Eight days removed from North Carolina’s 77-74 loss to Villanova in the national championship game, Williams met with reporters on Tuesday, hoping to bring closure to the way his team’s season ended.
But the Hall of Fame coach still hasn’t rid himself of the heartbreak.
“You can ask me the day before I die, because I’m sure I won’t be recovered then, either,” he said. “That’s very dramatic, but I don’t think you ever get over it. I really don’t.
“Last week, I was recruiting and one day I was in Pennsylvania. People were saying that was the greatest championship game ever. I said, ‘No, I thought 2005 and 2009 were a lot better.’”
The Tar Heels won the national championship in both of those seasons. But while the devastating loss haunts them, Williams and his team will have to do the same as their predecessors and move on.
Two days after the game, Williams organized a team meeting, with the intent of acquitting junior Isaiah Hicks for his part in the game’s final play — a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Kris Jenkins.
After the game, Hicks blamed himself, saying he didn’t defend Jenkins’ shot as well as he could have. But Williams disagreed.
“That shot was against North Carolina’s team ...” he said. “But I read these comments about, ‘I should have gotten up here, he was my guy.’ But Isaiah, it was not his man. But he was willing to take that responsibility.”
