The North Carolina men's basketball team has a simple choice to make if the Tar Heels want to become national champions this year.

They can either embrace defense, or they can accept the fact that come March they will sit in front of their lockers and shed tears over the opportunity of a lifetime they let slip away because they insisted on trying to do what no team ever does: win it all by outscoring people.

The Tar Heels get angry when different people in the media around the country question their dedication to boxing out or to defense, which means stopping penetration and kickouts for open three-pointers.

Despite the protest, their effort on the defensive end of the floor has been slipping since exams began.

Coach Roy Williams attributes it to of a lack of practice.

Answer this: How does a team filled with seniors and juniors forget how to play defense because it missed some practice?

Basketball is a game of habits. That is what all the great coaches, Williams included, have always said. Well, this team (outside of a few individuals) has had a habit in the past three seasons of trying to rely too heavily on its running game on offense and not on defense.

Running and gunning is fun. Defense can seem like drudge work. It's about moving one's feet, blocking out and plain, old hard work.

After Boston College pushed the Tar Heels around in Sunday's 85-78 upset, it has become obvious this team is at a crossroads. These kids, all 13 of them, can decide once and for all to embrace what Williams is teaching on the defensive end of the floor, or they can just cruise through the season winning most games by scoring -- until that inevitable evening comes when some team in the NCAA Tournament punishes Carolina's matador defense and pierces this team's dreams for good.

"We were just standing and they were going after it," Williams said of Boston College. "To give up 13 offensive rebounds in the first half ... that means you have to play defense longer. And, if you are giving up 13 offensive rebounds against a team that is trying to run clock against you, that means you're playing defense even longer. Over the course of the game, that is going to wear on you.

"They set the tempo in the first half," Williams said. "...Then in the second half we could never get over the hump."

In 2005, Williams broke a similar habit of that team by removing the rims from the backboards in practice early in the season, and then again right before the Tar Heels went to the Final Four and won the national title. The message was clear: defense first, defense second, defense always.

Tonight at 9 at the Smith Center, UNC (13-1) will face another in a string of inferior opponents in the College of Charleston (10-2). Considering how the Tar Heels performed against Boston College, expect the usual double-digit victory against Charleston.

"We're going to be fighting," junior guard Wayne Ellington said. "We're going to bounce back. It hurts. We're going to get it to go away. And in order to get it to go away, we have to come out and give it our all."

No doubt the Tar Heels will do just that, but the question is will they ever make defense a habit, an ingrained part of the way this team plays basketball? Or will it continue to be secondary? That's a luxury they can afford against the majority of the teams they will play, up until that March or April night when they once again pay the bitter price of complacency on defense.

This team has the finest combination of experience and talent of any college team in America. No one seriously questions this.

What all legitimately can question is whether or not these kids have the discipline and desire to win with defense.

They have the ability. Just ask Notre Dame. Ask Michigan State. They will attest to the ability.

But Boston College's Eagles might just tell you differently. They may question if the Tar Heels have a deep dedication for defense.

Eddy Landreth can be reached at chnsports@nando.com or by calling (919) 932-8743.