Art’s Angle: February From Hell

Marcus Paige. (Photo via Todd Melet)

Let’s walk way out on the plank and say the Tar Heels beat winless (in the ACC) Boston College Saturday to go 8-0, which would lengthen by a long three-pointer Roy Williams’ best conference start at UNC. In our collective euphoria over the position of the No. 1- or No. 2-ranked team in the country (depending on which poll), here are a few things to ponder heading into a February from Hell:

Beginning with the trip to Louisville Monday night, Carolina plays nine games in the 29 days of leap year February. How can that be? I counted it up three times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. That computes to one game every 3.2 days.
Five of those nine games are on the road, and another five of them are against teams currently ranked in the top 25.
The Tar Heels have shot a shockingly consistent 38 percent in the last three games, and averaged 18.5 percent from the three-point line in the last four games. Yet they have won them all, shooting like they were wearing oven mitts.
Much, but not all, of it is because senior All-American Marcus Paige has fallen into the worst shooting slump of his career, going 5-for- 35 from the floor and 1-22 from the arc. The last time Paige hit a three-pointer was on January 9 at Syracuse.
But whatever Paige has is contagious on the perimeter. Justin Jackson has made 3 of his last 26 three-pointers and is hitting 21 percent from downtown for the season. Theo Pinson, who actually had a pretty good start shooting the basketball, is 0 for his last 11 from the arc. Nate Britt is 2 for his last 10.

So, literally, as the schedule heats up, those gloves MUST come off. At Louisville, No. 19 in the AP poll, begins a three-game road trip that follows at No. 24 Notre Dame and ends, mercifully, at Boston College. But, hey, the Eagles have to win a conference game sometime. Currently, they are 0-15 in ACC football and basketball since September.

Mid-month, the Tar Heels return home for three games in seven days in the Dome. But they are against once-ranked Pitt, No. 25 Duke and No. 15 Miami. They then go to N.C. State, which can save its dismal season by beating the hated blue in PNC Arena, and to 11^th-ranked Virginia, which has somehow lost three ACC games and needed a miracle finish at Wake Forest Tuesday night to avoid going 4-4 with basically the same team that has won the regular season for the last two years. Go figure.

Carolina finishes its February from Hell on leap year night at home against Syracuse, which has won at Wake Forest and Duke since Jim Boeheim came back from his nine-game banishment. The Tar Heels wrap up the regular season with its tenth game in 34 days at Duke, where the Blue Devils will have Amile Jefferson back and surely have it all together again by Senior Night in Cameron Indoor.

Why is the schedule so back-loaded for Carolina? It is February sweeps for TV and the networks want the best teams and the best match-ups to boost their ratings – at the expense of some teams’ rankings.

Remember, the New England Patriots won their first 10 games, then lost 5 of their last 8 and missed the Super Bowl they fully expected to make. UNC could face the same scenario regarding the Final Four.

If Carolina beats Boston College Saturday, what will the Tar Heels’ 8-0 record look like after their February from Hell?

Especially if they don’t start shooting the dad-gum basketball better.