Syracuse, N.Y. ? No one ever questioned North Carolina’s talent.

Last season, Rashad McCants (scoring), Sean May (rebounding) and Raymond Felton (assists) became the first trio of teammates to lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in those categories, and they all returned for their junior years.

Coach Roy Williams last fall gave the team a simple motto for the upcoming season and convinced them to believe in it: “IT IS AMAZING WHAT CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED IF NO ONE CARES WHO GETS THE CREDIT.”

Suddenly, McCants was turning down shots to pass to May, who in turn was going after rebounds with more intensity than ever. And Felton did what he always does, pushing the ball up the court and forcing the tempo of the game.

The result was stunning — an outright ACC regular-season title for the first time since 1993 and No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Now, North Carolina (30-4) is one victory away from the Final Four, playing sixth-seeded Wisconsin (25-8) today in the final of the Syracuse Regional.

“I think that was probably the most instrumental thing about our season,” McCants said Saturday. “We had a lot of guys sacrificing a lot of their parts of game just to be successful.”

No one did more of that than McCants. Through 30 games — he missed four because of an intestinal disorder — he has taken 120 fewer shots than last season, when he averaged 20 points. He has more assists than turnovers for the first time in his career while his scoring fell more than four points a game.

McCants credits Williams for his own turnaround and that of the team.

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan listens with his players Saturday during a news conference. Ryan and the Badgers will face North Carolina today in the NCAA Syracuse Regional finals.

“Coach wanted us to go out and just believe in him, that he was going to take us to the promised land,” McCants said.

Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan, also has received a lot of credit, even if some of it sounds like blame. Over and over during his stay in Syracuse, Ryan has been grilled about his swing offense, which at times has been called plodding, outdated and downright boring.

Through it all, the veteran coach has shown the same type of patience he preaches to his players when they’re looking for a shot.

“Our guys are like anybody else,” Ryan said. “They like to play. I mean, we’ve never told our players to milk the shot clock, to do this, to do that. We’ve never done it. Get a good shot, that’s all. What coach doesn’t tell their team to get a good shot?”