You know the football motto Any Given Sunday?
In college basketball, that motto translates to Any Given Night. This particularly applies to those unthinkable upsets, both in the regular season and the NCAA Tournament. The most insane one in recent memory occurred in last year’s Round of 64, as 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson University upset 1-seed Purdue.
Another crazy upset – this season – occurred in Atlanta, Ga. on Tuesday night.
Despite RJ Davis giving UNC a 1-point lead with several seconds remaining, Georgia Tech upset the third-ranked Tar Heels, 74-73, on Naithan George’s own clutch layup.
There’s no doubt North Carolina is going to slip in the rankings a bit, but how much?
The Tar Heels’ loss also puts their chances at a top regional seed in jeopardy, but that is all fixed if they beat Duke on Saturday.
Even thought UNC would still hold first place in the ACC, regardless of the result, the USA Today Bracketology explains why a North Carolina loss could change their NCAA Tournament outlook.
“The loss to the Yellow Jackets was Carolina’s first in more than a month and the team’s first in ACC play. The Tar Heels are 1½ games ahead of the second-place Blue Devils heading into Saturday’s matchup in Chapel Hill.”
It’s hard to believe the Blue Devils would slide into a top seed if they won, but it’s also equally as difficult to believe UNC would hold onto a top seed with a loss.
I think North Carolina comes out with a lot more fire in Saturday’s Tobacco Road rivalry matchup. Knowing head coach Hubert Davis, he had a good, long conversation with his players about what they need to fix.
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