University of North Carolina Athletics
BREWER: Tar Heels Secure Top Four Finish in ACC
February 27, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2006
North Carolina's road wins at Wake Forest and N.C. State last week may have done more than helped the Tar Heels secure a top four finish in the ACC standings.
The victories may well have earned them a spot in Greensboro for the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
The most important accomplishment was to end the season among top four positions in the conference standings. The Tar Heels assured themselves of that by winning those two games and then toppling Maryland at the Smith Center on Sunday night.
Now not even losses in the two final regular-season games could knock Carolina out of a top four spot. Finishing in one of those positions should be a great advantage in next week's ACC Tournament.
The top four teams get a first round bye into the Tournament quarterfinals. The other eight face the task of having to win four games in four days to capture the conference championship. Winning three straight is tough enough. But trying to sweep four in a row in this league would be a tremendous drain on a team, both physically and emotionally.
It's certainly not impossible. In 1997 N.C. State won three straight over three days before falling to Carolina in the championship game.
And with the league now expanded to 12 teams, there will be more excellent teams playing on Thursday. There will be teams with more talent and, perhaps just as importantly, more depth in those opening games. However, all would like that first-round bye.
The fact Carolina is even in this position is a great tribute to Roy Williams, his coaching staff and players. No one picked this team to finish any higher than sixth in the league and most pre-seasons polls had it fighting just to reach the top eight.
What many people didn't count on was the emergence of David Noel into a top-flight star. That may not be evident by simply looking at his season statistics. However, he's made big plays all year and provided important leadership to an inexperienced group of teammates.
The word "leadership" may seem trite and overused to fans. They hear coaches talk about it so much. But, the fact is that leadership on the court and in the locker room is invaluable. Even professional athletes in baseball, football and basketball talk about it. And these are guys making so much money one would think they didn't need to worry about having a leader.
Noel certainly hasn't been the whole story. There has been the rapid improvement by Reyshawn Terry throughout the year, the emergence of Wes Miller in the backcourt and the maturing of a talented freshman class.
Of course, there is plenty of work still to be done. The final week of the regular season includes a rematch with Virginia, who defeated Carolina in Charlottesville last month, and a trip to Duke where J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams and Sean Dockery will be playing their final home game.
Then comes the ACC Tournament next week and the NCAA Tournament the following weekend.
It's in the NCAA's opening rounds that the recent road wins over Wake Forest and State may prove so valuable. Greensboro will be one of the first-round sites. Based on its regular-season record, Duke will certainly be sent there. But, most people believe a second ACC team will also play in Greensboro. The NCAA Basketball Committee went to its pod sites to allow more teams to play closer to home. Four of the teams in Greensboro will be part of one regional and four from another. That allows two ACC teams, seeded in different regionals, to play there without having to face each other.
That's what happened last season when both Carolina and Duke played first and second-round games in Charlotte.
For most of the season N.C. State has seemed to be in the best position to join the Blue Devils in Greensboro. The Wolfpack could still tie or finish ahead of Carolina in the final regular-season standings. But, the Tar Heels' two-game sweep of State would likely give them an edge for a more favorable NCAA playing site. State would probably need to win the ACC Tournament to offset those two losses.
That's why the victory in Raleigh last week was so important.
Of course, all this is only conjecture. Having two ACC teams in Greensboro is no certainty. It was easy for the Basketball Committee to place Carolina and Duke in Charlotte last year. Both were the top seeds in their regionals.
But, there might be some concern about placing the Tar Heels in Greensboro if they should be seeded lower than fourth in their regional. That would give them basically a homecourt advantage against a higher seeded team in a first or second-round game.
Balancing that against the idea of allowing teams to play as close to home as possible is something the Basketball Committee will have to consider.
Still, the road wins at Wake and State put Carolina in a position where there is a chance for a post-season trip to Greensboro. No one would have believed that possible back in October.
