FanHouse Ed Davis

NEW YORK (AP) -- Brandon Triche and Arinze Onuaku combined for 13 points in Syracuse's 22-1 run to open the second half and the Orange went on to a 87-71 victory over No. 6 North Carolina on Friday night in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic.

The Orange (4-0) were the only unranked team in the semifinals of the tournament that benefits Coaches vs. Cancer but they left Madison Square Garden with blowout wins over No. 13 California and the Tar Heels (4-1).

North Carolina had a 39-37 halftime lead but that was gone in a hurry as Triche and Onuaku had field goals in the first 40 seconds. By the time the run ended 8 minutes into the second half Syracuse had a 59-40 lead.

Tournament MVP Wesley Johnson (pictured, right) had 25 points for the Orange, who beat California 95-73 in the semifinals. Onuaku finished with 15 points and Triche had 11.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The preseason media poll that predicted North Carolina would share the Atlantic Coast Conference championship with Duke was still hours from being released. The national polls that picked the Tar Heels sixth (by the media) and fourth (by the coaches) were more than a week away.

But Roy Williams didn't feel a need to wait to issue a disclaimer about the early exuberance over his defending national champions.

"The expectations of our young kids, and the way they were evaluated or ranked as a recruiting class, puts a lot of expectations on kids who have never done it,'' Williams said last month at the ACC's media day, on the day his team -- missing the top four players and 74 percent of the points from the group that had waxed Michigan State in the national title game -- split the voting for the conference title.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The talk of the Atlantic Coast Conference's basketball media day Sunday was the trouble a player could get into if he talked too much.

Or said the wrong thing, or gestured the wrong way, or celebrated excessively, or did anything else that might be considered "unsporting behavior,'' according to a new zero-tolerance policy approved for this season by the NCAA.

Many of the players and coaches gathered at Greensboro's Grandover Resort bluntly said they either did not like the change, didn't understand why it was necessary, or both. The biggest issue: there is too much room left for the wrong interpretation.

DETROIT - The last North Carolinian to climb the ladder Monday night and clip a piece of the championship net for a keepsake was the head basketball coach, Roy Williams. He went up twice. The first time, he snipped just a strand. The second time, he severed everything that was left. It was quite apropos.

After all, there isn't anyone in Chapel Hill more deserving of all the success that has come to Tar Heels' basketball in the last few years than their dadgum, corny coach from Asheville, N.C., the '72 graduate who went away for awhile to Kansas before returning to his alma mater six years.

DETROIT – The last North Carolinian to climb the ladder Monday night and clip a piece of the championship net for a keepsake was the head basketball coach, Roy Williams. He went up twice. The first time, he snipped just a strand. The second time, he severed everything that was left. It was quite apropos.

After all, there isn't anyone in Chapel Hill more deserving of all the success that has come to Tar Heels' basketball in the last few years than their dadgum, corny coach from Asheville, N.C., the '72 graduate who went away for awhile to Kansas before returning to his alma mater six years.

Sure, the only thing you'll get better odds on than North Carolina winning Monday night is Roy Williams dropping a frick or two on the sideline, but the Heels can be beaten. How? From tracking Ty to cleaning the glass, here's Michigan State's five-point plan to topple North Carolina.

---

---

Somewhere in Michigan State's middle-class brand of Michigan hope and mixed martial basketball, and North Carolina's mechanized cavalry of an offensive attack, there may be a similarity or two lurking somewhere.

But you've got about as good a chance of finding it as you do spotting an opposing fan in Ford Field's South Pacific of Spartan green.

These two teams couldn't be more different if one of them came out in shoulder pads.

And, with Tom Izzo, who invited Vikings' offensive line coach Pat Morris speak to his team before Saturday night's win, and whose teams always play like it's fourth-and-goal from the one, that could very well be the case.

---

---

Somewhere along the way, someone convinced North Carolina coach Roy Williams that he should always open with a joke.

And so, after leaving Oklahoma flatter than the FedEx floor Sunday, he did.

"I congratulate the NCAA for having cookies back there today, more than yesterday," Williams said to kick off his press conference after his Tar Heels won the South Region final. "And they're good. We're making progress in every area."

Now Williams won't be accused of being a particularly funny man any more than your accountant or Dane Cook, so for the coach with the vocabulary the Beav might find a tad gooey, this is about as good as it gets.

And it was oh so good for the Heels.

MEMPHIS – After Roy Williams answered his last question Sunday night at the press conference following his Tar Heels' easy 72-60 win over Oklahoma to advance to next weekend's Final Four, a North Carolina sports information official barked out some trivia for the departing media: the Tar Heels won for the first time all season with forward Tyler Hansbrough, the defending player of the year, and shooting guard Wayne Ellington failing to score in double figures.