Lawson learning passionate fandom can be a two-face book

And did I mention people are calling him the next Joe Forte?

"I've seen them (comparing all of us) to Joe Forte," Lawson said. "I'm like, 'Everybody can't be a Joe Forte.'"

Anything else?

"Some fans are like 'Wayne better get his passport now,'" Lawson said. "It's on message boards. Things like that. From Carolina fans."

Do you have that passport yet, Wayne?

Carolina fans need to know.

"There's a lot of pressure because everybody wants us to come back," Ellington said. "But you go to college to get a job; that's what everyone does."

Indeed, that is what everyone does.

Which is why it's puzzling how so many forget this when it comes to basketball players.

Seems the average fan likes to believe their favorite players on their favorite team value the entire college experience like a normal full-time student might, that they are there to soak up the campus life, graduate and wear their school's jersey until the NCAA rips it off after four years. Sometimes that's true, I guess. But other times the elite-level basketball players playing for the elite-level programs are simply in college to get a job, and for guys like Lawson, Ellington and Green that job is going to consist of dribbling a ball and throwing it through a hoop.

Are they ready to hold that particular job now?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

That's kinda what this week is about.

But either way, all Lawson, Ellington and Green wanted to do is test the process and see for themselves before making a final decision, and they wanted UNC fans to root for them like they've always rooted for them. Instead, Lawson feels North Carolina fans are wishing he fails, and he figures the ratio of people who spent February telling him they hope his ankle gets better so he can beat Duke compared to people who spent May telling him they hope he becomes a millionaire with this decision is roughly 437,000-to-1.

"Of course, fans are going to be a little upset if you leave their school because if you come back their school will have a better chance to win a national championship," Green said. "But true fans will always be by your side."

Deep down, Lawson knows, too.

He just wishes there were more so-called true fans out there right now.

And that they'd start sending encouraging Facebook messages, you know, like they used to do.