Gov. Roy Cooper using ‘reverse psychology’ on UNC in his NCAA tournament bracket
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is again sticking with superstition when filling out his NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket. Or maybe, he’s just sticking with reason.
Cooper didn’t have the Tar Heels winning it during their last run to a national title in 2017. In fact, he didn’t even have them in the Final Four, instead picking Duke to reach the semifinals and Kentucky to cut down the nets.
“There’s a reverse psychology here,” Cooper said. “I did a reverse jinx when UNC won the national championship in 2017 and it worked.”
He said at the time that he picked against Carolina to win after making that same prediction in 2016 only to watch Villanova’s Kris Jenkins crush the Heels with his game-winning shot at the buzzer.
The biggest difference this year is no one outside of the state border is really picking the Tar Heels, as an eight seed, to win it all. Only one eight seed has ever won the national title and when Villanova did it in 1985 by beating Georgetown, it was regarded as one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.
The Heels face No. 9 seed Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament first-round game Friday at 7 p.m. The game will be in Mackey Arena, home of the Purdue Boilermakers, in West Lafayette, Ind., and televised on CBS.
Baylor is the No. 1 seed in the South region and a potential second-round game for UNC. Baylor and Gonzaga have generally been regarded as the best two teams during the course of the entire season.
“Hey, if Carolina can beat Wisconsin and then beat Baylor,” Cooper said. “They could go all the way.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 5:08 PM.