North Carolina couldn’t do it. An entire season of basketball and they never took control of their own destiny.
Wednesday with a chance to seal their NCAA fate, they played hard, but not particularly smart in a 68-59 loss to Virginia. They closed the gap, and they made runs. It looked a lot like in the loss on Saturday to Duke.
A lot of UNC’s losses were like that.
North Carolina could play with anyone, but very rarely could they beat quality opponents.
They lost back-to-back games to Iowa State and Alabama. They could have split the two and were in a position to win both.
They lost single-digit games to Pittsburgh (twice), Virginia (twice), Duke (twice), Miami, and NC State. If North Carolina wins just 2 of those games, they are in a position to go to the NCAAs and still salvage something out of the season.
Hubert Davis a year after making the national title now will be questioned why a pre-season #1 team may end up in the NIT.
I’ve always thought losing close games comes down to coaching. That falls on Davis.
UNC lost control of their NCAA fate like they lost control late in so many games. With NET in the 40s and a 20-13 record, but just one Q1 win the Heels now must wait and hope for something good to happen. That sounds a lot like how the last 5 minutes in a lot of their losses usually went – wait and hope for something good to happen.
That usually doesn’t work out.
Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page
Leave a Reply