I’m not sure what the biggest story of the night was at Late Night with Roy, the 2012-2013 UNC basketball team’s coming out party. Was it P.J. Hairston scoring 12 points? Was it Dexter Strickland sitting out, not totally healed from last year’s injury? Was it the smooth, confident play of freshman point guard Marcus Paige? Was it the surprising maturity of freshman big man Joel James?
Probably a tie. But the thing that struck me most was the emotion Roy Williams showed. As soon as he came out and gave a big bear hug to MC Stuart Scott of ESPN, a 1987 grad, it showed. He whispered to Scott that he was so glad to be there.
Repeatedly throughout the night, especially when he got an extended ovation from Carolina fans after he was officially introduced, Williams took deep breaths. Even after a live ESPN interview, he exhaled seemingly to indicate that he got through it without crying.
It’s probably fair to say that Williams thought he might die from kidney cancer when he got word from his doctor that both of his kidneys had tumors. Surgery on one and a biopsy on the other proved that the tumors were benign.
“It rocked me worse than anything ever has,” Williams said about learning he had the tumors. He admitted to thinking bad thoughts and having to fight to change them to good thoughts.
But he got a lot of support from family, players, former players, Carolina fans and the coaching community. He tears up when he talks about that.
He says the scare has changed him. I imagine he is thinking more about his mortality. I have a feeling Williams, who is starting his 10th season as Carolina head coach, is going to enjoy or at least appreciate life a little bit more from this season on.
I know that when the players pulled him out on the court to dance during a team dance routine, he got into it and actually danced better than he ever has at one of these Late Night with Roy events.
As far as the event itself, the night started with the marching band impressively filling up the court and blaring out fight songs.
Next, probably in an attempt to remind people of the pre-NCAA investigations reputation of Carolina, every UNC sports team came out in Olympic style with the fanfare playing in the background.
With Scott giving the impressive accolades of each squad, the teams formed the letters UNC on the court. Former UNC soccer player Heather O’Reilly brought out the lit torch.
Then Dexter Strickland led the Tar Heel basketball team out.
The over-the-top production took a more somber turn when there was a moment of silence for former University President William Friday, who passed away earlier in the day at the age of 92.
The Clef Hangers a capella group sang the national anthem as well as some other songs including James Taylor’s Carolina in My Mind.
The program dragged a bit during the slow introductions of the women’s basketball team. Danielle Butts did make a bit of a butt of herself with her show-off mentality. To the crowd’s credit her lengthy, extreme dance antics seemed to fall flat.
Of course the 17,000 plus fans weren’t there to watch the women’s team. The night got a boost however when long-time women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell was introduced and she pulled embattled and retiring Chancellor Holden Thorp out of the stands to join her on the court. Two of the women even briefly picked up Thorp on their shoulders.
After some creative layup drills that included hoola hoops and tied ankles, the night finally turned to the men’s team.
A video review of last year’s team, which obviously was meant to inspire the fans, was probably more painful to watch than anything because Carolina fans were reminded of a team that underachieved due primarily to injuries to Kendall Marshall and John Henson.
The 2012-2013 players were introduced to dimmed lights. The freshmen were introduced first and, with the exception of Joel Jones, came across as a bit ostentatious and too big for their britches, especially being introduced to Carolina fans for the first time.
During the coaches’ introductions, the Carolina crowd gave a loud ovation to new coach and former player Hubert Davis. The biggest ovation of course was for Williams, who, again, breathed deeply and found back the emotion of the moment.
The silliness of the evening came back however as the players did dance routines which included the freshmen doing ballet complete with leotards and tutus.
After that, it was finally time for a 20-minute, clock running scrimmage. Unfortunately, the increasingly annoying Jump Around song is still cued up for the beginning of games.
As for the game itself, James Michael McAdoo started things off quickly with a dunk for the White team but the Blue team came back with its star P.J. Hairston who drained a couple of threes from the right corner to put the Blue team up for good at 9-7.
McAdoo went cold (missing everything twice) and Hairston stayed hot (passing, driving and even drawing a charge).
Marcus Paige, playing for the Blue team, popped in a three from the top of the key, drove in for a layup and floated in a runner in the lane.
Leslie McDonald and Reggie Bullock, coming off injuries, managed to each hit a three pointer but both looked rusty.
The Blue team easily won 37-27. The Tar Heels begin the season at home Nov. 9 against Gardner Webb.
Why be so critical of what the womens basketball player/s did when they were introduced. they are already the under dogs when it comes to late night with Roy. I was there and really enjoyed Danielles dance. Its probably that you cant dance and didnt know that thats what students do. Late night with Roy was already boring so why not spice it up . Bad judgement call on you part and your article sucks
Thanks for reading Julia. Why be so critical of what women’s basketball players did when they were introduced? Because Carolina has long been known as being classy and that wasn’t classy. From the lack of a reaction from the crowd, I think many also didn’t approve but because of politically correctness, probably won’t say anything. One thing you’ll learn about my writing is that I’m not politically correct. For instance, as to the women’s team being the underdog, they weren’t underdogs, they just weren’t the reason people went to Late Night with Roy. After all, it’s not Late Night with Sylvia. Even ESPN3 recognized that and showed nothing of the women’s team except the introduction. I understand that Late Night with Roy has evolved into mostly silliness and it is used to market other teams but the real reason for it, at least originally, was to see the year’s version of the men’s basketball team, get to know them a bit and especially to check out the first-year players for the first time. As for Late Night being boring, we probably agree about that but we would disagree about what did or would spice it up. Maybe the students enjoyed all the silliness of their classmates but I believe most of the people were biding their time until the scrimmage. As for dancing, I’m not going to brag but I have always been known as a dancer – but not that kind of dancing. Thanks again Julia. I hope you will find something you like about the site.