Banghart’s small lineup pays off in Big Dance for UNC
North Carolina women’s basketball coach Courtney Banghart’s decision to go small a month ago paid off big on Monday when the Tar Heels earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in just her second season at the helm.
The Tar Heels (13-10) earned a No. 10 seed in the Hemisfair Region and will face No. 7 seed Alabama (16-9) next Monday at noon on ESPN. Should they advance, they would face the winner of No. 2 Maryland and No. 15 Mount St. Marys in the second round in San Antonio.
Banghart replaced 6-foot-3 forward Malu Tshitenge, who started 11 of the Heels’ first 16 games, and put four guards around center Janelle Bailey, who is the team’s leading scorer. Banghart said It opened up their spacing, allowed them to play faster and defend better. And to her surprise, they didn’t lose as much as she thought rebounding.
“It was really a pretty massive change,” Banghart said. “It wasn’t a click your heels and hope for it. It was a statistical and a strategy change in terms of personnel that has really helped our team.”
What really helped also is that freshman guard Deja Kelly elevated her play. She scored double figures in five straight games for the first time all season. And over that span, she averaged 19.2 points. Now imagine what the San Antonio native might do with her chance to play at home in the tournament.
“Deja Kelly’s playing better basketball,” Banghart said. “Everyone’s journey looks different and her journey was a slower start than she would have liked. But we saw it in practice everyday, she was getting better. And as Deja has played better, we have played better.”
Tar Heels on a roll
The Heels enter the NCAAs having won five of their past seven games, including beating rival N.C. State — an NCAA Tourney No. 1 seed — and three games on the road. Those were likely the wins that secured UNC’s tournament berth considering the NCAA selection committee revealed it was one of the last four at-large bids.
Just don’t let Banghart hear the Heels referred to as a bubble team. The committee obviously respected the ACC, as the league led all conferences with eight bids received. That included Wake Forest, which ended the longest active drought for a major conference school, making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1988. The Demon Deacons are a No. 9 seed in the Alamo Region and will face No. 8 Oklahoma State on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Deacs finished percentage points behind UNC in the ACC standings, but probably received a lower seed thanks to their 82-71 head-to-head win in the ACC tournament. Some prognosticators viewed that game as a de facto play-in game for the Heels, but the committee clearly did not.
“When you look at our quality wins, versus our bad losses, it wasn’t at all a bubble in my opinion,” Banghart said.
Carolina has some familiarity with Alabama. UNC assistant coach Adrian Walters joined Banghart’s staff from Alabama. The Heels lost to the Crimson Tide last season 83-77 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Bailey and Tshitenge are the only rotation players who logged minutes in that loss to the Tide.
Carolina’s a much different team than last year with seven newcomers including five freshmen, which is why Banghart is so pleased they get a chance to experience the tournament. It plants a firm foundation for the program she wants to build moving forward.
“The young guys will get to experience the NCAA tournament for what they will have later on in their careers is a run that they get to create on their own,” Banghart said. “But this is their very first run and it’s important that we honor the moment with with competitiveness and with grit for sure.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 10:37 PM.