CHARLOTTE – If Friday night was the end of North Carolina’s basketball season, at least the Tar Heels made it interesting, entertaining, and fun.
It wasn’t that way for much of the campaign. Truth be told, as challenging as the Heels were to watch for fans, that went for media, too.
This scribe has said many times that a poorly played game and a great one aren’t all that different from a coverage standpoint. The job is the job no matter what.
Yet, it would be dishonest suggesting the Heels weren’t ever hard to watch. They were. And at times, this was an awful basketball team that appeared done after getting blown out at Clemson six weeks ago.
Perhaps this scribe shoveled dirt on the team. But the Heels didn’t.
Not Hubert Davis. Not RJ Davis. Not Jae’Lyn Withers. Not anyone on the team. And that’s why they roared back from a 24-point deficit Friday night to have the ball down a point with a chance to beat No. 1 Duke in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
But maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, as the Heels fell short 74-71. The gift bestowed upon them with Cooper Flagg being out, along with key reserve Maliq Brown, was one the Heels had to take advantage of if the NCAA Tournament was in their immediate future.
It still might be. The bubble is weak this year and no bid stealers have surfaced yet. The Heels, however, were hoping to serve in that role. Cut down the nets here at Spectrum Center and Quads and NETs wouldn’t matter. They’d be in.
And that Carolina reached this point is a testament to its resilience. Suddenly hot shooting from the perimeter; the late emergence of Ven-Allen Lubin as in inside presence; Withers sparking the turnaround with his infectious attitude, fight, and want; and stretches of looking like past UNC teams on the glass revitalized a season that had seemingly plummeted over a cliff.
Some fans literally gave up and stopped watching. This scribe knows a few. Many called for Hubert Davis’ head demanding a change. Some wanted Carolina to lose so Davis would be fired because they’d lost hope he was the man for this gigantic job.
This isn’t to defend Davis or promote him for a fifth season or otherwise. It’s noting the vibe of the base, and it was highly toxic at times. It’s also worth noting he may not have changed many of those minds, but the run at least minimized public expression of those sentiments.
Winning eight of the last ten games, however, having a chance to beat a healthy Duke team last Saturday at the Smith Center, and then the comeback Friday night endeared this group to many of their critics.
The anti-Hubert brigade had grown quiet. The this-team-stinks corner found their missing pom poms. The Cadeau stinks, Withers-is-no-good, and RJ-is-overrated contingents started singing different tunes because the Heels made something out of the season.
They are 22-13 with a 1-12 Quad 1 record. Those are facts that cannot be denied, and it could certainly keep UNC from the big dance and probably end its season. It’s highly doubtful this team would play in the NIT and it shouldn’t.
Players have decisions to make. The coaching staff and its new GM have roster decisions to make. The transfer portal opens in a week, so the program is much better off focusing forward than playing meaningless games. Of course, that’s if the season is indeed over.
The 2024-25 campaign won’t meet the standard at UNC. The program has some real problems that if next season is much like this, hard conversations and decisions will be on the docket. North Carolina can no longer be what it’s been for five of the last six years.
But for the last five weeks, Carolina kind of felt like Carolina again.
That’s not enough, but at least the Heels gave that to their fans.
