Roy Williams thought he was lucky this offseason in getting all five of North Carolina's starters to return to school.

Then he found out this week that maybe no one can be that lucky.

On Wednesday, Williams was hit with the news that senior guard/forward Marcus Ginyard, a defensive stopper in the starting five for the Tar Heels last season, will miss eight weeks after having surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot.

"You hate this for Marcus because he has worked so hard to get ready for his senior season, but he decided it was better to have the surgery now and be ready sometime in December than risk a more substantial injury that would knock him out of action later in the season," Williams said in a statement. "We will miss his play on both ends of the floor as well as his leadership with the young players."

While Ginyard isn't known much for his offense (just 6.9 points in addition to 4.5 rebounds last season) - and the Tar Heels don't need his offense with three-time All-American Tyler Hansbrough, point man Ty Lawson, sharpshooter Wayne Ellington and sixth-man Danny Green all returning - he did play four positions, including backup point guard after Lawson sprained his ankle. The Tar Heels' other backup point guard, Bobby Frasor, had already ended his season at that point with a torn ACL.

Still, things can't be that bad when you bring back a player like Hansbrough, who averaged over a double-double (22.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game) last season on his way to winning Naismith Player of the Year honors.

And with Lawson, Ellington, Green, Deon Thompson and a dynamic freshman class on board as well, it's a lock that the Tar Heels will sit atop the preseason polls when they're finally released in early November.

But before we even play a single game this season, let's not hand the national championship trophy to Williams & Co.

The Tar Heels, after all, were expected to win it all last year.

That didn't happen.

In fact, most of us in the media, including myself, thought that UNC and UCLA were the two teams with the best shot to cut down the nets in San Antonio last April.

Yet when it came time for them to rise to the occasion, both failed to reach Monday night's national championship game, stumbling in the national semifinals a couple days earlier.

Instead, we saw a thrilling title game - one that we will be seeing highlights of for years to come - between an extremely athletic and talented Memphis team and a veteran Kansas squad destined to bring a national championship to Lawrence for the first time in 20 years.

This season, though, things are looking quite a bit different for the Jayhawks.

With the departure of Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers (and his miracle three-point shot), Darnell Jackson, Russell Robinson and Rodrick Stewart, the Jayhawks have just two playmakers returning - sophomore center Cole Aldrich and diminutive point Sherron Collins - leaving Bill Self with his work cut out for him after a hefty contract extention ($30 million over 10 years to be exact) this offseason.

Speaking of offseason contracts, it took Florida coach Billy Donovan long enough to sign off on his own extension which he agreed to in June 2007 after changing his mind about the Orlando Magic head coaching position.

Donovan, who won back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007, will be rewarded handsomely at $19.5 million over six years.

That's just before the incentives kick in, too.

If the Gators happen to win another national championship, Donovan will earn another $250,000.

And if Florida just reaches the NCAA Tournament, which it failed to do last year, Donovan will rake in an extra $25,000.

A top-10 finish in the AP poll, meanwhile, will bring in $50,000, along with winning the National Coach of the Year award.

But those kind of payouts are just icing on the cake for Donovan, who's already stamped his name on a basketball program that was outshined for many years by Florida's football program.

Now, with another five years in writing and a nice sum of cash to supplement it, Donovan might just be hanging around in Gainesville longer than what we might have originally expected when he took over the Gators 12 years ago.