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PrintLooking at Roy Williams’ postseason resume during his time at North Carolina, it’s pretty clear where his priorities lie.
Following his team’s blowout of Duke to close the regular season and capture the ACC title, Williams told reporters that the 16-game ACC schedule should carry more weight than the conference tournament. He also said, “All tournaments are overwhelmed by that ‘other’ tournament that goes on later.”
This, of course, comes many years after Williams’ infamous comment during his first season in Chapel Hill, when he called the ACC Tournament “a great cocktail party.”
So it’s fairly obvious that Williams doesn’t place nearly as much emphasis on the ACC Tournament as the NCAA Tournament, and for good reason. His respective records in those tournaments indicate just that.
ACC Tournament: 2-13-2 ATS
NCAA Tournament: 15-7-1 ATS
Breaking his ACC Tournament numbers down even further, Williams is 1-6-1 ATS in the quarterfinals, 1-4-1 ATS in the semifinals, and 0-3 ATS in championship games.
The Tar Heels open the 2012 ACC Tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against eighth-seeded Maryland, and the current spread of North Carolina -15 seems to make a lot of sense.
The Heels were favored by 18.5 at home over the Terrapins on Feb. 29 (an 88-64 victory) and by 12 on the road on Feb. 4 (an 83-74 win), so split the difference for a neutral court and what are you left with? A 15-point spread.
North Carolina enters this postseason blazing hot, posting a 7-0 straight up and 6-1 ATS record over the final three weeks of the regular season, but knowing how little Williams seems to care about the ACC Tournament, is 15 points too high?
