Did the people writing the script get the memo?
The Tar Heels headed into the this season as the top-ranked team in college basketball – returning four of five starters on last year’s Final Four team. When Armando Bacot, Caleb Love, RJ Davis and Leaky Black announced they were returning to Carolina to finish what they started…this time winning the National Championship…some Carolina fans started booking their flights to Houston. Now with the regular season in its final two weeks, the Tar Heels finds themselves in a position where they may not make the NCAA Tournament at all.
After falling to 15th ranked Miami 80-72 Monday night, North Carolina has a tough schedule and limited opportunities to get the wins needed to convince the selection committee they deserve to dance.
“Our backs are against the wall,” point guard RJ Davis said after Monday’s loss. “We’ve just got to battle through it. There’s no running away from this moment, we’ve just got to attack it.”
“We’re playing for something bigger and hanging our heads will not help,” junior Caleb Love said. “We just have to step up and own what we did and didn’t do on the court, come back at practice, get better at what we need to get better at and focus on the next game.”
There’s no question that this team has the talent needed to not only make the NCAA Tournament, but make a Final Four run. The question is if they have the fight. Do they have the dawg? Facing a tough road ahead with games at NC State, at Notre Dame, home versus Virginia, at Florida State and home against Duke, North Carolina will need to win at least three of the their final five games and preferably four out of five to solidify their post season hopes.
“One thing about this team, for the roller coaster year that we did have, when we got knocked down we got right back up,” Davis continued. “We have some fighters on this team and I know each player in the locker room won’t back down. We’re going to continue to fight for the remainder of the season.”