Bring on the Tar Heels
They had just finished off Notre Dame in dominating fashion, easing to a 61-41 win Saturday.
The Washington State Cougars had just earned the school’s first trip to the Sweet 16. The last time WSU won twice in an NCAA tournament was in 1941 when only eight schools played and the Cougars reached the finals.
They had just posted their best defensive performance since, well, since ever, considering it came against one of the nation’s best offensive teams in the pressure cooker that is the NCAA tournament.
And they had about 15 minutes to enjoy it. Such is the one-and-done mentality of the NCAAs.
“I wouldn’t say (our business) is finished yet,” is how Kyle Weaver answered the second question of the post-game press conference.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” he continued. “We’ve got a few days to get ready for our next opponent.”
The fourth-seeded Cougars’ next opponent Thursday in Charlotte, N.C.? That would be the University of North Carolina.
The 34-2 Tar Heels. Player of the year candidate Tyler Hansbrough, a 6-foot-9 center averaging 23 points and 10 rebounds a game. Point guard Tyler Lawson, who posted 11 assists and no turnovers this weekend. The nation’s second-best scoring and best rebounding team. The East Region’s top seed. The tournament’s top seed as well.
And the game will be in their home state, about 140 miles from UNC’s campus.
The Tar Heels showed why they are ranked No. 1 in the nation Sunday, routing ninth-seeded Arkansas 108-77, giving them 100-plus points in both tournament wins.
“We were pretty doggone good,” UNC coach Roy Williams said of the effort. “We’re ecstatic to be one of the teams that are still playing.”
But the Tar Heels think they still have room for improvement.
“We can all get a little better,” said junior guard Marcus Ginyard. “We can all play a little harder, a little smarter. We’ll go back to Chapel Hill and get fired up and focused for another big-time weekend.”
That weekend will start Thursday against WSU (26-8), something Williams professed he had to struggle to figure out after the Arkansas rout. But he knows a little about the Cougars’ style of basketball – and their coach.
“I’ve seen them play late night a couple of times on the Pac-10 games,” Williams said. “Tony Bennett, his father Dick was a great coach. I love little Tony. I loved him as a player watching him. … Last year I thought Tony maybe did as a good a job or better job than anyone in the country.
“I really have a great deal of respect for his dad, and that acorn didn’t fall from the tree.”
The Cougars took Easter Sunday off and will return to practice today. They’ll travel the more than 2,000 miles on Tuesday and practice at least twice before Thursday’s game, scheduled for a 4:27 p.m. PDT tipoff.