The North Carolina Tar Heels entered Friday’s ACC Event recreation in opposition to arch-rival Duke very a lot on the bubble for the NCAA Event.
A win over the No. 1 group within the nation, even when it was taking part in with out its greatest participant — Cooper Flagg — would have gone a good distance towards strengthening its questionable resume and giving it a signature win in opposition to an elite group.
Regardless of an unbelievable second half comeback try that noticed them almost erase a 24-point deficit, the Tar Heels fell simply quick, 74-71, due to an improbable sequence of events in the closing seconds.
With an opportunity to take the lead on a pair of foul pictures with 4 seconds to play, a missed free throw adopted by a lane violation just about ended the comeback effort.
It additionally might have ended the Tar Heels’ season. At the least so far as the Large Dance is anxious.
Merely put, the Tar Heels wanted that win.
Badly.
From a giant image perspective, there isn’t any disgrace in dropping to the highest group within the nation on a impartial flooring. It occurs. A wholesome Duke group is a reliable nationwide championship contender, has solely misplaced three video games all season and just one in ACC play.
However this was not a wholesome Duke group.
The Blue Devils suffered two accidents on Thursday when Flagg and Maliq Brown left their recreation in opposition to Georgia Tech with accidents, leaving them shorthanded for Friday’s convention semifinal recreation.
That ought to have modified the expectations for the Tar Heels and put the sport very a lot inside attain. Particularly given how determined they need to have been for a win.
As an alternative, the Tar Heels had a horrible first half and trailed by greater than 20 factors at halftime. They deserve credit score for crawling again into the sport and placing themselves in place to return again late within the second half, however is that sufficient?
Is barely dropping to a prime group with out its greatest participant going to impress the choice committee?
Particularly when it’s a group that’s now 22-13 and has misplaced eight video games in a convention that’s not particularly robust or deep.
Or when it’s a group that’s now 1-12 in opposition to Quad 1 opponents this season.
Take away the identify. Take away the North Carolina model and its historical past. If another mid-level program had that form of resume going into choice weekend, what kind of likelihood would they should get into the match?
Most likely none.
If the choice committee is being trustworthy and goal with itself, that ought to most likely be the identical case for this North Carolina group.
