McGraw hasn’t won often in 2019-20, but on social media Monday night she was lights out.
When you think Muffet McGraw you think building a program from a near-nothing to a national powerhouse. You also probably think of a couple of national championship banners that hang in Purcell Pavilion and a bunch more Final Four appearances.
When you think Roy Williams you probably think somewhat the same in terms of men’s basketball as he holds a few national championships himself, is a legend in the game and has guided both Kansas and North Carolina to elite levels on an annual basis.
Except this year.
McGraw’s Notre Dame squad sits just 10-16 on the season and 5-9 in ACC play. Meanwhile Roy’s Tar Heels are an unheard of 3-11 in conference play entering Monday night.
McGraw didn’t shy away from the fact the two former champions are suffering through a couple of trying seasons.
SUPPORT GROUP MEETING of former champions on handling the adversity of this season🏀🤔🤷🏻♀️ Yo @SteveKerr … we are holding a spot for you 😉 pic.twitter.com/NjTbwBtKQp
For what it’s worth (probably very little), Notre Dame has covered just once in their last eight games played on a Monday.
I know North Carolina is struggling this season and that Roy Williams pretty much told his team earlier this year that they were painful to watch, awful and every other negative adjective you could think.
I also know that that Tar Heels are just 9-15 since their opening night win over the Fighting Irish in November and have struggled mightily even with Cole Anthony (19.3 ppg) returning to the lineup.
But it’s still a rare day, or at least feels like one when Notre Dame is favored over North Carolina in basketball and that’s exactly what we have in the case of Monday night’s game.
Notre Dame is listed as a 2.5 point favorite over the Tar Heels tonight with the total set at 147.5. A successful North Carolina money-line bet would pay +105.
Odds via BetMGM. Access USATODAY Sports Betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated February 17 at 11:15 a.m. ET
North Carolina defeated Notre Dame 76-65 to open the season on November 6 but has since struggled to a 10-15 overall record and a 3-11 ACC record, good for last place in the conference.
Notre Dame meanwhile enters 15-10 overall, 6-8 in conference and 12-3 on their home court this season.
Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN tonight.
For what it’s worth (probably very little), Notre Dame has covered just once in their last eight games played on a Monday.
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Analyzing Duke Blue Devils at North Carolina Tar Heels sports betting odds and lines, with college basketball betting picks and tips.
The Duke Blue Devils (19-3) head to Chapel Hill to play their longtime rival, the North Carolina Tar Heels (10-12), in the Dean E. Smith Center at 6:30 p.m. ET. We analyze the Duke-North Carolina odds and betting lines, with college basketball betting advice and tips around this matchup.
Duke at North Carolina: Three things you need to know
Duke versus North Carolina is one of college basketball’s most storied rivalries. Today will be the 250th meeting between the two schools and the Tar Heels lead the Blue Devils in the all-time series, 138-111.
This North Carolina team is on pace to be the worst Tar Heel team of the Roy Williams era. The Tar Heels have made the NCAA Tournament in 16 of Williams’ 17 seasons at the helm and have never finished below .500.
The Blue Devils come into today’s game on a four-game winning streak after taking back-to-back losses to the Louisville Cardinals and Clemson Tigers. Their star freshman center, Vernon Carey Jr., averaged 20 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in those four wins.
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Duke at North Carolina: Odds, betting lines and picks
This is a fringe play, but let’s SPRINKLE A SMALL WAGER ON NORTH CAROLINA +280 on the money line. From a recruiting standpoint, Duke does have a talent advantage: The Blue Devils have eight RSCI top-100 recruits compared to the Tar Heels’ five top-100 recruits. But North Carolina has the most prized recruit out of the two teams in PG Cole Anthony, who should be a top-5 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft. Between he and PF GarrisonBrooks—who’s averaging 14.9 points and nine rebounds per game make him a difficult matchup for Duke’s Carey Jr.—the Tar Heels have real money line value in the Smith Center.
Betting trends are in favor of BETTING NORTH CAROLINA +8 (-115). First, the Tar Heels are 5-1 against the spread in their last six meetings versus Duke. Second, North Carolina is 4-3 ATS on the road against above .500 teams and 1-0 ATS when getting 7.5-9.5 points. Since 2015, North Carolina’s ACC conference game ATS record is better than Duke’s—the Tar Heels are 52-42-2 ATS, while the Blue Devils are 44-50-2 ATS against ACC competition.
We are on the UNDER 150.5 (-115) in North Carolina-Duke. The Under correlates with our Tar Heels money line and ATS picks because they have the most Unders in the ACC with a 7-14-1 Over/Under record. Also, the last six North Carolina-Duke games have gone Under.
