Tar Heels’ edge is their experience
Head coaches for Oregon, South Carolina and Gonzaga concede Roy Williams and his North Carolina players have an advantage when it comes to knowing how to deal with the spotlight during Final Four week.
They also don’t think it will matter once the games begin.
“You can play in the national championship game nine years in a row,” South Carolina coach Frank Martin said Monday. “If you go the 10th time, you’re nervous before that ball goes up in the air. There’s no such thing as not being nervous for a big game.”
South Carolina (26-10) and Gonzaga (36-1) will be making their Final Four debuts when they meet in a national semifinal Saturday in Glendale, Ariz. Oregon is just about as much a first-timer as those two. The Ducks haven’t made it this far since winning the 1939 title.
Williams will be coaching in the Final Four for the ninth time, including five appearances with Carolina. The Tar Heels (31-7) play Oregon (33-5) in the second semifinal.
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said “everything is going to get ratcheted up 300 percent now, with the media, the demands, the time.
“The general distraction meter is going to go out the roof. All four of these teams have shown they’re ferocious competitors.” Wooden finalists: Lonzo Ball of UCLA, Josh Hart of Villanova, Frank Mason III of Kansas, Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan and Gonzaga’s Nigel Williams-Goss are the finalists for the John R. Wooden Award as player of the year.
The five have been invited to Los Angeles for the trophy presentation at the College Basketball Awards on April 7. Briefly: Backup guard Stefan Gonzalez announced on Twitter that he is leaving St. Mary’s. The 6-foot-2 sophomore from Pocatello, Idaho, averaged 2.8 points per game this season. Gonzalez did not state to which school he will transfer . ... Akron officials announced that head coach Keith Dambrot, who led the Zips to 27-9 record in 2016-17, has left the school after 13 seasons. According to multiple reports, he has become Duquesne’s head coach . ... Former West Virginia assistant Jerrod Calhoun, who led Fairmont State to the Division II final, was hired as Youngstown State’s head coach . ... George Washington announced that it has removed the interim label from head coach Maurice Joseph, who signed a five-year contract . ... Demario Beck, Jaylen Shaw and Marcel Enanga scored 15 points apiece as host Coast Carolina (20-17) won 91-81 over Wyoming (21-15) in the opening game of the best-of-three College Basketball Invitational championship series. Game 2 is Wednesday at Wyoming.