Chansky’s Notebook: Water Under The Bridge?

UNC’s weird athletic year continues into Rivalry Week.

Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham paraphrased something he read on Twitter over the weekend. First came too much water, then frozen water, then no water, he tweeted.

He referred to Hurricane Matthew that came through Chapel Hill and began washing away Carolina’s Coastal Division chances in football against Virginia Tech. Then the snow and ice storm in January postponed the N.C. State home basketball game a day. And, finally, the water crisis moved Saturday’s Notre Dame home date to Sunday in Greensboro.

At first, the Tar Heels’ hard-fought win over the Irish was deemed a neutral court game. Then, after most of the Smith Center ticket holders charged to open seating as the Greensboro Coliseum doors opened, it was redefined as a home victory, making it a little less weighty in the RPI. Carolina is solidly sitting on the No. 2 line as a projected NCAA tournament seed, but murderers’ row starts now.

Games at Duke and State six days apart, followed by home games against rugged and ranked Virginia and Louisville, then visits to renewed Pitt and Virginia before the regular season finale against Duke on Senior Night March 4. Seven games that UNC could win and seven games that it could also lose, considering the opponents and where those games will be played and maybe without Theo. That’s what you get with a top 10 program during TV sweeps month.

The water crisis in Chapel Hill cost the Tar Heels a day of preparation for Duke, which is hitting its stride with the return of Mike Krzyzewski, but at least the game is on Thursday night to end ESPN’s Rivalry Week. Then they won’t play over the weekend heading into the rematch in Raleigh against a State team they beat by 51 a month ago.

Yes, it’s been a weird season so far, 20 wins by the end of January, 800 wins for Ol’ Roy and anywhere from a one seed to a four seed between now and Selection Sunday. Not like everything that’s already happened is water under the bridge, but actually it is.