The explanation is predictably diplomatic, accurate and inadequate. “We got good looks,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said in the wake of his team’s meltdown against Georgetown in the NCAA East Regional finals. “The shots weren’t falling.”

How true. The Tar Heels fired blank after blank after holding a 75-66 lead with just under six minutes remaining, and over the span of the second half and overtime missed 31 of 41 field goal attempts in a 96-84 loss to the Hoyas. The lead and game were lost because the Heels drowned in a flood of their own making -- quick and errant 3-point attempts in lieu of getting the ball inside, an unwillingness or inability to change defenses, a failure to milk the clock before the lead had all but vanished.

A fast pace can be executed with intelligence, and for most of the game that enabled North Carolina to retain command, just as for most of the season it helped Williams’ fourth Tar Heel squad overwhelm opponents en route to a 31-7 record. But a combination of factors coalesced to make the Heels’ choices down the stretch result in their undoing against Georgetown.

Facing a 2-3 zone, North Carolina took the shots the defense allowed rather than the shots the Heels preferred. The looks might be unfettered when you’re far from the basket, but there is a reason for that, namely that those shots are not as likely to fall as attempts inside. This willingness to let Georgetown dictate the terms of engagement, however briefly, is in direct contradiction to an old coaching adage, particularly embraced in Chapel Hill since the days of Dean Smith, that you beat your opponent by imposing your will, your design, and not vice versa.

Yet perhaps that is what Williams was attempting to do.

Williams, like UNC women’s coach Sylvia Hatchell, seeks constantly to force action. Unfortunately his Heels, perhaps showing their youth, became content firing hurriedly over the defense. If Williams was intent on sticking with his plan, surely that included working the ball to Tyler Hansbrough. The 6-9 sophomore had 26 points and showed he could bull the ball into the basket even against the likes of 7-2 shotblocker Roy Hibbard, answering a primary challenge to Hansbrough's NBA worth.

Hansbrough, the go-to guy all year, got two shots inside during the crucial, final six minutes of regulation. He got fouled on one and made the basket on the other. Hansbrough was 14-of-16 at the line, further testament to the wisdom of getting him the ball in the post. He finished the season with 315 free throw attempts, fifth-most ever in an ACC season and the most trips to the line by a league player since 1962.

Feeding the ball to Hansbrough in the proper position, indeed running the offense effectively, is the primary responsibility of Ty Lawson, whose oncourt leadership against the Big East champions fell short of his recent standards.

The freshman playmaker had a sterling 39 assists against eight turnovers in six postseason games, three in the ACC Tournament and three in the NCAAs. Against Georgetown he got his six assists, but also committed five turnovers, the majority in the second half, and missed seven of nine shots. Not included in Lawson’s error total was the possession late in the first half when he lost track of the shot clock and a violation occurred.

When Georgetown freed guard Jonathan Wallace, one of the nation’s best long-range shooters, for the tying 3-pointer with 31.2 seconds left in regulation, it was Lawson who yielded precious ground by going around a screen rather than fight his way through.

ACC coaches from Williams to Duke's Mike Krzyzewski to Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt struggled all year when discussing their teams’ youth. Sometimes they insisted they would not use youth as an excuse. Other times they could not help but cite inexperience as an explanation when things went awry. Clearly a lack of seasoning was a factor in Lawson’s performance on the biggest stage of his brief career.

Youth may have played a part, too, in one of the unremarked subtexts of UNC’s fade as it apparently wore down mentally and physically by game’s end.

North Carolina stuck with an enervating man-to-man defense that was ineffective preventing drives from the wing, backdoor cuts and feeds to the post. That was reflected in 57.6 percent shooting by the Hoyas. “From the offensive end, we felt confident throughout the game we could get anything we wanted,” said Georgetown coach John Thompson III. Meanwhile Georgetown saved a modicum of energy by employing a zone.

Much was made this season, and rightly so, of the manner in which UNC wore down most opponents with athleticism, speed and sheer numbers. Many teams, most recently Southern Cal in the Sweet 16, wilted in the game’s final minutes as the Heels kept coming and coming. The memory lingers of Jeff Neubauer, head coach at Eastern Kentucky, marveling at how quickly and unexpectedly his squad was winded playing North Carolina in the teams’ NCAA opener.

But against Georgetown, UNC ran into an opponent that was nearly as deep and was physically stronger and more mature.

Many of the Heels, notably terrific forward Brandan Wright and wing Wayne Ellington, have yet to grow into their bodies. Three Hoya starters are already there. Juniors Wallace, Hibbard and leading scorer Jeff Green averaged 37 minutes each against Carolina. They also keyed a punishing style reminiscent of the days when John Thompson Jr. rather than his son ruled the roost at the private university. A bump here and there can spell the difference between a shot going in, or missing.

So the Tar Heels fell short of the Final Four, as did the ACC, excluded for the second consecutive season. That has not happened since 1980. The league concluded the 2007 NCAAs with a mediocre 7-7 record, its worst cumulative showing in more than a decade.

“I guess we’re not as good as we thought,” an ACC head coach reluctantly conceded. Turning to a football coach’s no-nonsense standard, he offered, “That’s what Bill Parcells says – you’re as good as your record.”