CHARLOTTE - When 6 PM Selection Sunday arrives, college basketball programs across the country will gather to find out where they fall within the NCAA Tournament bracket. Some teams will have earned their way into the field as an automatic qualifier and others crafting a strong enough resume for an at-large bid.
For North Carolina, its hopes of automatic qualifying for the big dance vanished with a 74-71 loss to Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinal on Friday, and its at-large resume leaves it squarely on the bubble.
Its lone Quad One win came inside Madison Square Garden against UCLA in December, and entering Friday’s matchup against the Blue Devils in Charlotte, the Tar Heels’ NET ranking stood at 35.
With its NCAA Tournament fate now in the hands of the selection committee, UNC believes it’s done enough to hear its name called when the field of 68 is revealed.
“I think we’ve shown these past couple of weeks that we are a tournament team. We’re a special team,” said Davis. “I think if you look at the trajectory of our whole season, the way we dealt with adversity and perseverance, especially the last couple of weeks, I think that’s a tournament team right there for you. That’s what March is about.”
Trailing Duke 45-24 at the break on Friday night, the Tar Heels found themselves in a familiar first half hole, a common occurrence against ranked opponents. But, like they have so often this season, they clawed their way back, coming within one point of the Blue Devils with 32 seconds remaining.
After falling behind 52-28 in the second half, North Carolina outscored the Blue Devils 43-22 over the final 17 minutes of gametime.
It was no consolation prize and did little to put any NCAA Tournament uncertainty to rest, but the Tar Heel feel their comeback, albeit against Duke sans Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown, boosts the odds in its favor.
“I think it does [help]. I think it absolutely does. Duke is an incredible team even without Cooper. I mean he’s one of the best players in America, but Duke is still an incredible team without him,” said Seth Trimble. “But, I’m not the committee so I can’t answer that, but like I said, I’m very proud of my guys and we all [have] full faith that we’re playing next week.”
UNC closed out the regular season and ACC Tournament as winners of eight of its last 10 games, with both losses coming at the hands of the soon-to-be one-seed Blue Devils.
Six of its wins during that stretch were of the double digit variety, including a three-game span in which it never trailed.
While many Tar Heels expounded on their rationale for making the Big Dance, others were more simple spoken, mincing no words on their feelings of being a tournament team.
“Absolutely. 100%,” said Ven-Allen Lubin.
And as UNC returns to Chapel Hill, it's preparing to be playing basketball in the second half of March, a decision that’s out of its control.
“We were all kind of saying we’re playing next week so let’s get ready for that. It’s a quick turnaround, we got a quick turnaround,” said Trimble. “We don’t know where we’re playing, [or] who, but we’re playing next week so time to go.”
For the second time in three seasons, North Carolina will anxiously await 6:00pm on Sunday, hoping to find itself on the right side of the bubble. Its closing statement has the jury still out, but one way or another, a verdict will be rendered on its season, and the Tar Heels feel it should be ruled in their favor.
