“Getting people to understand that if you thought it was easy, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Williams said. “It’s college basketball.

“I’m extremely proud of my team for being here and for handling all the things they did. It’s been a very difficult year for me as a coach. There’s no question about that.”

Somewhat lost in the shuffle, especially outside of Chapel Hill, was the fact that Carolina players missed a combined 89 games due to injuries and suspensions. That included Hansbrough, Lawson, Marcus Ginyard, Tyler Zeller and Will Graves.

It started with Hansbrough, who missed the first four games the season with a stress reaction in his right shin.

“How would you like to be coaching a guy who came back to school when he could have gone [pro], and he has a stress reaction condition,” Williams said. “One day, if I make a mistake, he could break his leg. And every agent in America would start smiling and say, ‘See, you shouldn’t go back.’”

Lawson, who received the Bob Cousy Award Monday morning as the nation's top point guard, missed both ACC tournament games and the first-round NCAA game against Radford due to a jammed right big toe. It would become the most scrutinized toe in recent NCAA tournament history.

“Should I practice him four minutes or three?” Williams said. “Should I hold him out of the Radford game . . . out of the ACC tournament?”

Ginyard, a returning starter at small forward, missed all but three games with a stress fracture. His loss created defensive problems early in the season, but by the tournament the Tar Heels had learned how to lock down opponents without him. And Zeller missed 23 games with a broken wrist.

Take away all the injuries and it raises the question: Could the Tar Heels have gone undefeated? Could they have made history as the first perfect team since Indiana in 1976?

The talent was there. Forget the coach of the decade or the team of the decade. Forget Florida’s back-to-back titles. Take away those four losses and we’re talking a special display at the Hall of Fame devoted to this team, not to mention a truly unique spot in college basketball history.

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“I think the expectations affected the players because I can’t control the families and the friends and the people around them,” Williams said. “So when we stumbled at home with Boston College and then we lose at Wake Forest, I challenged the kids.

“In the locker room at Wake Forest, we’re 0-2 [in the ACC]. I ask Coach [Steve] Robinson, who was with me [at Kansas] in 1991, do you remember 1991, what we started out the season? He said, ‘Yes, we started out 0-2.’ I said, ‘Coach, do you remember where we finished that season?’ He said, ‘Yes, we played Duke University for the national championship.’ I told them to keep it to themselves. And, again, if they would do what we asked them to do, we’d have a chance and we’d be there at the end.”

The Tar Heels had more than a chance. They had the best team. When Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington and Danny Green turned down the pros and decided to come back, everyone knew they were the best.

The Tar Heels had to navigate around a few bumps in the road on the way to proving their point. Monday night it was all smooth sailing. And very much worth it.

“On coming back, I mean, it sounds like I made a pretty good decision,” Hansbrough said after cutting down the nets. “Nothing beats this feeling right here.”

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