LOS ANGELES — On paper, if everyone returns, North Carolina could be a Final Four favorite next year, a team capable of cutting down the nets.
The elephant in the room — the academic fraud scandal — may have something to say about that. And, without prompting, the Tar Heels and coach Roy Williams brought up what a trying season this was on a few occasions following their year-ending, 79-72 loss to No. 1 Wisconsin in an NCAA Tournament West Region semifinal Thursday night. That seemed like a veiled reference to the ongoing NCAA investigation that could derail this team’s high hopes.
A wide-ranging scandal in the school’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies including grade changes, forged faculty signatures on grade rolls and limited or no class time has hung over the school like a dark cloud after college sports’ governing body reopened its investigation last summer, when additional people agreed to cooperate. In January, former North Carolina athletes Devon Ramsay and Rashanda McCants — admittedly part of the scandal — filed a lawsuit against North Carolina and the NCAA, alleging they never received an education they were promised.
“Things that went on, those kids, they cared about me,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.
“It was a tough year for us as a program and for Coach, especially with everything that happened,” junior guard Marcus Paige said.
Legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith also passed away at the age of 83 on Feb. 8, and Williams lost one of his best friends, Ted Seagroves, in December.
When Williams was asked if the tournament loss motivates him for next season, he began talking about golf, not recruiting or basketball. Then his thoughts returned to his players, and what they meant to him this season.
“If we can take care of those little lapses, then we’ve got a chance to be one of those teams that has a chance to talk about winning the whole thing,” Williams said. “And man, oh, man, are they the kind of kids I like to be around. It has been a lot of stuff going on this year, but they helped me. I wish I had helped them more myself.”
All 10 players have eligibility remaining for the Tar Heels (26-12), led by juniors Paige and forward Brice Johnson. The sophomore class is loaded, with forwards Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks showing promise.
The question, of course, remains: What will happen when the NCAA finally brings down the hammer?