The North Carolina Tar Heels came into the season with high expectations and a preseason No. 1 ranking, but are now likely to miss the NCAA Tournament after their ACC Tournament loss on Thursday.
The Tar Heels made a surprise run to the championship game last year, and the expectations as a result seemed to hang over them all season. Star forward Armando Bacot seemed to sum that up with one brutal quote about the team’s performance all year.
“The story of this year was talking about last year,” Bacot said after the game, via Brendan Marks of The Athletic.
North Carolina is one of the best recent examples of a team that was simply weighed down too much by outside chatter. They got off to an underwhelming start and never recovered, winding up with a disappointing 20-13 record. The unthinkable scenario of missing the NCAA Tournament entirely appears to be a near-certainty.
It’s far from the worst part of the outcome, but the Tar Heels will definitely be hearing more from their rivals assuming they are left out on Selection Sunday.
