Since good teams don’t lose by 33 points under any circumstances, there’s no way to classify North Carolina a good basketball team these days.
Saturday’s 90-57 loss at Florida State changed everything about the Tar Heels, including the way they have to be assessed three games into ACC play.
Good teams lose, of course. That happens daily.
Connecticut won the NCAA title last season after dropping nine games in the middle of the schedule. But even in the midst of apparent full-blown nose dive, the Huskies managed to stay marginally close in games. The biggest losses were by 17 at St. John’s and by 15 at Louisville.
Dean Smith’s 1993 NCAA title team at Carolina lost successive games at Virginia (88-62) and at Wake Forest (81-67) in mid-season.
N.C. State lost 10 games en route to the 1983 title but none by more than 18 points.
Losses the size of the one Carolina absorbed in Tallahassee usually transcend the “just one game” or “fluke” clichés.
Good teams don’t always show up with their “A” game. But as Tiger Woods said a few months back, good golfers don’t have “Z” games. In other words, if you pull a “Z” performance, you’re either an average player having a bad day or just plain bad, period.
The same applies to basketball teams. Carolina showed the world a “Z” show in all respects Saturday. (For visual proof, here are 139 photos from the game.)
The Tar Heels obviously aren’t a bad team. But we know now they’re not a good one, either. That puts them squarely in the fair category. It defies logic, but that’s where they are on mid-January.
With so much talent and depth on the roster, the Heels have a fighting chance to make a 180-degree turn. If nothing else, the trip to Florida State provided Roy Williams and his players with an unmistakable reading on who they are.
How a team that easily should be among the nation’s two or three best has deteriorated into a 33-point victim to a very average opponent will have to be addressed by Williams, his assistants and the players.
Something has to be dreadfully wrong. More likely, several things fall into that category.
In a so-so conference, the Heels may yet be good enough to win the ACC regular season.
But there’s no way at the moment to still view this UNC team as a serious NCAA Final Four contender.
Columnist
Comments
haha
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 19:49 — Surfer"The Heels are not a good team" Is it April first? or what? ROTFLOL! Yes, the Heels laid a big fat egg, but FSU still played great defense and hit some great shots. Don't take anything away from how well FSU played, they would have beaten most teams with that performance.
One game
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 00:32 — JPDOhioDoes not determine whether a team is good or not. So I agree with you and disagree with CT when he characterizes UNC as "not good" or average. They are a team with outstanding talent that does not consistently play to its maximum potential. They have the talent to win the national championship. They also have the potential to get upset in the first round of the tournament. The Fla State game has proven they are vulnerable. Whether Roy can start focusing on things he can control (his team's performance) and quit worrying about things he can't (who is sitting behind his bench, whether the fans will storm the court, etc.) is questionable.
Agree
Tue, 01/17/2012 - 13:19 — SurferWell said. However, against FSU, he was not worried about whether or not the FSU fans would storm the floor .... he was worried about, "how could we survive it".
It's Roy
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 15:45 — oldwellerThere's obviously a disconnect between Roy Williams and his team, i.e. they don't like playing for him. When teams quit like the Heels did on Saturday something is very wrong. For too long, Ol' Roy's gotten a free pass on embarassing public behavior that the likes of a Dean Smith never would have been capable of. It is not hard to imagine that if Roy shows his temper as frequently as he does in public, then his behind-the-scenes temper must be considerably worse and more frequent. Ol' Roy comes across as a little dictator/bully, not a smart, savvy basketball coach. Maybe Kansas will take him back?
oldceller!
Wed, 01/18/2012 - 20:00 — bluecat69bluecat69kansas dont want him back, remember he got them put on probation, for handing out money and clothes. go BLUEDEVILS!
This is a bit stupid..
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 15:00 — adriardiThe team may have lost, but they are still not average. Could an average team keep up with Kentucky and lose by one possesion (or whatever it was)? No. They had mental problems, weren't motivated, whatever it was, but that team is still above average.
The bottleneck is at the top
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 11:58 — andy65The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle. Don't ask the walk-ons to help address the problems.
Envy
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 10:15 — tarheel73Ninety percent of the ACC and NCAA's coaches wish they had an "average" team like the Tar Heels.
so is FSU in the 90% or the
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 10:52 — dar456so is FSU in the 90% or the 10%?
.
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 10:53 — dar456.
Tudor
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 09:46 — gvillegatrWhich is it ?
Are they fair or can they still win the ACC ? You flip flopped at least twice in your piece above.
state college was less than fair in '82-'83 when they won the NCAA title. UNC will be just fine.
University of No Class
Sun, 01/15/2012 - 22:35 — ProwlingWoofieAverage team, embarrassing coach.
howling-woofie!
Wed, 01/18/2012 - 19:56 — bluecat69bluecat69VERY WELL PUT!go bluedevils!
pot meet kettle..
Mon, 01/16/2012 - 15:44 — dkellyuncembarassing? sorry Roy isn't hounding the co-eds and resigning mid season or has a son that's into all the criminal activity that Sid's was in to.
what Roy did was way over the top but everyone's entitled to a screw up every now and then.
Any State fan calling UNC average should be considered a compliment seeing as you guys would know a average team when you see one... you guys finally get to see a average team play in Raleigh.