It’s over. The UNC basketball program will become the first team to start the season No. 1 and miss the NCAA Tournament after bowing out of the ACC Tournament on Thursday night.
North Carolina fell to Virginia 68-59, ending their tournament in the quarterfinals, a night after beating Boston College. With the Tar Heels in the ‘fist four out’ section of Bracketology, it’s unlikely they will make the NCAA Tournament now.
And it comes on a day in which they got some help on the bubble, too.
For North Carolina, Thursday’s loss to Virginia was just the icing on the cake for a disappointing season. It had everything that we’ve seen this team struggle with all season long: Missing open shots, poor defense, injuries, and not being able to take advantage of mistakes Oh, and Armando Bacot was limited again after dealing with an ankle injury.
Watching UNC being unable to stop Virginia possession after possession when the Cavaliers were abusing them in the screen and rolls. On offense, the Tar Heels rarely got an open look and when they did, they often clanked it.
As ESPN’s John Gasaway puts it, it will take a miracle for UNC to get into the tournament:
North Carolina’s season came down to a defensive struggle against Virginia in the ACC quarterfinals. The Cavaliers have built quite the body of work in that area over the last decade, and this time was no different. The Tar Heels came up short by nine, and now Hubert Davis and his team await the committee’s final verdict. Or, quite possibly, they feel they know what that decision will be already. Unless the committee pulls the largest rabbit in Selection Sunday history out of a hat, North Carolina is not going to the NCAA tournament. (updated March 9)
It’s a failure all around and the likely end to a season that a lot of us would like to forget.
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