This time a year ago, as Luke Maye and Kenny Williams prepared for their third NCAA Tournament in as many seasons at North Carolina, they did so unaccustomed to their season ending anywhere other than the Final Four.
As freshmen, they were reserves on a Tar Heel team that finished as the national runner-up. They then helped capture the program's sixth NCAA championship as sophomores.
But last season ended abruptly with a second-round loss against Texas A&M. And with that defeat came a wakeup call for the then-juniors, who subsequently watched the rest of the tournament from Chapel Hill.