How UNC went from preseason No. 1 to missing NCAA Tournament

NorthCarolina started the year at No. 1 only to miss the NCAATournament. And that was enough for the Tar Heels to call it aseason.

The Tar Heelson Sunday officially became the firsttop-ranked team in The AssociatedPress preseason pollto miss March Madness since thefield’s expansion to 64 teams in 1985. Shortly after the NCAA fieldof 68 teams was revealed, the school announced it had “chosen notto participate” in the NIT to end its season.

In astatement, coach Hubert Davis said the focus all season had beenfor the team to reach its potential and have another shot at theNCAA title that had eluded the Tar Heels in last March’s magicalrun to the championship game. Instead, as Davis said, the season“wasn’t what we had hoped for.”

“Many factorsgo into postseason play and we believe now is the time to focus onmoving ahead, preparing for next season and the opportunity toagain compete for ACC and NCAA championships,” Davis said.

The statementcame a few hours before the NIT field of 32 teams was to beunveiled.

The Tar Heels(20-13) returned four starters from last year’s wild postseasonride under Davis, who was in his first season replacing retiredHall-of-Famer Roy Williams. The highlight was beating Duke in the FinalFour — and sending Hall-of-Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski intoretirement — in the first-ever NCAA Tournament meeting between thefamed rivals.

Yet littlewent to plan ina season of unfulfilledexpectations, down to being listed as one of the first fourteams outside the field.

The Tar Heelswere one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in program history,and that allowed defenders to sag down on AP All-ACC big manArmando Bacot inside and take away driving lanes while daring themto make outside shots. They also had a mystifying knack for failingto close out tight games or making simple mistakes that provedcritical the longer games wore on.

Thecombination first knocked them out of theAP Top 25for good before thestart of 2023, then turned a once-unthinkable Selection Sundayoutcome into a reality.

“Thepressure, I think, can get to everybody,” Bacot said after a secondloss to the Blue Devils at the end of the regular season. “I mean,we’re human. I’d definitely say it somewhat got into our lockerroom.”

Of the 38teams to be AP preseason No. 1 since 1985, 18 reached at least theFinal Four, with six winning the NCAA championship. The Tar Heelswere among that group in 2016, losing the title to Villanova onKris Jenkins’ last-second 3-pointer in Houston — ironically thesite of this year’s Final Four. But they returned the next year toclaim the title that had eluded them.

This year’steam was trying to become the third in program history to pull offthat redemption arc. The other came in 1982, when a team that lostto Isiah Thomas and Indiana returned to beat Patrick Ewing andGeorgetown with a roster featuring program greats James Worthy, SamPerkins and a skinny freshman named Michael Jordan.

Yet thisyear’s Tar Heels couldn’t land the bid to even get that shot.

They had nobad losses yet stood at just 1-9in Quadrant 1 games that top an NCAAresume. Most notably: there wasa four-overtime November loss toeventual No. 1 overall NCAA Tournament seed Alabamain agame that highlighted both the Tar Heels’ ability to play withanyone yet also their inability to close out a quality opponentconsidering they led after halftime in eight of their 13losses.

The Tar Heelsarrived at the home-state Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament inGreensboro knowing they had to work to do to bolster their NCAAchances. They beat Boston College but struggled against No. 13Virginia’s grinding defense, while Bacot exited early with an ankleinjury from the BC win.

By theendof that 68-59 loss, the TarHeels seemed resigned to Sunday’s outcome.

“It’s a lotof emotions just to see from last year, the type of run we made,”guard R.J. Davis said. “Like you said, looking from the outside inthis year, it’s tough. It’s a tough position to be in.”