"If [swingmen Danny Green, a senior, and Wayne Ellington, a junior] had been convinced that they were going to be first-round picks, they would've been gone.
"They were not convinced of that. Ty was not convinced. We didn't have [an NBA team] come forward and say that they were going to be their pick. That gave them a wonderful option to come back to school."
What Williams conceded was once each player made the personal decision to stay in Chapel Hill for another season, Lawson, Green and Ellington - along with senior forward Tyler Hansbrough, who already had decided he would be a 4-year player - made the collective decision.
What it amounted to was this: We got to the Final Four last year and didn't play very well. Let's see if we can do better this year.
It's such a cliché to say this team or that team is on a mission to win an NCAA championship. The fact of the matter is that virtually every team starts the season on a mission to win the title. It's just that some are better equipped and better prepared to accomplish that task.
With Lawson, the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, seemingly back healthy from a toe injury that kept him out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Carolina is as equipped and prepared as any team in the Final Four.
Led by Hansbrough, the all-time leading scorer in Atlantic Coast Conference history, the Tar Heels have five players (also Lawson, Ellington, Green and Deon Thompson) who averaged double-digit points.
It is fair to say that Hansbrough, the 2007-08 National Player of the Year, is a 4-year college player in part because he has not projected out as an impact player at the NBA level.
But the NCAA Tournament is played by collegiate players, and Hansbrough is one of the best college players ever.
