North Carolina
Did I just cheer for Bill Belichick? Why North Carolina actually winning felt comforting
On Saturday afternoon, while trying to figure out why exactly I’m paying money, separately, to both ESPN and YouTube TV for the ability not to watch ESPN on YouTube TV, my phone took a brief break from its usual job of engulfing me in a never-ending scroll of terror and doom to inform me, via pop-up notification, that North Carolina had beaten Stanford 20-15.
Oh, good, I thought, before I even had a second to process the grotesque, flagrantly venal and immoral thought that had just entered my brain, uninvited, out of nowhere, That’s a nice win for them. They’re getting better.
I paused, shook my head left and right and popped myself on the right ear with my palm, hard, like I was trying to get water out of my brain. I ran to the bathroom, splashed water on my face and stared hard into the mirror, trying to understand the monstrosity I now saw before me.
Did I just cheer for Bill Belichick?
I think I did.
What have I become?
We live in an age of crumbling institutions, of an increasing, almost overwhelming, lack of faith in expertise, experience and accomplishment. If you have spent your life dedicated to the study of something, everything you thought you understood has been called into question. It can leave you disoriented and lost — like you no longer have any idea what is up or down. It is common during a time like this to cling to the simple things, to let what you know to be true serve as your constant, the fixed point on the horizon that allows you to get your bearings. The sky is blue. Gravity exists. Ice cream tastes good.
And Bill Belichick is a great football coach.
I mean, this is true, right? Whatever your thoughts about Tom Brady’s contributions to the Belichick legacy — and I’m fully aware we’re perpetually a couple of news cycles away from “Was Tom Brady actually a good quarterback?” scrolling under Colin Cowherd’s head — can’t we all agree that Belichick knows a lot about football? He was the NFL Coach of the Year three times and surely deserved it more. He is the third-winningest head coach of all time. He won his division as head coach 17 times. He won eight Super Bowls, six as a head coach. Nick Saban is a part of his coaching tree!
And more to the point: He is Bill Belichick. He has served as the signature football coach for 25 years now, the genius, the hoodie, the boogeyman. In a league designed, through salary caps and roster turnover, to discourage dynasties, he found a way, every year, to put together a great team. His players may have despised him and feared him, he might have been the most truly disliked figure in American sports, he dressed like he had just fallen off a train, but he always, always won. He’s Bill Belichick! It’s all he cared about in the world.
There’s a great moment in the documentary “A Football Life: Bill Belichick” when Belichick, touring the bowels of Giants Stadium before it met the wrecking ball, speaks about his early days as an assistant to Bill Parcells, of sitting in dark, smelly coaching rooms, watching endless game tapes, eating disgusting food, sleeping 20 minutes a night, ignoring friends, family and the outside world, basically just living the most miserable life possible in the name of trying to win football games. Reflecting on all that, Belichick, for the only time I can ever remember, got emotional and nearly burst into tears. Over watching game tape in the basement.
Who knows more about football than Bill Belichick? Who could possibly?
Thus: To see how his North Carolina tenure began was wildly disorienting. Remember the Tar Heels’ first game this season, that Labor Day night game against TCU, the one with Michael Jordan and Lawrence Taylor sitting together in the box and the Chapel Hill crowd going nuts? Remember that first drive, when North Carolina drove down the field, unabated, on its first possession and scored a touchdown? Admit it: There was a moment there, right after that drive, that the world made sense. Sure, college football was a new challenge for Belichick, but sheesh, he’s still Bill Belichick. This guy took down the Greatest Show on Turf; you think he’s gonna struggle with Josh Hoover? North Carolina has the guy who has won more Super Bowls than anyone. Of course the Tar Heels would be good. There was order to the universe.
And then, immediately following that play: They were not good. They were very, very not good. As Stewart Mandel predicted last December, Belichick did not quite understand what he was getting into — “It’s delusional to think Belichick will show up, flash his rings and suddenly North Carolina will start producing more high-end NFL players than Georgia or Ohio State” looked particularly prescient. As North Carolina lost four in a row, the ugly stories started coming out. The program didn’t just look like a second-tier one; it looked like an abject disaster.
