Tar Heels do enough to advance vs. Vermont

GREENSBORO, N.C. --- Vermont wasn't going to beat North Carolina in their second-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament on Friday. And it appeared as if the Tar Heels knew it from the opening tip.

They won't admit as much. The players know too well than to say that, and they've been schooled on etiquette in dealing with the media.

But by gauging Carolina's approach and performance versus the 16-seed Catamounts, it was obvious the team's disposition was to do enough and move on, as it did 77-58. And quite frankly, that's okay.

A methodical performance wasn't going to derail UNC's trajectory. The Tar Heels have played quite well for most of the last six weeks, even in last Sunday's ACC Tournament title game loss to Florida State. Given they were without John Henson – and were versus Vermont, also – coach Roy Williams was pleased with their fight and grit in that game.

But highly seeded teams sometimes take a while to get their NCAA legs churning, especially when their initial opponent isn't exactly a team with whom most fans are familiar. North Carolina is the top seed in the Midwest Region and is coming off an emotional stretch of basketball. Vermont is, well, Vermont.

"A little bit," UNC senior center Tyler Zeller admitted when asked if it was hard to get fully focused for the Catamounts. "It's definitely the first round and a team ― you don't know a lot about them. You can't kind of anticipate a lot of what they want to do like you can Kentucky or someone like that where you know their players and personnel. It does take a little bit of time to get used to them, but you have to adjust."

The Catamounts have a nice program and have tasted success before. They beat Syracuse in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. But that was as a 13 seed and the Orange was at No. 4. That Vermont team actually got some national attention, in part because of its affable coach at the time, Tom Brennan.

But they're an America East Conference team, and Carolina is, well, Carolina. And the Tar Heels hail from the mighty ACC.

Vermont made this a bit interesting for a while, trailing 19-17 with five minutes left before halftime. They forced more turnovers (seven) than UNC had assists (four) in the first half, got some really nice looks in the lane, and played as if none could read the worst emblazoned on the baby blues' chests.

That's what makes these opening round games involving Davids and Goliaths so fascinating.

UNC's players were probably disappointed all 24,000 seats weren't filled during the game, while Vermont could have added quite a few home games with capacity crowds before equaling the 20,000 that were in attendance. Such is life on the opposite ends of the college hoops spectrum.

For one afternoon, however, they were somewhat equals. Or so says the competitive spirit of the process. Vermont had to feel really good about itself, keeping things interesting into the second half. But in Carolina's mind, this game was about them and them only.

The Tar Heels went through stretches looking more like they were in a forced midnight practice after a large meal than playing a spirited basketball game. Williams was infuriated a few times, well more than a few times. But he's been here before.

He's never lost an opening game in the NCAA Tournament, and more important is there's no way to use a top seed's opening performance as a barometer of what they might do in the rest of the tournament.

The 1982 Tar Heels beat James Madison by two points, but won the national title. The 1993 team struggled with Fairfield before winning the whole thing. The 2005 and 2009 teams blew out their first NCAA foes and later cut down the nets.

So don't put too much into this performance. It is what it was, and that's an opening victory that will have absolutely nothing to do with what happens Sunday versus Creighton.