The Tar Heels took an 11-point lead with 12 minutes, 23 seconds remaining. And they were the better team, the No. 1 seed with five future NBA players vs. a No. 2 that relied heavily on a couple stars and a bunch of scrappers. Moreover, North Carolina had the key element to putting away a blowout: the inside game of Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright, a big-man combo that basically never missed in the paint.

So obviously Roy Williams turned to jump shots, John Thompson III leaned on his defense and Georgetown forced, then won overtime in a memorable 2007 Elite Eight clash.

The game stands out because at the time, the thinking went that Ol’ Roy had flopped in the tournament, again, out-strategized by a rising star in Thompson who was then in his third year with his father’s program. The 2005 title was great for the Tar Heels, but their fans better get used to these moments.

That thinking, it sure was dadgum wrong. Saturday, Williams leads the Tar Heels into a fourth Final Four over the decade since that game. In that span, he has proven that he doesn’t need one-and-done players — Wright was the last he’s coached — to turn out remarkable results in March. (Thompson, meanwhile, was fired last month, having not reached the tournament’s second weekend since that Final Four trip.)

Williams’ March dominance is truly a remarkable thing. It’s not just that he’ll have passed his mentor, Dean Smith, for championships if he wins his third on Monday. It’s that he simply is the most successful NCAA tournament coach of the 2000s.

Compare him to his foremost rivals:

• John Calipari: 1 championship, 5 Final Fours, 9 Elite Eights, 10 Sweet 16s.

• Tom Izzo: 1 championships, 6 Final Fours, 8 Elite Eights, 11 Sweet 16s.

• Mike Krzyzewski: 3 championships, 4 Final Fours, 5 Elite Eights, 13 Sweet 16s.

• Rick Pitino: 1 championship, 3 Final Fours, 6 Elite Eights, 7 Sweet 16s.

• Bill Self: 1 championship, 2 Final Fours, 9 Elite Eights, 12 Sweet 16s.

• Roy Williams: 2 championships, 7 Final Fours, 10 Elite Eights, 12 Sweet 16s.

Now, this is not an argument that Williams is a better coach than Krzyzewski. He also hasn’t leveraged the one-and-done era as well as Calipari, and he hasn’t overachieved in the same ways as Izzo. He’s not as consistently dominant in the regular season as Self, and honestly, in a one-game scenario, I’m probably taking Pitino over all those guys.

But in a 64- or 65- 68-team tournament that starts in mid-March and ends in April, Roy Williams is your man. He was on the cusp of a title at Kansas before leaving to return to the Tar Heels, and he won one not long after he got back. Those seven Final Fours and 10 Elite Eights are tops in the 2000s (and highlight Krzyzewski’s weird tendency not to make the Elite Eight unless Duke’s going to win it all).

But what’s more impressive is how Williams’ teams never seem to falter early. The biggest blemish by far is a second-round exit to George Mason. Yes, that George Mason. The team that upset Izzo in the first round and Jim Calhoun in the Elite Eight, too, in an unprecedented run.

Mostly, Williams has leaned on veterans and his own coaching acumen. He rarely makes mistakes like that one against Georgetown in 2007. That’s why it stands out.

Admittedly, this argument would be easier to make had Kris Jenkins not made that shot last year. But that’s how close he was to both passing his mentor and closing the door on any counterarguments.

And he’s got a chance to do it again this year. Dadgummit.