Well today started out as a beautiful, 75 degree Sunday in the South, and ended with a similarly beautiful evening spent grilling and watching the ESPN Selection business.
Unfortunately, in the middle we had to watch that ACC Tournament final. That, clearly, sucked. However, as awful as it is to have to watch UNC lose by 17 to Duke, I would caution Tar Heel fans or bracketeers who try to read too much into that loss. This team is not built to win three games in three days. Kendall Marshall is the only true point guard, and he also happens to be the key to everything the Heels have been able to accomplish recently. Anyone who watched him in that game should recognize that he was simply not at 100% after playing two very difficult games back-to-back for the first time in his young career. Also, it probably didn't help matters that the only other somewhat legitimate option at the 1- as well as UNC's best perimeter defender- was saddled with 3 early "fouls" because of some personal vendetta that Karl Hess happened to have against him. More on that later.
I'm just not sure that this loss will linger all that long for this team. After all, this was still a young team that had managed to win 10 in a row including a very emotional victory over Duke for the ACC Regular Season Championship. This streak led the entire national media to jump all over them which no doubt went to the guys' head just a little bit. As I have said many times before, they read the same things we do, and you had to see a little bit of a letdown coming. If that letdown had to come, I'm glad it game in the tournament that doesn't matter rather than the one that does, which starts Thursday.
One final note: I HATE using officiating as an excuse, and I didn't think that overall the officiating went Duke's way or UNC's way (I did think it was equally bad on both sides). But the charges that were called on Dexter Strickland in the first half were- in my opinion- absolutely ludicrous, especially the second one. Strickland CHANGED DIRECTION to miss Singlers (except for his shoulder) then elevated and bashed over top of him, with only slight contact. If you make that call you are taking athleticism out of basketball, which is ridiculous. If you want to make that call then we should just do away with driving to the rack and play a freaking game of HORSE. Just saying. I'm still frustrated by that.
Now on to the NCAA Tournament. I will offer initial thoughts on the East Region only as it relates to the Heels and then expand with further thoughts later this week. Obviously, at first glance the bracket looks quite daunting. Tar Heel Fan has a nice graphic here showing the Pomeroy rankings for the teams in the East. Clearly the most striking is 7 seed Washington which is 15th in those rankings, just one spot behind UNC and three behind Syracuse. No doubt this has led many like Doug Gottlieb and even our own Hubert Davis to pick the Huskies over UNC. First, I will say that this is good as I think history proves that this team plays much better when no one believes in them than when they are able to shower in praise. After that, though, I will focus no more on the Huskies because there is the first round to contend with and we should worry about that game first (as should Washington, as Georgia has a ton of talent). Long Island is ranked 4th in tempo by Pomeroy which I think will be interesting and maybe a good thing as it may help to get the Heels' offense back on track. If they come out like they should following a poor showing at the ACCT, then Long Island will play right into their hands by attempting to run with them. Classically, teams that try to run with Ol' Roy do not have much success. Hopefully this is again the case and hopefully that will give them confidence as well on the offensive end which they can translate to further games.
As for the rest of the bracket, obviously you have to hate seeing Syracuse in there because of their length and that dadgum zone which will no doubt frustrate the Heels should they wind up playing Syracuse in the Sweet 16. However, I will add that Syracuse has been very inconsistent this season and is in fact probably overseeded as a 3. Ohio State is a great team but if we get to them then we are in the Elite 8 and the pressure is probably off so I'm okay with that.
In the end, I don't usually get too worked up over easy vs. hard brackets because my feeling is you're going to have to beat good teams to advance. That said there are some particularly challenging matchups for UNC in their bracket and so in that sense I'm not overly happy about it. Either way though it is probably reasonable to keep in mind that I like this bracket far more than last season's so let's get to the games and go from there. I do believe that the loss to Duke will motivate this team and that their small taste of the one-and-done format will help them come Friday night. Hopefully that will translate into a second weekend birth.
No comments:
Post a Comment