CHAPEL HILL, N.C. –– The finality of March Madness is captivating, making it one of, if not the best sporting event in the world.
And that is why the season-ending, heartbreaking loss to Alabama in the Sweet Sixteen last week still leaves a pit in Carolina fans’ stomachs, and a stinging feeling within the Tar Heels as a whole.
Prior to the game, there was no indication that March 28th in Crypto.com Arena would be their first and last trip there. Nobody anticipated they’d be in the suiting up just one more time – being together as a group for the last time.
It wasn’t supposed to be the end of the road for this Carolina basketball team. Yet amid the presumed script of a matchup against Caleb Love and Arizona, because let’s be honest everyone wanted to see that happen, we instead saw the No.1-seeded Tar Heels be humbled with a not so sweet exit.
“I’m definitely hurt, I think we all are a little shocked,” said Armando Bacot in the press conference after the loss. “We don’t underestimate any opponent, but they just made more shots than us. I felt like we had a chance to win the national championship this year.”
A lot went wrong at the absolute wrong moment for this team: uncharacteristically poor shot selection and fatigue. These, as head coach Hubert Davis would say, are characteristics of a rainy day.
North Carolina shot 25 percent from the field in the second half – missing 15 of their first 17 shot attempts. It was the worst performance from the program in an NCAA tournament game since 2012.
RJ Davis shot 4-of-20 from the field and 0-of-9 from the three-point line, marking the first time all season that he hadn’t connected from beyond the arc.
“I wasn’t good enough today,” Davis reflected. “I missed a lot of easy shots I normally make.” His voice then trailed off as he wiped his eyes and buried his head in his towel.
His teammate, Notre Dame transfer forward Cormac Ryan, chimed in and told reporters that this team, ‘would not be in the position they are in today without Davis and Bacot.’
While North Carolina had several chances to win the game late, the Crimson Tide simply played better basketball down the stretch. Or as Bacot said, “it boiled down to them just hitting more shots.”
RJ wasn’t the only Tar Heel who didn’t make the shots he usually makes. Bacot missed a wide open dunk and role player Jae’Lyn Withers bricked a 3-pointer. He attempted the shot with a full minute left in the game and 15 seconds left on the shock clock.
Defensive mishaps and inability to keep tempo also defined the loss, but still, it doesn’t mean they as a team failed. Quite frankly, they’ve done the opposite.
Here comes the sun.
Last season, they missed the tournament entirely, something that was unheard of and unacceptable in the history of Carolina basketball. Yet this year, with the influx of five transfers, two freshmen and the dramatic departure of seven players at the end of last season, this group was able to turn things around.
All season, they played with the type of chemistry that other teams envied. The kind of shock that sends bursts of electricity through your veins and they maintained a dynamic that was like no other.
Togetherness was never a problem for these guys. They showed that by staying atop the AP Top 25 and ACC for the majority of the season. They displayed grit and perseverance during SEC wins over Arkansas and Tennessee. At one point they had the highest scoring percentage of any team and eventually they went on to earn a regular season championship.
This group returned Carolina back to its standard, back to where it’s supposed to be. And while the hurt is still there. While super senior Armando Bacot and 25-year-old Cormac Ryan have made it to the end of their tenure at Carolina and ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis’ future with the program is uncertain, all of their names will be sprawled in the history books as some of the best to ever do it.
“In a time in college basketball where there are so many moving parts and so many changes, you have two players that you couldn’t ask them to be as successful as they have been for four and five years respectively at the same institution,” UNC head coach Davis said of RJ and Armando. “Their commitment to Carolina, commitment to this program, to his community, those are the things that I hope
are talked about more. These guys who stayed committed to the process.”
They left it all out there and each moment was special. The manner in which things unfolded is hard to swallow and will be for a minute, but it wasn’t a failure.
“The commitment of this team from the start, to have wanted to be a team, is the thing that has blown me away and restored my faith.”
