There is a lot to be said about North Carolina’s win over Baylor and what it means to ACC basketball as a whole. The maligned basketball conference has taken it on the chin for the last 2 years as the Big 10, Big 12, and maybe even SEC have sprinted past.
ACC teams are reminding us in this year’s tournament, that high-quality basketball is still being played by conference.
None other than one of the ACC’s flagship basketball schools North Carolina is leading the charge during this year’s NCAA Tournament.
After North Carolina’s win over Baylor Saturday, the ACC moved to 6-1 in the NCAA Tournament and 9-1 in the post-season.
What North Carolina did Saturday was re-establish its program as a force in college basketball. In the last 2 years, UNC had lost 30 games. As late as mid-February UNC was still a bubble team following an ugly home loss to Pittsburgh.
Some thought Hubert Davis might not be ready to lead the Tar Heels as head coach.
How things have changed.
Baylor was the defending national champs and a #1 seed. They play as rugged and physical a style of basketball as anybody in the country.
North Carolina dominated Baylor for 30 minutes, but the ejection of UNC’s Brady Manek was the turning point of the game.
After that, Baylor mounted a furious comeback aided by officiating that let Baylor be as physical as they wanted, and North Carolina missing FTs down the stretch the game went to OT.
Frankly, I thought North Carolina was done.
They weren’t as they answered Baylor bully basketball tactics, with heart and guts that had to make North Carolina fans as proud as they’ve been in a long time. The win to ruin Coach K’s last home game in Durham was fun, but this showed a gutty tough dimension to North Carolina basketball we hadn’t seen since the 2017 National Championship.
North Carolina now plays in a region without its top 2 seeds. 3 seed Purdue is Final 4 caliber, but also prone to inconsistency.
The Tar Heels don’t need to be satisfied with their run, they can stay in the NCAA’s for a while if they continue to play at this level.
It’s like the old days when it seemed like a birthright for North Carolina to make the Sweet 16.
They weren’t going to be denied Saturday.
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