North Carolina is head and heels above

LAHAINA, Hawaii – With a security guard leading the way, Roy Williams didn’t stop to sign autographs as he left the Lahaina Civic Center on Wednesday.

His North Carolina basketball team had just thumped Notre Dame 102-87 in the championship game of the Maui Invitational, and Williams could hardly wait to celebrate with a seafood dinner at Longhi’s.

“Then tomorrow,” Williams said, “I’m going frickin’ parasailing or something crazy. I’m going to enjoy my life. I’m going to have a good time.”

Williams smiled.

“I’m trying to get our fans to do that instead of thinking about what might happen in Detroit in the middle of April,” he said.

Sorry, coach. Not gonna happen.

As if the unanimous No. 1 ranking wasn’t enough, North Carolina supporters have even more reasons to fantasize about a national championship following Wednesday’s convincing victory over eighth-ranked Notre Dame.

Tyler Hansbrough scored 34 points for the Tar Heels, who led by as many as 23 points before a flurry of late three-pointers by Fighting Irish guard Kyle McAlarney made the final score a bit more respectable.

“The advantage for their program,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said, “has always been that they keep coming at you with fresh bodies for 40 minutes and for five months throughout the season.

“That’s what happened tonight. They just kept pounding us.”

Most times in college basketball, there are five or six elite teams and then a cluster of 10-15 teams that could beat one another on any given night. This year things are different.

This year it’s North Carolina and then everyone else.

That’s not to say the Tar Heels’ are a shoo-in for the national title. Upsets happen in the NCAA Tournament, and no one knows that more than Williams.

His 1997 Kansas squad had been the top team in America all season when it lost to Arizona in the Sweet 16. The situation repeated itself in 2002 when Kansas was upset in the Final Four by eventual national champion Maryland.

Williams’ lone national championship came in 2005, his second season at North Carolina. Williams said his current team group features more depth and more “firepower” than the squad that featured Sean May, Marvin Williams and Raymond Felton. Knowing that makes him coach even harder.

While fans in the stands are celebrating, Williams spends the final minutes of blowout victories agonizing over the little mistakes that could hurt North Carolina in March – and bring back the pain that the coach has felt so many times.

On Wednesday, Williams pounded his fist on the scorer’s table when Notre Dame made a late basket after his team failed to get back on defense quickly enough.

“I almost broke my dadgum hand,” he said.

With players such as Hansbrough leading the way, Williams probably won’t have many of those moments this season. Hansbrough, who has been battling ankle and shin problems, made 13 of his 19 field goal attempts Wednesday and even connected from three-point range.

Even more impressive was that his performance came against reigning Big East Player of the Year Luke Harangody. Brey said after the game that Harangody – who scored 13 points in 27 minutes – was hooked up to an IV all afternoon because of stomach problems that stemmed from something he ate Tuesday evening. But he wasn’t making excuses.

“Even with three day’s rest, we wouldn’t have (beat) them tonight” Brey said. “They were on a roll.”

It wasn’t just Hansbrough.

North Carolina made 55.7 percent of its shots. Deon Thompson had 19 points and 13 rebounds while tournament MVP Ty Lawson dished out a career-high 11 assists. North Carolina outscored Notre Dame 52-32 in the paint. And, remember, this was the same Fighting Irish team that had defeated sixth-ranked Texas – one of the country’s most physical teams down low – just one day earlier.

“I was really proud of our guys,” Williams said. “We beat a very good team. They were making big shots on the other end, but we were answering them.”

Indeed, most teams wouldn’t be able to survive a game in which an opposing player makes 10 three-pointers, which is what McAlarney did in a 39-point effort Wednesday. No player in history has connected on that many threes against the Tar Heels. Heck, after the game, a swarm of North Carolina fans swarmed McAlarney and asked for his autograph.

Not that it was any consolation for McAlarney and the Fighting Irish, who almost seemed shell-shocked by the Tar Heels’ efficiency.

“They’re an elite team,” McAlarney said. “We’re not at UNC’s level yet, but I think we can be.”

That might be wishful thinking.

Not just for Notre Dame, but for the rest of college basketball, too.