points in early February.

Actually, UNC led Sunday 67-64 with 7:44 to go, until Hurricanes big man Julian Gamble scored five points in an 8-0 run. The Tar Heels, as they had all game, tried to shoot back, and point guard Marcus Paige cut it to a 74-71 with 3:37 to go.

But then Larkin drove by Strickland for a layup, and McKinney Jones (career-high 20 points) hit yet another 3 to make it 79-71 with 1:36 left.

It was the Hurricanes' largest lead to that point in the game, and finally the cushion was enough.

“Congratulations to Miami, it will continue to be a phenomenal year for them," said Williams, whose team is now 8-3 since it last lost to Miami. “They won the regular season, and then validated it by winning a conference tournament as well and it’s just a great, great year. ... They’re really a big-time basketball team.”

As the horn sounded and a multi-colored blizzard of confetti poured out of the rafters, Miami guard Durand Scott leapt into Gamble's arms, then embraced big man Reggie Johnson. It was an emotional moment for three seniors who had seen Tobacco Road teams dominate the ACC -- until Florida State won the tournament last season.

And until now.

“My first meeting at George Mason in 1997, I asked our players, ‘Who are the best programs in the country, and who should be our role model?’ and they mentioned Duke and Carolina," said Larranaga, who took the Patriots to the Final Four in 2006. “And when I got to Miami, I asked, ‘Who are the best teams and programs in the league?’ and they said Duke and North Carolina. So what we’ve tried to do is use them as a shining example of what can be done.”

And Saturday’s net-cutting was another step.

McKinney Jones said he would likely give his sliver of the twine to his mom. Larranaga said his would be on display in his office. Scott said he would add his cutting to an ever-growing collection of memorabilia.

Meanwhile, expect Larkin to leave some room under his pillow for another piece of net. That’s the goal entering the NCAA tournament.

“This was a big weekend for us,’’ Larkin said. “This gives us a lot of momentum going forward.”

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- By the time you read this, Sunday’s ACC tournament championship game will be an afterthought, a fond March asterisk as you debate seeding and Cinderellas and start the post-Selection Show process of filling out a bracket.

And that’s a shame, because, wow, that was entertaining.

In the end, the top-seeded Miami Hurricanes enjoyed the confetti treatment and its first ACC tournament title, but it took 15 lead changes, 10 ties, and a gritty, sharpshooting effort against a vastly improved North Carolina Tar Heels team to prevail 87-77 at Greensboro Coliseum.

A quick look at the contest:

Turning point: UNC, which lost twice to Miami during the regular season before it switched to its current four-guard starting lineup, was leading 67-64 with about seven minutes left. That’s when Miami put together an 8-0 run, led by five points from forward Julian Gamble, to take a 72-67 lead.

UNC’s Dexter Strickland stopped the breakaway, briefly, with two free throws, but in a game that went back and forth for the first 36 minutes, it was enough of a cushion to build upon. And the final score does not show just how competitive this game was.

Players of the game: Miami point guard Shane Larkin finished with 28 points on 8-for-15 shooting, with seven assists and five rebounds. Teammate Trey McKinney Jones added 20 points. UNC sophomore P.J. Hairston also scored 28 points, including six 3-pointers, in front of his hometown crowd.

Numbers to know: The teams combined for 25 3-pointers. Miami shot 50.8 percent for the game, and UNC shot 45 percent.

What’s next: The Hurricanes earn the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament; the Tar Heels will get an at-large seed. Where will they go? Who will they play? The bracket will be revealed at 6 p.m. ET Sunday.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- In a way, Miami is responsible for the team North Carolina has become.

That’s why, in a way, it’s fitting that the two teams will play for the ACC tournament title Sunday.

Feb. 9, the then-eighth-ranked Hurricanes trounced the Tar Heels so handily (by 26 points) that UNC coach Roy Williams knew something had to change. After meeting with his coaches in the BankUnited Center locker room, he opted to go to a four-guard starting lineup.

The result: An 8-2 record for the Tar Heels since the switch, and a faster, more confident, better scoring UNC team than the one Miami faced during its two-game regular-season sweep.

“The smaller lineup has helped us,’’ Williams said Saturday after his team beat Maryland in the semifinals. “We’re a better basketball team. Is it a world-beater, is it the newest thing that ever happened, the best thing that ever happened? No. ... But [going small] was the best thing for this team.

“Whether it presents any different problems for [the Hurricanes], we’ll have to wait and see what happens [Sunday].”

The Tar Heels are confident, though, pointing out how far they’ve come not just from that last game at Miami, but from their 0-2 ACC start. Who would have imagined back then that they’d be competing for the league’s tournament championship?

“We’ve had some ups and downs this year, and we went through a period where we struggled, and a lot of people kind of doubted us,’’ UNC point guard Marcus Paige said. “But the great thing about that is we stuck together as a team and we finally started getting things clicking.

“So to get a chance to play Miami [Sunday], who has beaten us pretty badly, and have a chance to cut down the nets and ... to win an ACC tournament championship -- it would just be awesome to see the season come full circle like that.”

A few things to watch in the championship game at Greensboro Coliseum:

MIAMI’S STARTING BACKCOURT

Hurricanes point guard Shane Larkin (a first-team All-ACC selection) and shooting guard Durand Scott (the ACC Defensive Player of the Year) combined for 55 points in their semifinal victory over NC State on Saturday.

UNC’s Paige and starting shooting guard Dexter Strickland -- who combined for 23 points against Maryland -- are going to have their hands full, even with the help of wing Reggie Bullock, the team’s best defender.

“We try to be the best backcourt every night, and I feed off his energy and he feeds off me,’’ Larkin said. “We play well with each other, and I know if he’s driving he’s going to have his head up and if I’m open he’s going to find me and hopefully he thinks the same of me. We challenge each other in practice; most of the time we are going against each other and we try to make each other better in practice. I’m just grateful that he’s on my team."

UNC’s ‘BIG’ MEN

Tar Heels forward James Michael McAdoo turned in his worst scoring game of the season the last time these two teams matched up, with six points on 3-for-12 shooting in 26 minutes. UNC’s leading scorer has been more aggressive of late, but he has battled foul trouble his last two games, something the 6-foot-9 sophomore will have to be wary of against Miami’s bevy of big guys.

Meanwhile, 6-foot-5 P.J. Hairston, inserted to create the smaller starting lineup after the last Miami loss, will have to play big even with his left hand still bandaged after needing eight stitches between his fingers on Friday night. Miami’s starting backcourt stands 6-11 (Kenny Kadji) and 6-10 (Julian Gamble), with a 6-10 wide body (Reggie Johnson) coming off the bench.

THE INCENTIVES

Both teams are NCAA tournament locks, but a victory would mark the Hurricanes' first ACC tournament title -- and make a better case to the NCAA selection committee that they should be a No. 1 seed.

“We’re a hungry team and we want more and more,’’ Larkin said. “We’re not satisfied with winning the regular season, we want the ACC and eventually we’re going to make the national championship game. We’re hungry and not going to settle for less. Hopefully we can get out there and get it done.”

The Tar Heels are looking for their 18th ACC tournament title, to strengthen their NCAA seeding and to prove they are ready to make a run as the postseason continues.

“Everyone had their doubts,’’ Hairston said. “... But once we started clicking together and playing as a team and just playing North Carolina basketball, that’s when everything came together and we started playing with different intensity and a sense of urgency.”