Chansky's Notebook: Self-Imposed Exit

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All kinds of surprises in the NCAA tournament pairings.

First and foremost, Carolina was in the “First Four Out” when CBS released the brackets Sunday night. That has to make the Tar Heels really mad that they were so close . . . as close as winning one of the seven games in which they blew second-half leads, all to NCAA Tournament teams.

Finishing games has to be No. 1 on next season’s playlist.

Normally, a team that close would take the NIT bid, but Hubert Davis has to get on with rebuilding his 2023-24 roster as soon as possible to change the off-season narrative from “bad year” to “next year.” And with the fluidity of college basketball these days, like the transfer portal, that is more important than playing meaningless NIT games with a team fans are tired of by now.

On that note, hopefully Armando Bacot is strongly encouraged by UNC and his thousands of followers to return for his fifth COVID year, when he could become more of a Carolina legend than he is now and also set every ACC rebounding record. And it may be a better financial move with his NIL success.

Among other bracket surprises was Clemson getting royally screwed in favor of N.C. State getting in. The Tigers skunked the Wolfpack three times – by 14 in Death Valley, by 25 in Raleigh and by 26 in Greensboro. Clemson is No. 60 in the latest NET rankings, largely due to a two-point loss at 11-21 South Carolina in which its best player, P.J. Hall, sat out with an injury.

State is 45 in this week’s NET, one higher than Carolina’s 46. That second-half loss in Raleigh to miss a sweep of the Wolfpack is just another the Heels should regret, along with the 4 OT defeat to Alabama, the overall No. 1 seed in the Dance. Yes, Clemson played one of the weakest non-conference schedules, but still placed 3rd in the ACC and blew out the Pack in the tourney quarterfinal.

Finally, the Greensboro mafia, which twice expanded the Coliseum to keep the ACC tournament in its regular rotation (not to mention remain one of Springsteen’s favorite venues) and is again host to first- and second round games, must be royally toasted that ACC champion Duke got shipped to Orlando and will not get the home-state advantage the best team in the ACC deserves. ESPN’s Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas talked about the winner of the ACC championship game being back in the Gate City as a reward.

It’s a good reason for new Duke athletic director Nina King to shed her anonymity and make it known to the committee that her championship team that won its last nine games and would have sold out the Coliseum got hosed.

Featured image via Todd Melet

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Chansky’s Notebook: Self-Imposed Exit

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