North Carolina: Losing Luster?

Before the season began the North Carolina Tar Heels were the unanimous preseason No. 1 team in the nation. There was not a discouraging word to he heard about Roy William’s baby blue roster, which was filled with upper classmen who knew how to get to the Final Four, including the reigning Naismith Player of the Year, forward Tyler Hansbrough.  But the mighty have fallen- not dramatically so, but enough raise some rumblings. Are the Heels good enough to win the National Championship Game?

North Carolina just recently lost one of their best defensive players, Marcus Ginyard, to a foot injury, and Roy Williams suspended another player, Will Graves, for behavior problems. The Heels have lost games to Boston College and Wake Forest. But is the dire attitude about North Carolina deserved?

To the Final Four Blog, it appears as though the Heels are a victim of expectations that were inflated way beyond capacity to start the season.  If you look at the stats, you’ll see the Heels are still a top 5 team, with the No. 1 most efficient offense in the country. Check out Kenpom.com’s stats. Their defense is No. 20, and they have wins over strong teams, like Clemson, Miami, Michigan State and Notre Dame. They even shoot free throws well. So let’s not write North Carolina’s obituary just yet, folks.

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Permalink - Posted in General on February 5, 2009 - Post a comment