A fan's notes: an editor who bleeds Carolina blue frets over the damage done to UNC's brand of basketball.

• Author: Murray, Arthur O.
• Position: Feature

Tangled up in blue." That's not just the title of a Bob Dylan classic. It's the way I feel about Carolina basketball right now. It's not that I'm unhappy about having Roy Williams as coach of the Tar Heels. I'm thrilled. It's not that I'm worried about the teams' ability next season. I'm excited, ready for the payback a lot of our rivals have coming to them after the past three seasons. Make that the past six seasons.

Things are headed in the right direction, no question about it. But two caches, six years and many roster changes after Dean Smith, there's the realization that Carolina basketball won't ever be what it was for me. Wins and losses aside, there was an air of superiority about the program - and some would say its fans.

Point taken. Humility is hard enough when you're just winning all the time -- consider the fans of that other school eight miles down 15-501 -- but at Carolina, we were the best, on the court and off it. Players graduated, they thanked each other for passes that led to baskets, they sublimated individual talents to the team, they never publicly criticized one another or the team, they never got in trouble. Fans didn't boo or wave their arms at free-throw shooters as the Cameron Crazies do. Smith questioned referees, but he never berated them. He didn't curse. And he always had a good word for even the least-talented players. Classic example: "He means so much to the team in practice."

Things are different now. The school and its big-bucks athletic boosters ran off Bill Guthridge and Matt Doherty. Players sniped at one another. They sniped at the coach. They threatened to leave to get their way. Some did leave. Their parents tried to run the team. And no, the wins weren't as plentiful. For two years running, the team failed to reach the NCAA tournament, breaking a 27-year streak. Next season, it will be different. We'll be successful, most likely. But will we be just another Duke or, God forbid, N.C. State, satisfied only by victories and convinced there's some greater conspiracy afoot whenever we lose?

I've seen this kind of thing before, this change in an institution and how it's viewed, as part of my job covering business. UNC is suffering some of the classic problems that we report and write about each month. And it occurred to me that the reason I'm tangled up in blue isn't sadness over Doherty's fate, anger at the players or frustration with the losses. It's over the damage to a brand, one that I love, the...