Heels' woes have Thompson in isolation

Deon Thompson doesn't leave his apartment unless it's absolutely necessary anymore.

North Carolina's recent struggles (seven losses in the last nine games) have been so traumatic Thompson spoke Tuesday of isolating himself.

"I don't even go out of the house," Thompson told reporters Tuesday during North Carolina's news conference to preview Wednesday night's home game against Duke. "I go to class, but I just try to leave the house as little as possible. When things aren't going the way you plan them to, it's kind of hard to be around (the community). It makes you just want to stay away."

This season has been a huge change for Thompson, who experienced nothing but success until now. During his first three seasons, the Tar Heels advanced to the NCAA Tournament regional finals, then the Final Four, then won an NCAA title.

He said he eats his meals at home and plays video games to pass the time.

"I just try to avoid going out as much as possible," Thompson said. "I try to get food delivered to the house and just stay in my room. . . .I have a great life. XBox 360 and stuff. So it's good."

Despite his frustration, Thompson was gearing up for success against No. 8-ranked Duke.

"Like coach said, how much worse can it get, you know?" Thompson said. "I don't think there's any added pressure. We're just going to go out there and play as a team and get this win."

Ken Tysiac

Heels' swoon puzzles ESPN's Bilas

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas admits that he’s baffled by the turn for the worse of North Carolina (13-10, 2-6 ACC) as the Tar Heels prepare to play host to No. 8-ranked Duke (19-4, 7-2) at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Bilas said there’s nothing wrong with the schemes, defenses or technical aspects of the game Roy Williams is coaching. For whatever reason, Bilas said, the Tar Heels seem to be suffering from a crisis of confidence and a lack of fight.

"I think there are knowledgeable basketball people around the country that are shocked and have no answer for it," said Bilas, who lives in Charlotte and played at Duke. “We can sit here and pretend like, ‘Well, here’s the reason.’ There’s nothing you can point to - that isn’t thumping inside their chests – for an answer."

According to Bilas, North Carolina was a good team in December. The Tar Heels posted impressive wins over Big Ten foes Ohio State and Michigan State early in the season, but a loss at the College of Charleston started them on a 2-7 swoon.

"They went from being a good team in December to being a bad team now,” said Bilas, who will be working in ESPN’s studio in Connecticut on Wednesday night. “They’re not a good team. They’re getting drilled by teams that are good teams. I think it has more to do with their lack of confidence and sort of collective fight than anything else.”

Bilas said North Carolina has great kids and talented players. He said it’s rare when they line up against an opponent more talented than they are.

He said he has never seen the Tar Heels lose confidence in this way, and he’s sure Williams has never seen it happen, either.

“Ed Davis is an All-American,” Bilas said. “Deon Thompson has been a really good player in the league. All their players have been highly rated and they’re not playing. They’re not fighting, more importantly. They’re playing, but they’re not fighting.”

Ken Tysiac

UNC notes: Williams using more timeouts?

It's widely known -- love it or hate it -- that North Carolina coach Roy Williams prefers to let his team play through a run, rather than call a timeout and settle his players down, because he thinks it helps them in the long run to play through adversity.

So its another sign of how much the current Tar Heels -- now 2-6 in the ACC -- have faltered, that Williams called early timeouts in losses at Virginia Tech and Maryland.

"It's been hard for me, because I don't really believe in that,'' he said during Monday night's radio show. "I think it helps your team in the long run to be able to handle adversity, and I believe that from the bottom of my heart. And yet, at Virginia Tech, and yesterday [at Maryland] ... there's been three of the last six or seven games that I've called a timeout, and I've been so dadgum mad at myself for having called a timeout, but I thought it was the right thing to do at the time for this team.

"So I do believe it is something different with this team, because they have shown me that they haven't handled it as well. I've had teams in the past, even when Bobby [Frasor] and Tyler [Hansbrough] and Danny [Green] and Marcus [Ginyard] and those guys were freshmen, we'd have some runs by the other team -- and long term, that made that team so much stronger and they could handle things and do what we needed to do. But with this team, I have [in] at least three games called a timeout, and in years past I would have never called a timeout."

