Williams won his 600th game at the Dean Dome, but quite a few folks chose to drink their wine and eat their cheese at home. (AP photo)
Deon Thompson presented his head coach with a framed No. 600 jersey Sunday night after the Tar Heels skated by Nevada to give the 22nd-year coach an overall record of 600-139.
But although the place sold every ticket, it wasn’t packed to the gills.
Hardly, in fact. The Heels’ fans have always gotten a bit of a bad wrap for their devotion when it comes to playing smaller teams. They lived up to that reputation by filling the Dean Dome to about 75 percent capacity for the Nevada game.
“Six hundred wins, I’ve been very lucky,” Williams said. “I’ve been at two great institutions, I’ve been at places that really are passionate about basketball. I wish some of our fans who weren’t here tonight would get a little more passionate and get their rear ends here. That was discouraging at the start of the game. But I love those, the ones that were here. The other ones, I think I should take a camera shot, and anyone who wasn’t here tonight — stop them at the door if they try to come in for Michigan State [on Tuesday]. Tell them I sold their dad-gum ticket.”
Fightin’ words! Don’t blame the economy because, again, the tickets to the game were already sold out. Williams has always worn emotion on his sleeve. Glad he didn’t hold back here. It clearly meant a lot to him to get to No. 600 — who cares if it came in this kind of a game? — and I rarely go against a coach when they speaks out against his fanbase. It’s because they’re usually right.
Observations {Raleigh News & Observer}
