Offseason Q&A: Wayne Ellington

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --- North Carolina's Wayne Ellington spoke to the media on Monday afternoon at the Smith Center as part of an offseason interview session.

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Can you tell us how the 'testing the waters' process was for you and what made you decide to come back?

"It was a long process and a tiring process, but it was good for myself individually to get some experience and get a lot of good feedback and be able to come back and work this offseason to get better. ... I feel like I can get a lot better and my stock can get a lot better, so I felt like as a player the best thing for me to do is to come back here to Carolina and work with my teammates on our goals and also get better."

What did you learn about what you need to do to get to the next level?

"Just the same things I've been working on - continue to get stronger, continue to emphasize defense and get better in those areas. If I continue to do that and stay focused, I think I'll be fine."

Was there any disappointment in not being able to go pro?

"There wasn't any disappointment at all - not for me. It was a win-win situation. ... I'm happy we're all coming back and have another shot at [a title]."

How much pressure do you think you guys will feel when the season starts and everyone talks about this as a team that's supposed to win the title?

"I don't think we'll really feel the pressure. There's going to be a lot of pressure and a lot of talk, but we had that last year as well. We're going to go into the season, take it one game at a time, not look too far ahead and concentrate on the task at hand."

Can you describe your relationship with Coach Williams?

"Coach Williams and myself have a really good relationship. We're open with each other, we talk man-to-man and I think he respects that from me."

Are there any bad feelings from the fan reaction while you were testing the waters?

"You can't take things like that personally. Of course fans wanted us to stay and sometimes they don't see both sides of things. That's something you can't take to heart. You just got to laugh at it and continue to work. ... I don't even look at those message boards. I don't know why Tywon does. You can't take that to heart - it could be anybody saying anything. That's the least of our concern."

What was it like coming back from San Antonio?

"It was tough - it definitely hurt. I was disappointed more than anything because we didn't play the way we're capable of. It kind of felt like we were just happy to be in the Final Four and this year we'll definitely use it as motivation to get past that point. It's something we all feel like we have to accomplish."

Having used up your year of testing the waters, are you treating this like your last year here?

"I'm looking at it as another year of trying to accomplish our goals. I'm not real worried individually - I'm more focused on our team and the goals we have at hand."