bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he wishes his young team could get in a few more practices before their first game of the 2009-10 season.
But ready or not, the Tar Heels will start a new season tonight at 7 p.m. (ESPNU) when they host Florida International 217 days after they won the program's fifth NCAA championship. It's the first of two home games for the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic before UNC travels to New York City for the Championship Rounds.
"Right now we're throwing so many things at them," Williams said. "I think the shortened practice time has been a little bit of a barrier for us because we're trying to teach five guys everything new. Some guys have already been through some of it, but everything is new for five guys."
When the Tar Heels, who are ranked sixth in the AP's preseason poll, take the court tonight, they'll look like a vastly different team then the one that won in the title in April. Gone are starters Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green. Instead UNC returns just two seniors -- Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson -- and have five freshmen on the roster.
Williams has bemoaned the fact his inexperienced team hasn't had as much practice time this year compared to last year and said some practices have been running a bit longer than usual to compensate. Last season UNC had 23-24 practice sessions before the first game, whereas this year it's had 15-16.
Still, it's been hard for Williams speed things up this preseason because there are so many new players.
"We could've done it last year ... but it really is hard to do that with an inexperienced team because they can only learn things at a certain speed and that changes with each individual," Williams said. "A more experienced team could handle this and probably would enjoy a fewer number days of practice. ...We're really throwing a lot of things at them out there. The freshmen, their heads are just spinning."
But UNC's highly touted freshmen class won't be the only ones making their collegiate debuts tonight.
Florida International coach Isiah Thomas, a former collegiate and NBA star, will be making his first appearance on the college sidelines at the Smith Center. Williams said he doesn't know Thomas well, but was on the bench for his final college game. Williams was an assistant coach for UNC in 1981 when Thomas led Indiana to an NCAA championship game victory over the Tar Heels.
"I've followed his career a great deal, throughout his time in the NBA," Williams said. "I talked to him on a couple of occasions this summer but that's about it. I probably know a lot more of his accomplishments than he knows of mine, that's for sure."
Florida International also made headlines a few months ago when it considered pulling out of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic because it thought it was slated to play Ohio State in the opening game, not UNC. In the end the Golden Panthers decided not to break their contract.
Williams said he didn't know anything about the situation and also didn't really care.
"We were going to show up and play," Williams said. "If they had good reasons or bad reasons faor what they did, it made no difference to us. ... I knew we were going to play somebody."