DEFENSIVE DOLDRUMS: The defensive performance against Maryland was so bad on Sunday that only one player -- freshman John Henson -- qualified to be named UNC's defensive player of the game. The criteria? A 2-to-1 ratio of good plays to bad, Williams said. -- Robbi Pickeral

Lowe regrets hasty exit

Forty-eight hours later, N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe still felt bad about how he reacted after the Wolfpack's 73-71 loss at Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Lowe walked off the court after Julius Mays' 3-point attempt bounced off the rim at the buzzer without stopping to shake hands with Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt.

"I've never reacted that way before," Lowe said. "Ever."

Lowe stopped to talk with Hewitt, and apologized, before meeting the media on Saturday. He said he was frustrated because of the way his team came back and how the game ended.
State trailed by 14 points with 5:01 left but rallied back to the point that Mays' shot, which was hurried by Georgia Tech's Iman Shumpert, would have won the game.

"The kids worked their tail off to get back in the game and to give us a chance," Lowe said. "I felt we should have maybe been on the line shooting to tie or win the ball game.

"I just got caught up [in the moment]."

Les Jones, Gary Maxwell and Sean Hull were the game officials. -- J.P. Giglio

Krzyzewski questions ACC scheduling

DURHAM - Add Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to the voices questioning the ACC basketball schedule this season.

The imbalance in teams' schedules puzzles Krzyzewski. Duke played Clemson twice in its first six ACC games and will play Maryland twice in 18 days later on.

Georgia Tech and Florida State had met twice by Jan. 24.

"There are a number of teams in our league that we haven't played yet, but this is our 10th game," Krzyzewski said. "There should be more balance, because teams change positively from January to February. So everybody in the league - and I'm not saying it benefits us or doesn't benefit us - but overall you have more equity involved if you play a team in January and you play a team in February."

N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe also has said he would prefer to play at least eight ACC games before facing any opponent for a second time.

ACC associate commissioner Karl Hicks, who creates the schedule, told the Raleigh News & Observer last week that he prioritizes the scheduling concerns coaches have communicated to him in the past while trying to get all of the league's TV partners premier games.

That means minimizing instances when teams play twice in three days; trying to balance 9 p.m. tipoffs among the teams in the league; and balancing Sunday night games among all teams. Hicks has a rule where he won't schedule two ACC teams to play each other twice in a two-week period.

Beyond that, there's nothing preventing teams from playing twice in a three-week period. Krzyzewski doesn't like the current format.

"How we've done it this year, I just think it's not very good, for everybody," he said. "To play in a condensed manner is not an equitable way of doing the league."

Ken Tysiac

Duke players still respect Heels

DURHAM - As Duke prepares to visit North Carolina on Wednesday, the Blue Devils' players obviously are aware of the Tar Heels' struggles.

Duke (19-4, 7-2 ACC) moved up to No. 8 in The Associated Press' rankings on Monday, and North Carolina is 13-10 overall, 2-6 in the ACC.

"My reaction is, 'What's going on?' " said Duke junior guard Nolan Smith. "Because when I look at them, I know some of their players. I know they are a very talented team. They have guys that are probably going to be lottery picks. It's very surprising to me. But they're a very talented team."

The Blue Devils don't sound like they're taking North Carolina lightly despite its struggles. Forward Kyle Singler said youth might have contributed to the Tar Heels' losing record in the ACC.

"They're just young," Singler said. "Obviously that's what people talk about, that they're young. And they are. They have a lot of talent. You just really can't look at them losing games because they can beat anyone. They've definitely won some good games. So you can't necessarily say they're struggling."

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski also said the Tar Heels are talented, and he expects their best shot Wednesday.

