On the outside looking in at the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina declined an invitation to participate in the NIT on Sunday night, ending its 2022-23 basketball season.
“All season our focus and goal have been on being the best team we can possibly become and reaching our full potential to give us another opportunity to compete, play for and win an NCAA championship," UNC Coach Hubert Davis said in a release by the university.
“Although we no longer have that opportunity and this season wasn’t what we had hoped for, I want to thank our players and staff for their hard work and love for Carolina Basketball.
“Many factors go into postseason play and we believe now is the time to focus on moving ahead, preparing for the next season and the opportunity to again compete for ACC and NCAA championships.
“I also want to thank our great fans for their incredible support. Our commitment to you is what drives us to improve our program in every way.”
The Tar Heels (20-13) fell to Virginia in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament last Thursday night at the Greensboro Coliseum, and afterward, some of them appeared resigned to the fact their season was over.
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THI asked multiple players if they wanted to play in the NIT if the NCAA wasn’t going to happen for them, and none said straight up they would.
“I don’t know, I’m not talking about that,” forward Pete Nance replied.
“I don’t have a comment,” wing Leaky Black said.
“I’m a player,” senior and first-team All-ACC forward Armando Bacot said. “If Coach (Hubert Davis) tells us we’re playing, (I’ll play). But it’s not something I want to do.”
The Tar Heels are the first preseason No. 1 team to not reach the NCAA Tournament since the field expended to 64 teams in 1985. They fell out of the rankings before November was over, returned for one week in late December, and didn’t come close to being ranked from that point on.
Carolina had two four-game losing streaks, the first time a preseason No. 1 team had even one, and it lost six of its last ten games, including three of its last four at home.
UNC has appeared in the NIT six times in its history, but just twice since the NCAA started allowing multiple teams from a conference into the NCAA Tournament in 1975. Carolina’s al-time record in the NIT is 13-5. It won the title in 1971, placed third in 1973, and lost to Dayton in the finals in 2010.
The other time the Tar Heels played in the NIT since 1975 was in 2003, when Matt Doherty’s third and final UNC team played three home games, ultimately losing to Georgetown and missing a chance at getting to the NIT semifinals in New York City.
So, UNC concludes its season without playing in either national tournament just more than 11 months after falling to Kansas in the national championship game, a contest the Tar Heels led by 15 points at halftime.
