As UNC’s losses pile up, NCAA tournament questions emerge
Only twice in Roy Williams’ career has his team missed the NCAA tournament. He missed it after his first season at Kansas in 1989 and then after the 2009-10 season at North Carolina.
The 2010 UNC team lost in the NIT finals.
If things continue as they have for the Tar Heels, this year might be a third time.
UNC has lost five of its last six games, including four straight. And the Tar Heels are 6-5 after their 94-81 loss to Gonzaga on Wednesday night.
Their best player, Cole Anthony, is expected to miss at least a month after he underwent an arthroscopic knee procedure on Monday. Wednesday’s game was the second consecutive he missed.
When asked if there were any encouraging signs from how his team responded without Anthony, Williams said ‘no,’ and that he didn’t want to make excuses.
“I’d love to have Cole with us because he was playing better than anybody else on the offensive end, and second or third-best grade wise on the defensive end, but it is an excuse,” Williams said. “I’m glad that I’m able to get Anthony (Harris) and Jeremiah (Francis) some time, because I think in the long term, that may help, but I just don’t know that I will live that long.”
Before this game, UNC was ranked No. 95 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. The NET rankings are one of the primary tools used to compare teams when determining who will make the NCAA tournament.
Lost in the discussion of how bad UNC has struggled is how tough its schedule has been. Of the Tar Heels’ last six opponents , five are currently ranked in the top 15 of the AP Top 25 Poll.
The schedule lightens up
The good news for the Tar Heels is that the toughest part of their schedule is now past them. The Tar Heels’ next nine games are against teams they are more than capable of beating. Their next four games include UCLA (7-4) at a neutral site, and Yale (9-3), Georgia Tech (4-5), Pittsburgh (8-3) and Clemson (5-5) at home.
The Tar Heels then play Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech (8-3) on the road, before facing Miami (7-3) at home. And if the timeline for Anthony’s return stands, he could return by the time UNC travels to Pitt and before its schedule gets tougher again.
However, in order to win those games, the Tar Heels have to play a heck of a lot better than they have recently.
UNC freshman forward Armando Bacot, arguably the Tar Heels’ third-best player and certainly one of their most talented, is struggling. After shooting 2 of 14 from the floor against Wofford on Sunday, he was 1 of 6 against the Zags.
He picked up two fouls in the first 67 seconds of the game and had to come out. When he came back in, he never really found a rhythm. His only two points was on a put-back dunk late in the second half.
“I have some guys who have lost some confidence with their shot,” Williams said. “Some other guys have got to do better on the defensive end. But our whole team and the coaching staff, we’ve got to do a heck of a lot better.”
The positives
There were some positives, like early in the game when the Tar Heels got out in transition. They had 14 fast break points against the Zags. They also scored 80 points or more for the first time this season.
While they still haven’t shot 50 percent or better, they showed improvement shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from 3.
“I still believe we can be a good team,” said UNC junior forward Garrison Brooks, who had a team-high 16 points. “We can’t let this stretch define us.”
These next few weeks will determine whether the Tar Heels can wheel themselves back into NCAA tournament consideration. But right now, this team would be left out.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 9:23 AM.