This led to an outpouring of good old-fashioned schadenfreude. People have been waiting to pile on Belichick for decades, for reasons built up both on and off the field. And I — like most of you — had a difficult time working up much sympathy for Belichick. Age is undefeated, but so is hubris: One of the best things about sports is that you can never rest on your laurels, that you’re only as good as your next game. Belichick was losing, and when you treat people the way Belichick has reportedly treated people throughout his career, your fall will bring out all the haters who never dared say anything when you were on top. All the people you treated like losers now get to treat you like one. I get it. And I didn’t mind, not really. This is how it works. It was his turn.
But still: Bill Belichick, a legend, ending his career in gossip, dysfunction and failure? And worse, like a guy who has no idea what he’s doing? The whole thing had end of “Tar” vibes to it, when Cate Blanchett’s Lydia Tar, after ascending to the top of her profession, had it all collapse in scandal, to the point that she was reduced to conducting music for the “Monster Hunter” video game.
Is that really how we want our legends to finish out their careers? Like they never knew what they were doing in the first place? Do we really want them humiliated?
OK, so maybe you do. And again: I get it. But in a world where we search for constants wherever we can get them, I think I found it rattling that something as simple as “Bill Belichick knows how to coach football” could be so proven immediately false, and in such a dramatic, fall-of-Rome way.
So yeah: That’s why, when I saw that North Carolina had won its second in a row, after two close losses (in games it probably deserved to win), that it really was playing better, that it looked better coached and organized, that Belichick was saying things like, “We’ve improved significantly over the course of the season. It’s not just one guy or one thing. A collective effort,” which is exactly the sort of thing you imagine Bill Belichick saying … I think that’s why I caught myself feeling, well, comforted. This does not mean I have to like him. It does not even mean I have to root for him. It just means that, for a brief second, I got to feel like maybe I wasn’t going crazy. There was solace to be found in knowing that gravity still exists. That ice cream still tastes good. That Bill Belichick still knows how to coach a football team.
I do not know how this ends. I suspect it will still end poorly — or at least not with Belichick conquering college football the way he conquered the NFL. But forgive me: Belichick is an institution I am not quite ready to see violently toppled. Part of me still needs to believe. Part of me still needs something to hold on to.
Coming off two impressive wins over VCU and East Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional, the North Carolina Tar Heels head into Sunday’s matchup against Tennessee with significant momentum.
With all that being said, here is who will start on the mound for the Tar Heels on Sunday, with a lineup projection against the Volunteers in the third and final game of the regional round of the tournament.
Starting Pitcher Against Tennessee
Earlier this week, head coach Scott Forbes announced Ryan Lynch and Jason DeCaro would serve as the starters for the Tar Heels’ opening two games in the Chapel Hill Regional. With Caden Glauber contributing 4.1 innings on Saturday, compiling eight strikeouts while giving up three hits and two runs, Glauber could be less likely to start. However, I expect the true freshman to sprinkle in a few innings on Sunday against Tennessee.
- “Most of the time it becomes, ‘Okay, what do we feel like is the better matchup’ even though we feel like they match up well against anybody, and they [aren’t going to] be scared of anybody,” Forbes said. “That’s why we decided to go Lynch game one against VCU, and DeCaro will go game two against East Carolina or Tennessee.”
- “I feel like we have multiple aces,” Forbes said. “I feel like Jason DeCaro and Ryan Lynch are both Friday night guys.”
Projected Starting Lineup
Through the first two games of the regional round of the tournament, the Tar Heels are averaging 7.5 runs and 11 hits per outing. Based on what Forbes has rolled out in the opening games against VCU and East Carolina, I expect North Carolina’s batting lineup to look very similar, if not exactly the same.
While the Tar Heels coasted to victory over VCU and faced no adversity, jumping out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning en route to an 8-0 win. That was not the case on Saturday night, as the start of the game was a reciprocated experience for North Carolina, which fell behind 3-0 heading into the fourth inning.
“This team’s mature, they know we’ve played good teams all year, good midweek teams, and I’ve told them it’s about how we play, it’s not about the opponent,” Forbes said. “All of our focus has been on us, number one.”
With all that said, the Tar Heels’ projected batting lineup, in order, is Jake Schaffner, Gavin Gallaher, Owen Hull, Macon Winslow, Cooper Nicholson, Tyler Howe, Colin Hynek, Erik Paulsen, and Rom Kellis V.
