bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- After practice Sunday night, North Carolina coach Roy Williams gathered his team in the locker room to watch the NIT selection show.
Unlike the past 20 years when Williams' teams knew they were playing in the NCAA Tournament and only watched the selection show to see who and where they were playing, this year's viewing had a different feel -- uncertainty.
And that feeling only grew as the first 24 teams in the 32-team field were announced and UNC's name was not called.
"After the first three brackets came out, I turned to [assistant coach] Steve Robinson and I said, 'I don't think we're going to get in,' " Williams said. "And I originally thought that we would get in."
But the Tar Heels did get in, as a No. 4 seed, and will host No. 5 William & Mary tonight in Carmichael Arena (9:30 p.m., ESPN).
It will be UNC's sixth trip to the NIT -- the Tar Heels won it in 1971 -- and their first since 2003. It will also be the first official men's game at Carmichael since Jan. 4, 1986, when UNC topped N.C. State.
"I'm really pumped about that," UNC fifth-year senior Marcus Ginyard said. "I'm really excited about it just to be able to play somewhere different but still at home and just the history of Carmichael and the games that have taken place there."
The Tar Heels (16-16) will be taking on the first opponent they faced in Carmichael in 1965 -- William & Mary. But the Carolina connections do not end there -- Tribe coach Tony Shaver played for Dean Smith from 1972-75 and assistant coach Jonathan Holmes played at UNC from 1999-2003.
Shaver is in his seventh season at William & Mary (22-10), which lost to Old Dominion in the CAA Tournament title game, and the Tribe is 2-0 against ACC schools this season as it won at Wake Forest and at Maryland.
"They have the ability to go on the road in some tough environments and beat some very good basketball teams," Williams said.
Ginyard said he knows nothing about William & Mary, but he is excited to put his uniform on one more time.
"There is no question this team is grateful for another opportunity and again, [one] that we weren't really expecting so we're excited about it," Ginyard said. "[We are] just trying to finish better than we did during the regular season."
Williams and Ginyard said they were surprised to learn the Tar Heels would be hosting a game.
"I think, as a whole, we were just pretty surprised," Ginyard said. "[I] was not expecting it. Waited until the last side of the bracket to show us and very, very surprised we were able to host a game."
Ginyard also said there was a sense of relief when the Tar Heels (16-16) learned their season was not over just yet. Unlike his coach, Ginyard did not feel good about UNC's chances to make the second-tier tournament before Sunday.
"I didn't think we were going to get in," Ginyard said.
NOTE -- Tickets prices for tonight's game have been dropped from $40 per ticket to $20 because of the late start time. Tickets go on sale to the general public today at 10 a.m.
