Montgomery’s elation at earning a No. 1 seed and a first-round Friday gimme against South Carolina State has been replaced by the grim reality of Sunday’s matchup against a revitalized, determined North Carolina (19-13).

Top seeds aren’t supposed to have to play all that well to win second-round games. But Montgomery, in the NCAA tourney for the sixth straight time and the eighth time in his 14 seasons at the helm of the Cardinal, knows his team can’t just show up against the Tar Heels.

“Every coach in every bracket in every regional around the country is gonna wring his hands and tell you that his bracket is the absolute toughest,” says Montgomery in his best whine. “But in our case, you can legitimately make that case. North Carolina in the second round? North Carolina is an awful tough 8.”

The Tar Heels indeed looked more like an awful tough 2 or 3 on Friday in mauling Missouri 84-70.

“North Carolina’s personnel is terrific,” said Montgomery. “The difference is that they don’t have the depth they once had. There’s no endless stream of All-Americans on that bench. But that first five is some first five. It can match up with anyone in the country.

“North Carolina obviously didn’t have the season they would have liked to have had, but on a given night — and now, it’s a one-game season for both of us — they can beat anyone in the country.”

Part of the new respect for the Tar Heels obviously stems from the Tiger-taming career game that coach Bill Guthridge and point guard Ed Cota coaxed out of 7-footer Brendan Haywood on Friday. But what really scares Montgomery is that the Tar Heels didn’t exactly click on all cylinders, even though they dominated a good team from a good league.

Montgomery knows that while Haywood can’t play any better, Ed Cota can certainly shoot better, Joseph Forte can shoot better and Jason Capel can shoot better. That trio was a mere 2 of 10 on 3-pointers and a combined 13-for-44 from the floor on Friday. It’s scary to think what may happen if the Tar Heels’ outside game suddenly recovers an outside stroke that has been on sabbatical the last seven games. And that’s what worries Montgomery.

“You wish you had more time to prepare for a game like this,” says Montgomery. “But I guess everyone’s in the same boat.”

The Cardinal game plan must start with handling Haywood, who scored more points on Friday than any Tar Heel had all season. More than any Tar Heel had scored in NCAA Tournament play since Shammond Williams lit up UNCCharlotte for 32 points in a second-round game in 1998.

Haywood’s explosion was mind-boggling, because he had been a non-entity in all his previous “Big Dance” outings.

If you’d seeded the players in this tournament, Haywood would have drawn a No. 16 in everyone’s bracket, and justifiably so. He had scored an embarrassing total of seven points in his previous six chances.

“Haywood concerns us, obviously,” saidMontgomery. “Not just because he’s 7-feet and whatever, but because he’s got such long arms. You play behind him and he backs you underneath and dunks. You play in front of him and they’re very good at lobbing to him. He’ll use those long arms and soft hands to catch it and then he dunks some more.”

“It looks like to me,” said 6-10 junior Stanford Jarron Collins, who will draw most of the duty of defending the big man, “that Haywood’s favorite shot is the two-hand dunk. I mean, he shoots about 75 percent.”

Close enough.

Tar Heel fans who have generally treated Haywood over the years with the contempt ordinarily held for Duke players are now on his side. That gives the big guy some much-needed confidence. He felt the positive vibes from blue-clad fans on Friday and responded to destroy ex-Dukie Quin Snyder’s team.

“No tellin’ how Brendan can dominate when he’s motivated,” said Cota. “I mean, he’s a low-key guy but he can still be a warrior on the court. A lot of times he’s doubled or triple-teamed. But for some reason, Missouri single-covered him Friday and his eyes lit up. Heck, my eyes lit up too. I’ll say this. What you saw from Brendan on Friday still isn’t all he can do. His best game is still ahead of him.”

“Brendan,” added Guthridge, “will play for a long time in the NBA.”

One reporter went over the top so far at Saturday’s press conference that he wanted to compare the new, improved Haywood to Shaquille O’Neal.

“Naw, Brendan ain’t Shaq,” responded a giggling Cota. “Because Brendan can make his free throws.”

Still, joking comparisons to Shaq aside, the Heels can’t expect Haywood to have the same sort of impact on Sunday afternoon against the husky Cardinal (27-3).

Stanford has a wealth of big bodies with which to combat Haywood. There’s not only Jarron Collins, but his twin brother, Jason. There’s also Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen, a 6-9, 240-pound all-world banger. And there’s 6-10 Curtis Borchardt on the bench.

“Stanford will match our inside game, which Missouri could not do,” said Guthridge. “The outside shots will have to drop for us to have a chance. If they don’t fall, we’re in trouble.”

But then again, the outside shots are due. Haywood did his part on Friday, pounding a perimeter-oriented team. Now, the Heels need step-up games from their outside shooters to overcome the Stanford musclemen.

“We’re pretty fortunate that Brendan did what he did,” said Forte, who has led the Heels in scoring as a freshman. “We looked at the film and to be honest, we shot the ball kind of poor. But we won’t shoot like that again on Sunday.”

And if the shots fall from Forte, Capel and Cota, Montgomery might just be proven right about how difficult his draw was.