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The NC Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at Saturday, May 30, 2026 results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from May 30 drawing
01-27-35-44-52, Powerball: 12, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from May 30 drawing
Day: 4-3-5, Fireball: 5
Evening: 8-3-5, Fireball: 6
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from May 30 drawing
Day: 6-6-7-3, Fireball: 6
Evening: 4-1-0-7, Fireball: 3
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 5 numbers from May 30 drawing
04-05-07-31-39
Check Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Double Play numbers from May 30 drawing
02-05-28-37-42
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 30 drawing
05-14-22-28-30, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All North Carolina Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599.
For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at North Carolina Lottery Offices. By mail, send a prize claim form, your signed lottery ticket, copies of a government-issued photo ID and social security card to: North Carolina Education Lottery, P.O. Box 41606, Raleigh, NC 27629. Prize claims less than $600 do not require copies of photo ID or a social security card.
To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a prize claim form and deliver the form, along with your signed lottery ticket and government-issued photo ID and social security card to any of these locations:
- Asheville Regional Office & Claim Center: 16-G Regent Park Blvd., Asheville, NC 28806, 877-625-6886 press #1. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Greensboro Regional Office & Claim Center: 20A Oak Branch Drive, Greensboro, NC 27407, 877-625-6886 press #2. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Charlotte Regional Office & Claim Center: 5029-A West W. T. Harris Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28269-1861, 877-625-6886 press #3. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- NC Lottery Headquarters: Raleigh Claim Center & Regional Office, 2728 Capital Blvd., Suite 144, Raleigh, NC 27604, 877-625-6886 press #4. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.
- Greenville Regional Office & Claim Center: 2790 Dickinson Avenue, Suite A, Greenville, NC 27834, 877-625-6886 press #5. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
- Wilmington Regional Office & Claim Center: 123 North Cardinal Drive Extension, Suite 140, Wilmington, NC 28405, 877-625-6886 press #6. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes up to $99,999.
Check previous winning numbers and payouts at https://nclottery.com/.
When are the North Carolina Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 11 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily.
- Pick 3, 4: 3:00 p.m. and 11:22 p.m. daily.
- Cash 5: 11:22 p.m. daily.
- Millionaire for Life: 11:15 p.m. daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Carolina Connect editor. You can send feedback using this form.
North Carolina has landed what is seemingly the final major piece of its frontcourt for the 2026-27 season, multiple sources have confirmed. Alexandros Samodurov announced his commitment to the Tar Heels on Saturday by way of Jonathan Givony of Draft Express.
The 6-foot-11 Greek native will bring international experience and an advanced skillset to a UNC program that was still looking to add a starting-worthy big man to its rotation. He’ll join 18-year-old 7-footer Sayon Keita, who committed to UNC a month ago, to man most of the minutes in the middle.
Now 21 years old, Samodurov plays for Panathinaikos in Greece’s top pro league, and also in EuroLeague. This is the same professional club as fellow Greece national team standout and UNC transfer commitment Neoklis Avdalas.
Samodurov earned All-Star honors with the Greece U20 National Team last summer, averaging 17.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.4 blocks at the FIBA U20 Eurobasket. He also averaged 4.9 points and 4.6 rebounds playing for the Greece Senior National Team last year.
>>> Expert Analysis: Samodurov Addition All About Stretch Big Skill Set for UNC
“The Panathinaikos forward has always been an intriguing prospect with his combination of elite size, ball-handling ability and flashes of passing, shooting and defensive playmaking,” said a FIBA report from the Eurobasket event.
Samodurov declared for the NBA Draft but the league announced on May 28 that he had withdrawn his name. He was ranked the No. 41 draft prospect in The Athletic’s Mock Draft and is No. 72 on ESPN’s Big Board.
New coach Michael Malone has been tasked over the past two months with overhauling the roster. Samodurov marks the seventh program acquisition, joining two previously committed high schoolers, and three returning players to form the 2026-27 roster.
Whether Samodurov or Keita start at center remains to be seen, but the other members of the starting lineup when UNC’s season opens in six months on Nov. 2 are expected to be Utah transfer Terrence Brown, NC State transfer Matt Able, Virginia Tech transfer Avdalas and returning forward Jarin Stevenson.
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