CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Roy Williams met with the media Tuesday afternoon via zoom to discuss his team as it prepares to play in the ACC Tournament, his thoughts about the probable one-time transfer rule, and about the rampant speculation that brewed the last few days regarding his future at UNC.

The Tar Heels (16-9) are the No. 6 seed in the ACC Tournament and open play Wednesday night at 9 pm versus the winner of Tuesday’s game matching Notre Dame and Wake Forest.

Above is the video of Williams’ presser and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:

*Reports came out on Monday that the NCAA is expected to move forward with a one-time transfer rule for student-athletes participating in all sports. This means players would be able to transfer to a new school without having to sit out for a year, which they currently must do, as players that transfer must sit out one season before being allowed to play in games.

The vote for the new rule is expected to come after the Final Four during the NCAA’s April meeting. If the new policy is passed, it would be effective for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year.

So, what does Williams think about the potential of this new policy coming to life next season?

“I think it’ll be the most significant piece of legislation that’s ever happened in college basketball,” he said. “I’m old school. I believe, if you have a little adversity, you oughta fight through it. It makes you stronger at the end.

“I believe, when you make a commitment, that commitment should be solid and it should be to do everything you can to make it work out.”

Williams also referenced the college football transfer portal, which has seen a record number of kids enter it this offseason.

“These are totals I shouldn't say because I don't know if it's fact, but somebody said that there were more people in the transfer portal for football than there were spots in the power five conferences. And you guys may know if that's right or not.

“I’ve also heard that, all those kids that went in, 27 percent of them have found places to go. So, it's just an old school, deep down belief. I don't think it's the right thing to do.”

*The Tar Heels have had an up and down season, with their wildest swings coming over the last nine games, of which they won five times.

Despite winning six out of its seven games from Jan. 2-26, finding consistency has been a real struggle for this young UNC team, which has six freshmen that have played significant minutes.

With all this in mind, Williams doesn’t know what to expect as he prepares to take his team into the postseason.

“Our seven freshmen have never experienced anything like the ACC Tournament, and neither has anyone else,” Williams said. “Going in there with that arena, three or four thousand people as compared to what it normally is… We're just trying to treat it like we're going to play a game and yeah, there's other people playing before us and afterwards, just like we did in Asheville with the Maui Invitational.

“But, the whole world is different in what we're seeing. Just think about from Louisville to Marquette, we played both of those games at home. So I have no idea what it’s gonna look like in the Greensboro Coliseum.”

*With the postseason here and his team so young, how does Williams feel about his club as it enters a part of the season none of the freshmen have experienced? The inconsistency of the last month has made it difficult for people to get a handle on the Heels. Rout Louisville, lose at home to Marquette, beat Florida State, lost at Syracuse, then beat Duke at home. So what is their coach’s take on where they are right now?

"I think one thing to understand is that we played Syracuse at Syracuse, and we did not play as well as I wanted to play,” Williams said, before noting the Orange went 13-1 at home. “So that one was not something that made you scratch your head, or it shouldn't have. The Marquette loss here at home should and did for me.

“But no, we had a great win (at Pittsburgh) and then went to Clemson and we were just awful. I forget who we had, so it's been our mojo all year. I asked them yesterday at practice, ‘Did you want to go up and play great one night and then get your tail kicked the other night or do we want to get more consistent?’

“You can't keep blaming it on this, but I do think it's a factor that those seven guys are freshmen. And every game they've been guarded by somebody, or had to guard somebody, that they have never heard of. And that guy was kicking their tail. And so, that is a big, big difference for freshmen.”

Williams has said a couple of times this season the freshmen need to cut the cord to some freshman-like stuff.

“And, yes, I tell them, 'We're no longer freshmen. We've had 84 practices and 25 games,'” he said. “But the bottom line is, they're still freshmen. And they're way behind where a lot of freshmen would be because the lack of preseason, lack of conditioning, lack of exhibition, lack of pickup games and those kinds of things.

“But, other than that, I don't have any explanation and I've tried to figure out everything. But you can change a lot of things, but you can't change what the mindset of 18, 19, 20-year-old is.”

*With the ACC Tournament back in Greensboro this year, there is a strong sentiment among many with deep roots in the conference that the tournament should always be there. The history is steep and it is truly the home of the conference.

UNC, however, has not won the tournament in Greensboro since the 1998 team did and the last time Williams was part of a championship at the Coliseum was in 1982, when he was an assistant to Dean Smith.

So what does Williams think about Greensboro perhaps being a permanent home to the fabled event?

"Well, I have two different thoughts: One, if you'd told me that, I would have voted to go somewhere else,” Williams said, referring to it being 23 years since UNC last won the title in the Coliseum. “I didn't realize all that. But I think Greensboro is the best place to play the tournament. I've always felt that way. Everybody in town knows the game's going on, everybody's excited.

“We don't need to have that discussion anymore about the media center of the world because everybody's got a phone. And the funniest thing is, when we were in Brooklyn, and I'm not lying, we're in Brooklyn and I came back in from doing our morning exercise and the guy at the front door said, 'Coach, how are you doing?' He said, 'What are you in town for?' I mean, we're staying at his hotel. He didn't know that was going on.

“But I think Greensboro is the best place. The committee up there does a great, great job. We've won it in Tampa, we won it in Washington, D.C., we've won it in Charlotte. So, I'd pick one of those places if you'd told me this is what the record was. But also, which I do truly believe, it's just a great, great place."