One Tar Hell Of A Basketball Season

Little did we know when the College of Charleston defeated North Carolina 82-70 in overtime back on January 4th it would lead to a Carolina collapse. Since then the Tar Heels have lost 10 of 13 games. Sorry Carolina fans, the Heels are in total free fall.

Here we are some 3 weeks from the start of the NCAA Tournament and the topic of conversation in restaurants along Franklin Street in Chapel Hill isn't whether the Tar Heels will get a number one seed or which region Carolina will be placed, it's whether the Heels can make the NIT. The friekin' NIT!!!!!

Chalk this up as to how much of a difference a year makes. A year ago at this time North Carolina was a fine tuned machine on the way to an NCAA Championship. This year someone put a banana in the exhaust pipe and slashed the tires of that machine.

You want real numbers as to how bad it is for North Carolina? The Tar Heels are 14-14 overall, 3-9 in the ACC and tied for dead last in the league with NC State. North Carolina fans are having Matt Doherty flashbacks. (By the way, Doherty is head coach of the SMU Mustangs who are 13-14 overall, 6-7 in Conference USA, in the middle of the pack in the conference. No shot of making the tournament.)

North Carolina has no shot of making the NCAA Tournament unless the Tar Heels win the ACC Tournament and that ain't happening. Heck the NIT is a long shot, but there's always the College Basketball Invitational. The CBI will take losers and would love to have a gold standard program like North Carolina in their 16 team field.

Something tells me North Carolina feels they are above the CBI. I would love to see that championship banner in the rafters of the Smith Center.

Photos Courtesy: Robert Willett/Raleigh News-Observer