While I was watching the NC State – UNC game last night and UNC’s halftime lead was dwindling, I knew what I was going to write about. I remember back when Dean Smith was the coach at UNC. They were always good and they always came back on you. Even if your team was playing great and built a nice lead, you just knew they would come back. Hell, everyone knew. It was a huge psychological advantage, because once they got a few buckets, their fans would get into it and the opposing team, coaches and players, would get tight.
These days though, that magic is gone. UNC seems to have made a habit of building a lead, usually in the first half, and then blowing it. They’re like the anti-Heels.
But then, UNC did manage to hold on their lead last night.
So, I won’t write all that.
Instead I just say that it was a huge win for them, effectively locking up their NCAA bid, as it’s impossible for Clemson to win in Chapel Hill. That means that the worst UNC can do is 7-9 in the ACC which is good enough for a bid this year.
For State, this loss doesn’t really mean much. And that’s probably why they lost. These days in the ACC, your best bet for predicting a winner is often by assessing who needs the win more. State has second place locked up while UNC is still fighting for an NCAA bid.
Definitely a huge win for UNC. I think that they will definitely finish 8-8 in the conference and perhaps 9-7 if they can pull off the upset in Durham next weekend.
I’m a bit irked that we played so badly on D. We managed to keep UNC’s streak alive of sweeping an oppenent. UNC came out hungry and finished. If this an indication of their post season preperation, people better get ready. They are going to go into The Dance strong. They are making a big late season run from 7th to 4th place and if the tourney was held today, I think on a neutral court they beat GT going away.
I don’t see them not getting an invite since they’ve beaten UConn who was #1 at the time and they had two huge road wins against ranked teams, NCSU and WF. Toss in an RPI of 16 and they’re a lock. Beating Duke in Cameron would get them over 500 in conference and post some impressives wins this year.
I’m just irked that because of expansion we might not get to pay UNC back for a few years depending upon how they divie up the conference next year.
Actually UNC won because I did a John Knight and listened to the game. 🙂