The most interesting thing to contemplate at this point about North Carolina basketball is not what will happen at the ACC Tournament, but what is going to occur between this team's final game and the start of next season.

How quickly Roy Williams can breathe life back into this program is impossible to say. The best guess is that it will be somewhat quickly.

The nature of basketball is such that a few players can make a difference.

Incoming recruits Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes and Reggie Bullock will bring great physical gifts, but so did the current sophomores and freshmen. And that has not been enough to avert a miserable season.

Injuries have certainly taken an enormous toll.

Had Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller been healthy for the whole season, there almost certainly would have been a better winning percentage.

If it would have been enough to change the whole ugly flavor of the year is impossible to say.

All too often the ball has been thrown away before it reached a man in the post.

This team has more physical talent than it's shown, I'm convinced. What it has lacked all too often is nerve and heart. When Leslie McDonald dove on the floor in Winston-Salem against Wake Forest, it was a startling sight because this team has spent so much of the season bending at the waist for loose balls.

Williams said opponents used to compliment him on how hard his teams played no matter whether they won or lost.

That hasn't happened this year.

This team seems awed by the tradition of being Carolina, weighted down to the point of not knowing how to handle the responsibility or the action required on the court to meet UNC's traditional standards.

How can one explain the enduring panic, such as that shown Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium or in any of the Tar Heels' other games?

Yes, Williams is responsible. He's the coach, the guy getting paid around $2 million a year to win games.

But a guy who has one of the best winning percentages ever and two national titles did not suddenly stop knowing how to coach.

There will be those quick to say Williams wins on the day he gets the commitment from great players, but that is woefully underselling what he has done through the years as a coach.

No, when this guy has told team after team, "Do what I say and we will win," he's been right 80 percent more often than when he hasn't.

Something went horribly wrong with this team.

Maybe it is the law of averages, considering Williams and the teams beat those odds in 2006 when it lost its top seven scorers and had to play with one senior teamed with mostly freshmen.

The difference was that team had Bobby Frasor at the point, Tyler Hansbrough in the post and a defender named Marcus Ginyard. Those are three of the most competitive freshmen any coach could ever hope to have.

Those kids got blown out at Southern California in December 2005, but they overcame being in awe of wearing the uniform and the competition, and by the time they arrived at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the final regular-season game, they staged one of the most amazing upsets in UNC history.

This team lacked the competitive spirit of the 2006 team, which is why it would roll over like a dog at the first sign of trouble all too often.

It also lacked the bruising, powerful scorer in the post and guards who could get the ball to the right guy.

The 2006 team was the best defensive team in the ACC by the end of its regular season, and it could run the floor on offense.

This year's team is sketchy at both.

How Williams handles all of this, who is on the team come fall and how quickly Carolina can resurrect its dominant form will make for some interesting observation.

Fortunately for Carolina fans, they have every reason to believe the football season is going to be the best since Mack Brown coached at Kenan Stadium.

That should help make the wait bearable.