"They're very talented and deep," he said. "They can keep coming at you. (Ed) Davis is one of the most talented players in the country. And (Deon) Thompson is just a seasoned veteran, and so is (Marcus) Ginyard. And (William) Graves is old. So they have a really good blend of veterans and a lot of talented young players. I just think they're a very talented basketball team, and obviously they represent a program that is proud and they have one of the best coaches of all time."

If the Tar Heels were looking for bulletin board material, they didn't get it from Duke's media session Monday. Then again, it doesn't take harsh words to inspire passion in this rivalry.

Ken Tysiac

Hewitt: Singler's toughness something to strive for

Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt wasn't happy with his team's toughness in the Yellow Jackets' 73-71 victory Saturday against N.C. State. Tech led by 16 points in the second half, then wilted down the stretch under the Wolfpack's full-court pressure. It wasn't until N.C. State's Julius Mays missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that Tech prevailed.

Hewitt knows of an ACC player whose toughness his team should for: Duke's Kyle Singler. Playing with a sore wrist, Singler scored 30 points against Georgia Tech last week in an 86-67 Blue Devils victory.

"That takes a lot of toughness that, quite honestly, we haven't seen around here in a little while," said Hewitt, who coached Singler as a high school player for USA Basketball. "We see a lot of calls for 'I need touches' and 'I need more minutes.' That kid played with a bad wrist. I coached him...so I know that if he shaking his wrist, he is hurt. No complaints, no excuses, he dropped 30. That took a level of toughness."

Saturday's victory notwithstanding, Hewitt said Georgia Tech's last two games have not been anything he's been proud of.

"After (the Duke game), I told (the team) that was the most embarrassed I've been since I've been here, in the second half against Duke," he said. "Well, I topped that (against N.C. State)." -- David Scott

Tar Heels bus dug out, team makes practice

With 17 inches of snow surrounding the team bus at noon, North Carolina feared it wouldn't be able to make it to the Comcast Center to practice today in anticipation of Sunday's 2 p.m. showdown with Maryland.

But just after 4 p.m., the bus was plowed out of the hotel parking lot.

"We got here in about 23 minutes,'' team spokesman Steve Kirschner said. "And we went real, real slow."

Starting small forward Will Graves, who sprained his right ankle Thursday, is practicing, Kirschner said. But his status for the game is questionable. -- Robbi Pickeral

More numbers coming to Smith Center rafters

It’s going to be busy during North Carolina’s final home games of the season – even when the current players aren’t competing on the court.

Former Tar Heel guards Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, starters on last year’s national championship team, will have their jerseys honored prior to the Feb. 13 game against N.C. State, a team spokesman said.

As previously reported, former Tar Heel guard Donald Williams, Most Outstanding Player of the 1993 Final Four, will also have his jersey honored, and raised to the rafters, during halftime of the March 2 game against Miami.

Four-time All-America Tyler Hansbrough will have his No. 50 retired during halftime of Wednesday’s game against Duke; he is only the eighth Tar Heel to have his jersey retired.

-- Robbi Pickeral

President Obama attends Duke-Georgetown

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Duke's basketball team often commands extra attention on the road, but the extra security at Saturday's game with Georgetown had nothing to do with the Blue Devils or coach Mike Krzyzewski.

President Barack Obama is attending the game, seated at courtside across from the Georgetown bench. It's uncertain, though, whether he will meet with the team after the game.

Duke spokesman Matt Plizga said there had been discussion of a possible meeting with the president, but he wasn't sure it was going to happen. Of course, after President Obama's latest conversation with a college basketball team, the Blue Devils might be better off without his advice.

Earlier this week, the president called Kentucky to congratulate the Wildcats on ascending to the No. 1 ranking in the polls. He warned them about getting complacent, to no avail.

Kentucky lost Tuesday at South Carolina.

Plizga said he expects that the president's personal assistant, Reggie Love, will stop by to meet with Duke's players and coaches after the game. Love is a former Duke basketball and football player from Charlotte.

Ken Tysiac