The North Carolina Tar Heels entered Friday’s ACC Tournament game against arch-rival Duke very much on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament.
A win over the No. 1 team in the country, even if it was playing without its best player — Cooper Flagg — would have gone a long way toward strengthening its questionable resume and giving it a signature win against an elite team.
Despite an incredible second half comeback attempt that saw them nearly erase a 24-point deficit, the Tar Heels fell just short, 74-71, due to an improbable sequence of events in the closing seconds.
With a chance to take the lead on a pair of foul shots with four seconds to play, a missed free throw followed by a lane violation pretty much ended the comeback effort.
It also may have ended the Tar Heels’ season. At least as far as the Big Dance is concerned.
Simply put, the Tar Heels needed that win.
Badly.
From a big picture perspective, there is no shame in losing to the top team in the country on a neutral floor. It happens. A healthy Duke team is a legitimate national championship contender, has only lost three games all season and only one in ACC play.
But this was not a healthy Duke team.
The Blue Devils suffered two injuries on Thursday when Flagg and Maliq Brown left their game against Georgia Tech with injuries, leaving them shorthanded for Friday’s conference semifinal game.
That should have changed the expectations for the Tar Heels and put the game very much within reach. Especially given how desperate they should have been for a win.
Instead, the Tar Heels had a terrible first half and trailed by more than 20 points at halftime. They deserve credit for crawling back into the game and putting themselves in position to come back late in the second half, but is that enough?
Is barely losing to a top team without its best player going to impress the selection committee?
Especially when it is a team that is now 22-13 and has lost eight games in a conference that is not especially strong or deep.
Or when it is a team that is now 1-12 against Quad 1 opponents this season.
Remove the name. Remove the North Carolina brand and its history. If any other mid-level program had that sort of resume going into selection weekend, what sort of chance would they have to get into the tournament?
Probably none.
If the selection committee is being honest and objective with itself, that should probably be the same case for this North Carolina team.