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The Tar Heels have lost nine of their last 12 games.
If you’re wondering how long it’s been since the North Carolina men’s basketball team was this bad, the easy answer is that it’s been a while.
The Tar Heels look terrible this season, and that’s not by the standards of a blue-blood program and (almost) a perennial national championship contender. That’s by average college basketball standards. They’re having a historically bad season, and the injuries — particularly playing without star freshman guard Cole Anthony, who’s been out since December after undergoing an arthroscopic knee procedure for a partially torn meniscus — aren’t helping.
After being down by 20 points on the road against Pitt on Saturday, UNC ultimately lost to the Panthers, 66-52. The final score makes it seem closer than it was, with the Tar Heels shooting 31.7 percent from the field, going 10-for-21 from the free throw line and turning the ball over 16 times.
Although Williams’ took some responsibility after losing to Clemson, he also passed the buck to his players after the 96-83 loss to Georgia Tech, saying this squad is “probably the least gifted team I have ever coached.”
Their only ACC win was the season-opener against Notre Dame, and they’re in a tie with Wake Forest at the bottom of the conference standings. They could also miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
To add a little more context, here are five stats illustrating the bigger picture of UNC’s uncharacteristic struggles this season.
1. It’s UNC’s worst start in almost 20 years
This is what we meant by historically bad. Through a little more than half of the 2019-20 season, the Tar Heels are 8-9, marking this the program’s worst start since the 2001-02 season when they opened at 6-11, the Associate Press noted. That’s… not great.
Yeah. The team is 0-4 through its first games of the new year, losing to Georgia Tech, Clemson and Pitt twice. Two of them were by double digits, and against the Yellow Jackets, the Tar Heels were down, 47-27, at the half. In the early January 73-65 loss to Pitt, the Tar Heels blew a nine-point halftime lead and were massively outscored in the second half.
3. UNC has lost 9 of its last 12 games
The Tar Heels’ three wins in there were against Oregon (now ranked No. 8), UCLA and Yale. However, their losses range from now-No. 1 Gonzaga to Wofford, which is currently the fifth-best team in the Southern Conference.
4. UNC isn’t shooting among the top-300 teams
(Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports)
Through the first 16 games of the season, UNC shot 40.5 percent from the field, putting it in a three-way tie for No. 322, along with Oklahoma State and Florida A&M. While the DI teams’ stats will be updated again when all of Saturday’s games end, it’s safe to stay that with the Tar Heels’ performance against Pitt, they’re not jumping into the top 300.
5. UNC is ranked 119th
Forget about the top-25 teams; out of 353 total teams, the NCAA had UNC ranked No. 119 going into Saturday, and with the loss to Pitt, we’re thinking the team stays put or drops a spot or two. Additionally, at the time of this post, the Tar Heels were ranked 89th in the KenPom ratings.
Roy Williams isn’t happy with what he called the “least gifted team” he’s ever coached at North Carolina.
North Carolina began the college basketball season ranked 11th in the coaches poll and 9th in the AP top-25, but Roy Williams’ Tar Heels have gone 1-3 against ranked teams and are 1-2 in the ACC to start the year. With star Cole Anthony out with a knee injury, it’s possible that North Carolina (8-6) could go on to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010, barring a mid-season turnaround.
Over the weekend, the Tar Heels suffered an embarrassing loss on their own floor to Georgia Tech, falling behind by 20 at halftime in a game they eventually lost 96-83. On his radio show earlier this week, coach Williams called out his team, and labeled them the “least gifted” squad he’s ever coached in Chapel Hill.
“God almighty, they outscored us in the paint, 58-36. They shot 60 percent. We shot 42. How many different reasons – we sucked! Excuse me, we stunk. We were not very good. The crazy thing about it is our team, and we’ve had some very gifted teams, this is not a very gifted team. It’s just not. Two freshmen replace Coby (White) and Nassir (Little) with Armando (Bacot) and Cole (Anthony) and with Cole being hurt right now it’s sort of a decent trade, but that’s not that bad a trade. But Kenny (Williams), Cam (Johnson) and Luke (Maye), there’s nobody to replace those guys.
“So, it’s probably the least gifted team I have ever coached in the time that I’ve been back here. So, if you’re going to be like that, you need to bring your A-game even though your A-game might not even be an A-game.”
North Carolina still has five matchups against ranked ACC teams on the schedule not including the ACC Tournament, including the two annual meetings with Duke, so the Tar Heels have plenty of chances to score marquee victories and improve their resume. Williams’ “tell your players they suck” approach may not be the best motivational tactic, but time will tell.
