But then again, the Tar Heels’ sizeable center, who may be the most criticized player in UNC history, somehow seems to be able to find the humor in most any situation. You could make a pretty good case that Haywood’s ability to laugh at himself has been as important as his ability to dunk basketballs with two opponents hanging on for dear life. It’s the reason he hasn’t become a basket case in a trying season.

“I’m big so people have high expectations,” says Haywood. “But I don’t mind the heat. It’s cool, I can take it.”

From afar, Haywood looks like your typical brooding giant. But up close and personal, he’s the life of the party. No question, he’s the Tar Heels’ go-to guy when it comes to one-liners.

“Brendan Haywood is pure entertainment,” said Stanford’s Mark Madsen, who played with Haywood on a U.S. national team last summer. “Some people talk about Jay Leno and some people talk about Chris Rock. I’ll talk about Brendan Haywood.”

Madsen tells the story about the time the U.S. team was eating out in Spain. Haywood handed the waitress a bill worth 25 cents more than his meal’s cost. She got furious and walked off in a huff. That’s when Haywood called her back and demanded his change. “Lady, where I come from a quarter is a lot of money,” he told her.

Haywood was kidding the waitress, but he wasn’t kidding around on the court for the national team. He starred, and it was the undisputed highlight of his summer. But most of his summer vacation wasn’t nearly as much fun. He spent much of his free time hearing from Tar Heel fans how he had lost the season-ending, first-round NCAA tourney game with Weber State with his legendary one point-zero rebound performance.

“Man,” says Haywood, “our fans pointed fingers at me all summer long.”

But the important point is that Haywood didn’t let the criticism get him down. He responded to detractors. He made third-team All-ACC, while shooting better than 70 percent. And in the NCAA Tournament, he’s quite literally been a huge factor.

So huge that even though Haywood, an excellent student, has said all season long that he’s coming back to Chapel Hill for his senior year, speculators now have him as a probable lottery pick if he throws his humongous hat in the NBA ring.

One questioner at Saturday’s press conferences asked Haywood what he saw when he looked in the mirror. Did he see Shaquille O’Neal perhaps?

“Shaq!” yelped Haywood in astonishment. “No, I sure don’t see Shaq. If I did, I ‘d be leaving real early.”

Haywood says some things aren’t necessarily funny at the time, but he can see the humor after proper reflection.

“A friend of mine taped our ACC Tournament loss to Wake Forest,” explained Haywood. “At the half, Billy Packer says Brendan Haywood needs to introduce himself to his Tar Heel teammates. Now, at the time that’s not funny because I sure wasn’t getting the ball. But now that we’re doing better, I can look back at that tape and chuckle.”

Haywood is asked to relate a funny story. He can’t think of anything.

“I’m a spontaneous guy,” he says. “It’s not like I’m standing around in the huddle during timeouts trying to think of my next joke. My humor is spur of the moment.”

And Haywood does get on a roll after awhile, like a 7-foot David Letterman.

Told that Carolina’s tradition might intimidate Tulsa on Sunday afternoon in Carolina’s Elite Eight game, he grins. “Tradition sure does looks good in the old media guide,” he says. “But I don’t think Tulsa’s gonna be scared of our tradition. They want to go to the Final Four same as us.”

But then someone wants to know if Haywood has noticed how many more fans have followed the team to Austin than were in Birmingham last week where the Tar Heels shocked the world by beating Stanford.

That’s when the big guy’s grin disappears for a moment. Haywood can take the personal heat, but he didn’t like some things he heard said about his coach and teammates from thousands of bandwagon-deserting Tar Heel followers when the season looked to be falling apart in February.

“I found out that the fans didn’t necessarily love us,” said Haywood. “They loved the fact that we were winners. Once we lost some games, we found out this is a business. You lose and a lot of people out there aren’t your friends anymore. I don’t mind telling you, that hurt me.

“The good thing,” says Haywood, “was when this team had no one else left to turn to, we turned to each other. And that’s when we turned it around.”

And maybe that’s when the stand-up comic became a stand-up player.

Haywood carried a huge load against Missouri and Stanford, and was a factor against Tennessee before fouling out.

“It feels good to be coming up big on the biggest stage college basketball has,” says Haywood, his satisfied smile illuminating the room. “We’re playing loose, playing like we’re not afraid to make mistakes.”

And even if things go wrong on Sunday, chances are good that Haywood will manage to keep right on smiling.