Yeah that sucked. The problem with Duke and hating those guys so much is losing a game like this really sticks in your craw. I would have much rather played Virginia Tech and lost than stomach this.
At any rate, UNC just did not have a good weekend in general. It took some incredible efforts to beat to lower seeded teams after slow starts. A slow start against Duke was not going to work and that is exactly what happened. This weekend and this game really came down to a bad stretch of games for Kendall Marshall and John Henson. It was really the play of Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes that kept the Heels in the first two games. In the game against Duke, Zeller was the only consistent option and Barnes got it going a little too late to matter. Also, Duke got contributions from role players instead leaning completely on Nolan Smith and Seth Curry. Combine that with UNC shooting the ball poorly, committing turnovers and possibly being a tad fatigued in just ended being a crappy game for the Heels. Like I said, I don’t mind the crappy game from time to time. You would hope it doesn’t happen in tournament play or against Duke. It did today so all you can hope for is to move on to the NCAA Tournament and make some noise there. And no, I don’t think this game or weekend tells you much one way or the other about UNC’s chances in the NCAA Tournament other than the possibility that Harrison Barnes could take over.
Now we await the selection show. I still think UNC can get a #2 seed but we will have to wait and see. While we wait let’s try to keep the following topics to a minimum.
-Officiating. Duke was called for 20 fouls to UNC’s 16. I know Duke plays the way they do but the foul calls in the box score do not favor UNC’s complaints.
-Complaining about Roy’s attitude towards the ACC Tournament. You were not in the locker room so you have no idea what he told his team so just let it be.
UNC did not lose today because of either of these. They lost because they were turnover prone and missed shots. It happens sometimes, I just hope it doesn’t happen again starting later this week.
