Exodus
Posted Apr 24, 2005, 12:52 PM ET

Party Poopers!

What do you mean that you're leaving? The party has just started.

Tar Heel basketball fans were still celebrating their fourth national championship when the news began to spread. The month of April has taken the light blue faithful to the ultimate high and back down to a devastating low, in a very short period of time.

Marvin Williams, Sean May and Raymond Felton announced their intentions to join fellow Tar Heel Rashad McCants as potential NBA players for the upcoming Draft in June. When you add these four players to the three departing seniors, it doesn't take long to do the math.

The returning players combined to generate 8 points per game. The Tar Heels last year led the country by scoring 88 points per game. To my knowledge, no team in ACC history has ever lost that kind of production from one year to the next.

The announcement comes at a time when most UNC fans cherished the thought that the program was back on top of the college basketball world.

Roy Williams had turned around the Heels program and labeled them as the team to beat in the ACC.

Granted, Roy Williams has recruited a nice bunch of incoming freshmen...three of whom are McDonald's All-Americans. But you don't lose 95% of your scoring and leadership and expect freshmen to step in and make it a smooth transition.

Some UNC fans called my radio show and stated that Roy gets a sabbatical and that there won't be any pressure on him for 2005-06.

Nonsense. There is no free pass when you coach the Tar Heels. When the man 8 miles down the road leads Duke (and they will be loaded), UNC fans aren't about to give in to the dark blue and Coach K. And that includes Roy Williams. There is still some talent in Chapel Hill, and Roy can coach.

But nobody outside of Orange County is losing any sleep over the mass exodus at UNC...in fact, they're licking their chops at a shot at the defending national champs. I even had a Clemson fan tell me that the Tigers were pumped and waiting for the trip to the Dean Dome so they could finally put an end to the 0-for-life record at UNC.

When the Clemson basketball fans are wanting a piece of you, then you know how far you have fallen...Well, we'll see how far the Heels have fallen in November. Personally, I think they'll be better than the media and fans are portraying. How many teams in the ACC have three McDonald's All-Americans on the bench?

A Charlotte Observer article ranked the ACC for the '05-'06 season and placed UNC 9th, only in front of Va.Tech, Virginia and Florida State. I guarantee you the Heels won't finish ninth, but UNC fans, I'll guarantee you won't be in Duke's class either.

UNC fans will look up to the rafters when the new National Championship banner is lifted in the Dean Dome, but they'll also keep an eye on their backs because everybody in the ACC just closed the gap. Not to mention the guy 8 miles down the road that has a grin on his face, because he can't wait to see you.