Falling North Carolina trying to regain control

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Ed Davis walks to class wearing headphones like a shield against the negative vibe hanging over the North Carolina campus.

Teammate Deon Thompson goes one better, rarely venturing out into public any more than he has to these days.

“I just try to stay out of sight,” the senior said. “It’s just tough to be around people when you’re losing.”

That’s never supposed to be a problem at a storied program that boasts five NCAA championships, 18 Final Fours and nearly 2,000 total victories.

Yet when the defending champion Tar Heels host rival Duke tonight, they’ll be in a position few could have imagined: unranked, near the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference and hurtling toward the NIT.

North Carolina (13-10, 2-6 ACC) has lost seven of nine games since the start of 2010 after earning a No. 6 preseason ranking and entering the year as ACC co-favorites with the eighth-ranked Blue Devils (19-4, 7-2).

In the past month, the Tar Heels have twice set the record for their worst loss under Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams, lost their past two home games by double figures to unranked opponents and trailed by at least 19 points in five games.

Things have gotten so bad that Thompson joked that he’s ordering delivery food under an assumed name.

“Like coach said,” he said, “how much worse can it get, you know?”

Yes, it’s a different team from the one that rolled through last year’s NCAA tournament, with Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green now in the NBA. Still, with Thompson, Davis and Marcus Ginyard returning to guide one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, the Tar Heels figured to at least give chase in the ACC.

Things looked OK after early wins against Ohio State and Michigan State, but no longer. Now Williams is reduced to coaching effort and concentration as much as Xs and Os for a young team with shaken confidence.

“At times, I feel we are getting better and at other times, I see us regress,” said Williams, who hasn’t hid his frustration in his postgame comments in recent weeks. “The consistency of that has been difficult to handle.

“The bottom line is the results and you’ve got to keep trying. And you know the reason you’ve got to keep trying? Because it’s the right thing to do.”