Lucas: March Again

By Adam Lucas

GREENSBORO—I remember this.

Can you believe we haven't been able to feel this type of March anxiety since Coby White was a Tar Heel? It came rushing back on Friday night in a postseason-worthy game against Florida State.

It's pretty terrible, honestly. It's not pleasant to say some very regrettable words about no-calls, or to question why the opponent is getting a good look at a three-pointer, or to have to park in the same spot each day (all I can say is that Zone K in the Greensboro Coliseum parking lot, I am very disappointed in you).

But it's also pretty fun. We intellectually understand that only one team is going to win this thing. The odds of ever doing it are incredibly high. But it makes it so much more fun and rewarding (and also painful) when your team competes. And that's what the Tar Heels have done over the past week.

They have not played perfectly. But they have played with ferocity.

It is fun to watch the Tar Heels play basketball right now. It is entirely possible that their struggles of December and January—when it was somewhat less fun to watch them play—may put them into a tournament seeding from which it is too difficult to escape. But if you saw them in Greensboro, you know this is not an eight or nine seed in the NCAA Tournament.

They've improved, which is ultimately all you can ask. They are still deficient in some areas, but over the last three days, they completely demoralized Notre Dame, then played NCAA Tournament-type games against NCAA Tournament-type opponents and acquitted themselves well.

You know how we can tell they've gotten better? The Tar Heels shot a season-worst 33.8 percent from the field on Friday, made a meager 56 percent from the free throw line, were playing a third game in three days against a deep team playing their first game of the event…and lost by three points to a legitimate Final Four contender.

How did they do it? By being willing to compete. Playing with four fouls, Caleb Love stood in and took a charge from M.J. Walker with a minute remaining in a one-point game. RJ Davis, who we have already established is not big, chose to challenge a simple inbounds pass near midcourt to the most physically imposing player on the court, the 6-foot-8, 260-pound Raiquan Gray. Davis, improbably, was able to knock the ball away, and a few seconds later Kerwin Walton was firing in a three-pointer that tied the game.

Love didn't have to take that charge. Davis didn't have to contest that pass. Let's don't talk about the first half, when Carolina appeared to believe they were scheduled for a walk-through. But in the second half, those types of plays were indicative of the type of effort put forth by every player who saw action.

Forty-eight hours from now, I will have simultaneously convinced myself that Carolina's first-round opponent is the most formidable opposition since the Harlem Globetrotters…but also that there's a possible path for the Tar Heels to make it to the Final Four. I will not so much fill out a bracket as I will design a path that best allows Carolina passage to the final weekend.

We missed this last March, but it all came rushing back this week with very little prompting, and it all seems very familiar. The Tar Heels learned some things in Greensboro, such as the importance of playing a full 40 minutes and the necessity of executing smoothly in the game's final minutes.

But the rest of us learned also. This pen is clearly not the right one to use during postseason play, and it will not advance to the next round. Certain pregame meals do not work. And about the clothing...

I got in the car in the Greensboro Coliseum parking lot on Friday night and my wife looked at me. "Well," she said, "I can wash my shirt now."

I gave her a slightly confused look. She is usually very vigilant about laundry.

"It had been on a winning streak since Senior Day," she explained.

No further explanation was needed. It's that time of year.

Players Mentioned

RJ Davis

Caleb Love

Kerwin Walton

Coby White

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