bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
BOSTON -- North Carolina's NCAA Tournament chances might be looking slimmer and slimmer with each loss, but Coach Roy Williams said Friday he does not think the Tar Heels have given up on the season just yet.
"I really don't feel like they've resigned themselves to just playing out the season," Williams said. "It's very difficult for them to do that because they're such good kids, and it's very difficult for them to do that because we can really make practice awfully miserable if we feel that."
And the Tar Heels, who have lost five of the past six games, have a chance to pick up a win today when they face Boston College, which has also lost five of its past six, at Conte Forum (noon, WRAL).
Even though the Heels (14-12, 3-8 ACC) are 1-6 away from Chapel Hill this season -- and are coming off an uninspired 61-58 loss at Georgia Tech -- they will get a boost with the return of sophomore Tyler Zeller. The 7-0, 240-pound forward, who is the team's third-leading scorer, has missed the past 10 games with a stress fracture in his right foot.
Williams said he does not know how effective Zeller will be after missing so much time, but he will at least provide some valuable minutes for a depleted frontcourt, as freshman Travis Wear and sophomore Ed Davis still are out with injuries.
"I'm hoping that we can get him in and get some productive minutes out of him and that with each and every game, he can build on it," Williams said. "But it's hard -- he's been out for 10 games or something like that, so it's been quite a while. But we're going to give him a chance to see how he can do when he does get back in there."
The Eagles (12-13, 3-8 ACC) have four players who average double figures and are led by junior Joe Trapani, who is averaging a team-high 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds. BC has lost four straight, the most recent being a 62-47 defeat at Florida State on Sunday.
Today's game also is significant for each team since both have five conferences games remaining, which means there still is an outside chance they could slip into the NCAA Tournament without winning the ACC Tournament. If the Tar Heels or Eagles win their last five ACC games, it would put them at .500 in the league and in a good position to be picked for the big dance -- which Williams still thinks could be a reality.
"There's no doubt in my mind that I'm still confident that we can go on a run and we can be in the big tournament," Williams said. "It looks a lot more cloudy from what everybody says and being able to look at it realistically, and I can understand that. But that's what I'm focusing on right now."
Ed Davis update
Williams said he talked with Davis and his father Terry, as well as Vincent Porter, the founder and CEO of PTA Sports Management, on Thursday after Davis' name accidentally ended up on the company's Web site.
Williams said there were no NCAA rules violated since no verbal or written commitment was made, and he used the situation as a teaching moment for the team.
"I think it was something that in their mind was very harmless, very small," Williams said. "But if you are Ed Davis, a basketball player at the University of North Carolina, there's nothing small and there's nothing harmless.
"But it was more educational than anything, because I really do believe that it was something that was not nearly as big as it ended up being. But that's educational, too, because it tells you what this world is."
