WASHINGTON, DC – As the pain subdues into a memory and North Carolina’s focus is launching into NCAA Tournament play Thursday afternoon, whatever the Tar Heels learned by losing to NC State in the ACC championship game remains with them.
What they learned is actually something they already knew. It wasn’t rocket science trying to dissect why they lost to the tenth-seed Wolfpack, 84-76. In a nutshell, UNC didn’t play well, and to a man, the players acknowledged that reality.
But they also recognize there is more basketball in front of them; anywhere between one and six games. One, if the Heels bow out in the first round, and six if they play for the national championship.
“That you don’t get another shot at this,” UNC junior forward Harrison Ingram said late Saturday night, sitting in front of his locker inside Capital One Arena. “Coach (Hubert) Davis was telling us how next loss we’re out. We can’t have another game where they come out and play significantly harder than us.”
Time heals all wounds, and by the time Carolina (27-7) takes the court as the one seed in the West Region on Thursday in Charlotte, the loss in DC will seem like forever ago. But the next wave of dreams could be gone in a flash, too.
So, the series of reminders, as sophomore Seth Trimble called them, must stay tucked away within each Tar Heel. And so should the reality that not winning the ACC Tournament isn’t exactly a kiss of death in the NCAA Tournament.
Connecticut dominated its way to the national championship last season, but the Huskies didn’t win the Big East Tournament. Baylor, which won the big dance in 2021, did not win the Big 12 Tournament title that year.
In fact, eight of the last 11 national champions did not win their respective conference tournaments, including UNC in 2017. Going a giant step forward, Carolina’s last four national title clubs failed to cut down the nets in the ACC Tournament.
Dean Smith’s last NCAA champion in 1993 lost to Georgia Tech in the ACC title game. The 2005 Tar Heels, Roy Williams’ first title team, lost in the ACC semifinals to Georgia Tech. The 2009 team fell to Florida State in the semifinals. And the 2017 squad lost to Duke with a spot in the championship on the line.
So, history clearly shows there is zero connection between performance in the ACC Tournament connecting with performance in the NCAA Tournament.
“Hopefully we can get some of that luck then,” graduate forward Armando Bacot said. “Hopefully that’s a good sign.”
The lesson, if it was needed, is the season isn’t over, and with Carolina getting the No. 1 seed in the West Region and getting to open NCAA play in Charlotte, little was lost in the grand scheme of things by not cutting down the nets in the nation’s capital.
No doubt adding a 19th ACC Tournament banner to the Dean Dome rafters would have been a worthy accomplishment, but this year’s team will ultimately be remembered for what happens over the next few weeks.
“This is tough, is stings, because it’s something that we wanted to accomplish,” senior guard RJ Davis said after Saturday’s game. “We set it as a goal earlier in the year. We’ve also got to understand we’ve got more basketball to play, and our response is going to be good.”
That begins Thursday afternoon against the winner of Tuesday’s Howard-Wagner NCAA opening round game.
