CHAPEL HILL — The Tar Heels played a closed scrimmage at Vanderbilt last Sunday; NCAA rules prohibit teams from revealing specific details about workouts against other Division I schools, but coach Roy Williams said "we just didn't play well at all."

Former North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge says he regrets not talking to current coach Roy Williams for three years after Williams first turned down the Tar Heels job, in 2000.

“When I retired, I had hoped that he would come back to coach, and when he didn’t, I should have handled it better,’’ Guthridge said Monday in a phone interview. “I should have communicated with him. I’m glad he took the job the second time around [in 2003] … but if I had it to do all over again, I’d do it differently.”

How important do two of the nation’s top basketball coaches think 6-foot-6 small forward Harrison Barnes is to their programs’ futures? Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina’s Roy Williams made in-home visits to scout.com’s top-ranked recruit in 2010 class – on the same night.

Vance Downs, Barnes coach at Ames (Iowa) High, said in a phone interview that he was not present during Monday night's visits, but he briefly discussed it with his star player Tuesday morning. "That’s all I know, is that they were both there … and it was a busy night," Downs said.

As a starter on North Carolina’s 2005 national championship team, swingman Rashad McCants earned the reputation as an athletic scorer, a determined winner — and a moody player.

The latter is a stigma that followed him to the NBA, and that he thinks has helped keep him unsigned this offseason, despite the fact that he has averaged 10 points, 2 rebounds and 1.3 assists over four pro seasons.

Joe Holladay will move from an assistant coaching position on the bench to the administrative director of basketball operations role on North Carolina's basketball staff for the 2009-10 season, school sports information director Steve Kirschner confirmed Wednesday.

Holladay has been a member of coach Roy Williams' staff for 16 seasons, including seven at North Carolina. He will enter a three-year rotation along with assistants C.B. McGrath and Jerod Haase during which which one of the three will serve as operations director and the other two will work on the bench in any given season.

From Sunday's College Basketball column:

North Carolina hopes to have plenty of lights-out performances this season. The question is: Will its games begin with lights-off introductions?

The athletics department used $1 million from of its recently announced Nike contract to install a new sound system and enhance the lighting system in a way that will make NBA-style player introductions possible.

CHAPEL HILL — As we reported last weekend, Duke will be holding its first so-called "elite" men's basketball camp later this month. But don't expect North Carolina and coach Roy Williams to join the fray anytime soon.

The camps, held by many prominent programs including Florida, Maryland and N.C. State, are a recruiting tool used as a way to get prospects on campus for unofficial visits. 

• Summer Hoops Preview: The Picks
• Part II: Duke, Georgia Tech, Clemson
• Part III: Wake Forest, Maryland, Virginia
• Part IV: N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Miami 

UNC

2008-09 record: 34-4 overall, 13-3 ACC (first)

Postseason: 6-0, beat Michigan State in national championship game

Projected starting lineup: PG Larry Drew II, SG Dexter Strickland, G/F Marcus Ginyard, F Ed Davis (left), F Deon Thompson

Plus

• Size. Here's a brutal reality check for the rest of the ACC — UNC lost the leading scorer in ACC history (Tyler Hansbrough), and will still have one of the best frontcourts in the country.

If Jerry Colangelo and the Boston Globe are correct, Duke will have to share Mike Krzyzewski with USA Basketball for another three years.

Is Coach K's second gig good for his day job? Coach K thinks so (26:30). Why else would he coach the national team for another three years?

Is it a bad thing? Hmmm. The numbers don't support that argument but the numbers are in a vacuum.

Mike Krzyzewski’s reaffirmation to Duke basketball comes as no surprise, but it is another sign that his eventual victory total will stand long after the current wave of big-name college coaches moves on.

At age 62, with 833 wins and likely to coach five more seasons if his health remains good, Krzyzewski easily should overtake his old coach, Bob Knight (902 wins), on the all-time list.