The Tar Heels are preparing for their opening-round NCAA Tournament game against No. 9 seed Marquette Thursday afternoon, ready to put the disappointment of last year’s opening-round loss to Wisconsin behind them.
That season, Carolina was also a No. 8 seed, though the logistics of the 2021 tournament are certainly different from this year. There are no more mandated bubbles around teams and more than just a handful of fans will be in the building to watch the Tar Heels take on the Golden Eagles.
“I’m just glad I finally get to experience the tournament, what it feels like,” said junior forward Armando Bacot. “Because since I’ve been here… it hasn’t been the traditional NCAA basketball. It’ll be fun.”
Needless to say, Bacot doesn’t look back on his 2021 tournament experience too fondly.
“We just sat in that place the whole time,” he said. “It was terrible. It was not fun.”
Graduate forward Brady Manek is the most experienced Tar Heel when it comes to playing in the tournament, having appeared in it three times with Oklahoma. But the Sooners didn’t advance past the second round in any of those appearances. Manek is intent on making his first foray into the Sweet 16 with Carolina.
“Getting to that second weekend was one of the things I talked to Coach about when I decided to come here,” Manek said. “I want to win more than just one game.”
Hubert Davis will be making his first NCAA appearance as the head coach of the Tar Heels, though he certainly has postseason pedigree, having appeared in Final Fours as both a player and an assistant coach.
“He’s been fired up ever since we figured out who we were playing,” Bacot said. “His approach has been a lot different this week… everything we’ve been doing, he’s just been taking different measures and punishments based upon if we mess up.”
“He’s a hell of a motivator,” senior wing Leaky Black said of Davis. “You don’t seem him scowling before the games? Just imagine the pregame speeches. It makes you want to run through a brick wall… he does it without cussing, man. It’s impressive. It’s really impressive.”
When asked about Bacot and Black’s comments, Davis didn’t hesitate.
“I’m locked in all the time,” he said. “There’s no more ‘locked-in-ness.’ Either you’re locked in or you’re not locked in.”
That approach might explain why Davis has said repeatedly he feels the team’s chemistry is the best it’s been all season. The fact that Carolina is 12-3 in its last 15 games lends credence to that claim.
“I really like where this team is at,” Black said. “Like momentum-wise, despite the last loss. I feel like we’re really playing great. And I don’t want it to end.”
Against Marquette, Carolina will look to avoid losing its first game of the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, something it hasn’t done in more than 40 years. Head coach Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles present a tough challenge for a UNC program which has never beaten a Smart-led team. And even if Carolina advances, it will likely face No. 1 seed and defending national champion Baylor in the second round. It’s an intimidating path to UNC’s first Sweet 16 appearance in three years, but Davis said he doesn’t look at the numbers in front of a team’s name. To him, it’s just basketball.
“When I was here at Carolina… being a seed was never something that I ever thought about,” he said. “I couldn’t remember what seed we were the four years that I was here. I’ve never been big on seeding. I’ve been big on competing and having a chance to win a championship.”
Still, it’s hard not to look back on one of the other tournaments in which UNC was a No. 8 seed. In 1990, the Tar Heels, along with a young guard named Hubert Davis, won their first two games of the NCAA Tournament, including a memorable upset of top-ranked Oklahoma in the second round. That game is remembered for Rick Fox’s last-second layup to send the Sooners packing, although according to Davis, the play originally looked a little different.
“The play was actually for me,” Davis said. “And as soon as we left the huddle, Coach Smith called us all back in, and he goes, ‘Hubert, you make the pass, and Rick, you take the shot.’ And I remember being so thankful that he made that change… I did not want that shot. But I felt comfortable making that pass!”
But before Carolina can worry about springing an upset, it must first look to avenge a 2021 defeat at the hands of Marquette at the Smith Center. Much has changed for the Golden Eagles since then, including their head coach and much of their roster (coincidentally, two of their more high-profile transfers ended up on Tobacco Road: Dawson Garcia at UNC and Theo John at Duke), but the name on the front of the jersey remains the same.
“I’ve been clear and straightforward with the guys about what kind of game it’s gonna be,” Davis said. “And my expectation is for us not to kick back or push back or elbow back, [but] to make the first kick, the first punch. That is what is required for Thursday’s game. And you’re not ready for that, then let me know.”
Featured image via Todd Melet
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