Cody Zeller didn't follow his older brother, Tyler (left), to North Carolina. ROBERT WILLETT

SOMEWHERE IN THE AIR — Welcome, folks, to seat 25A on my flight from Raleigh (through Atlanta) to Indianapolis. I’ve become adept at typing like this – scrunched up, elbows stuck to my side – in recent years.

So No. 14 North Carolina plays at No. 1 Indiana tonight.

Before the Tar Heels left town last night, UNC coach Roy Williams met with media members and talked about a variety of topics. I asked him a few questions about Cody Zeller, Indiana’s sophomore forward who entered the season as the overwhelming favorite to win national player of the year honors. And, oh yes, Cody happens to be the younger brother of Tyler Zeller, who a season ago won ACC Player of the Year honors during his final year at UNC. 

UNC coach Roy Williams said he was "stunned" and "shocked" by Maryland's decision to leave the ACC and join the Big Ten. ROBERT WILLETT

LAHAINA, Hawaii — North Carolina coach Roy Williams said on Monday that he was “stunned” and “shocked” by the news that Maryland would be leaving the ACC to join the Big Ten.

“I’m an old ACC guy,” Williams said after his team’s 95-49 victory against Mississippi State in the quarterfinals of the Maui Invitational. “I’ve been around a long time. I’ve been around probably longer than the league has, I don’t know. So I was shocked by it and didn’t see it coming whatsoever.”

Top prospect Kennedy Meeks, pictured here with members of his family, chose North Carolina over Georgetown on Friday night. JEFF SINER

CHAPEL HILL — Big news from a big recruit (both figuratively and literally): Kennedy Meeks, the West Charlotte High center who is considered one of the best prospects in the class of 2013, announced on ESPNU tonight that he would play at North Carolina.

Meeks chose the Tar Heels over Georgetown. You can read the story about it here.

Some reaction …

Marcus Paige begins his college career as the starting point guard at North Carolina. How ready is he? ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — It’s here. Basketball season is here. Finally. It never really goes away in Chapel Hill, but it returns tonight when North Carolina begins the season at the Smith Center against Gardner-Webb.

Around this time a year ago, the Tar Heels began the 2011-12 season with national championship aspirations. Entering this season, though, who knows what to expect? I wrote some about that in a story we ran earlier in the week, which you can read right here.

The headline tells the story: “More questions than answers” for UNC.

UNC coach Roy Williams, pictured here with the Tar Heels' freshmen, hasn't often gone "wacko" this preseason, as he likes to say. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — Roy Williams continues to recover from the surgery he underwent in September to remove a tumor from his kidney but, he said on Thursday, “I don’t think I’m 100 percent.”

Then again, Williams said, “I don’t have to be.”

UNC coach Roy Williams is still deciding on his starting five for the season-opener against Gardner-Webb. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — One day before North Carolina begins the season here on Friday night against Gardner-Webb, four-fifths of the Tar Heels’ starting lineup appears set.

“I feel fairly comfortable about Marcus [Paige] and Dexter [Strickland] and Reggie [Bullock] and James Michael [McAdoo],” UNC coach Roy Williams said earlier today. “But that fifth spot, from one day to the next, I change quite a bit.”

UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp said the university would likely raise entrance requirements for incoming athletes, but coach Roy Williams said he is unaware of any impending changes. CHUCK LIDDY

CHARLOTTE — University of North Carolina Chancellor Holden Thorp said in an interview with The News & Observer last month that the university would likely raise entrance requirements for athletes ahead of a more stringent NCAA policy that will go into effect in 2016.

But Tar Heels basketball coach Roy Williams said here on Wednesday that he was unaware of any imminent changes to UNC’s admittance standards for athletes.

Roy Williams has remained active in practice while he recovers from surgery to remove a tumor from his kidney. ROBERT WILLETT

CHARLOTTE — Remember that stuff Roy Williams said last week about how he might need to take it easy while he recovered from surgery to remove a tumor from his kidney?

Well, it hasn’t exactly happened that way. At least not during UNC’s first few practices.

The Tar Heels began preseason practice on Saturday, and Williams has been as feisty and fiery as ever, said Reggie Bullock, the UNC junior guard. 

CHAPEL HILL -- The momentum of the dance contest was so strong even Roy Williams couldn’t resist: Freshmen in ballet tutus, salsa moves and a Broadway kick line. When the entire team came to the bench and tried to pull Williams onto the floor, he obliged with a shuffling sort-of shag, never mind the still-healing scars from his kidney surgery.

“I was surprised,” Leslie McDonald said. “I didn’t know he was going to do it at first. But coach Williams is a lovable, passionate type of guy, so when he hears the crowd going, he’s going to get up and dance.”

Williams was caught up in the moment at a Late Night with Roy that was very much a tribute to the coach after his recent cancer scare. His appearance on the court was greeted with a standing ovation, and his official introduction prompted another, prolonged ovation that left Williams visibly emotional.

Dan Kane went to Roy Williams' press conference to ask him some questions related to the stories Dan has written about the UNC academic scandal. Dan wrote this story afterwards. Bret Stretlow of the Fayetteville Observer posted a transcript of Dan's questions and the coach's answers on the Observer's ACC Basketball blog. Here's a link.