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North Carolina buries scandal and Syracuse with NCAA championship-level defense

HOUSTON — Roy Williams sat on a roll of carpet on the wooden floor in the Dean E. Smith Center a few minutes before he was about to begin another October practice with one of the greatest teams he’ll ever coach. He invited a visitor to take an uncomfortable seat beside him. Ol’ Roy seemed awful ol’ that day, appeared fatigued way back then, and there still were another 165 days left in the college basketball season.

Now there are two. Two days. Two teams.

And North Carolina not only is one of those teams, it might be the one.