One more thing that struck me about Ohio State was how well the team played together despite having the same level of experience as UNC. The only conclusion I could reach on that was the Buckeyes are simply farther along with their on the court chemistry because of their limited numbers. At OSU, there are only eight players right now so while there may be questions about playing time, there is little question about the rotation. Also since you are dealing with a limited number of eight the on court combinations are fewer than they are for UNC. In my opinion this translate into OSU being able to overcome that chemistry curve much quicker out of sheer neccisity.
If you compare that to UNC and Roy Williams' use of up to 12 players so far this season, it is pretty easy to see where UNC has been a little slower in gelling as a team. I do not have a problem with the level of experimentation Roy is doing with the lineup because he is exploring which players are going to be best suited to form the nine man rotation he wants to go with for the rest of the season. However as that is happening so many players are being shuffled around it does create some mystery as it pertains to the roles of certain player as well as slows down the general learning curve when it comes to everyone getting comfortable with one another on the court. I thought UNC showed signs in the second half of moving in the right direction as far as playing together as a team, more so on the offensive end. The defensive end is somewhat of a separate issues though I think the lineup shuffling could impact that some as well as a general learning curve. I also am getting the impression that perhaps some of the things Roy thought he could do with this team are not working right now so he might be in the process of modifying his plan.
So, in short I think OSU is ahead of UNC in respect to their intensity level and their on court flow. It will be interesting to see how they adjust when Greg Oden enters the lineup. I think UNC is heading there and Saturday against Kentucky will be a very good test in recovering from a big win and continuing to grow towards the level of expectation placed on this team before the season.