A little less than three minutes remained in the first half between North Carolina and Florida State on Saturday when, during a timeout, Roy Williams turned to Theo Pinson and said something that Pinson couldn’t recall Williams ever saying before.
“Theo,” Pinson said later, doing his best impression of Williams, the UNC coach, “you’re the five.”
Translated from basketball parlance, Williams was telling Pinson – all 6-feet, 6-inches and 211 pounds of him – that he was now playing center, the position usually reserved for the biggest and the tallest, of which Pinson is neither.
Pinson smiled at the memory later, in the moments after the Tar Heels’ 96-83 victory.