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Suddenly underdog Carolina in an unfamiliar role in NCAA tournament
Posted: Tuesday March 14, 2000 07:52 PM
The NCAA tournament is full of underdogs. TV guys live to scream about them, fans slap their foreheads in giddy disbelief over the little guys, coaches you never heard of rasp about the heart of "their kids." For every underdog, though, there is Michigan State. Or Duke or Temple or Kentucky. For every Jackson State, there's an Arizona. For every ant in the tournament, there's a big sneaker waiting to grind it into the hardwood. And then there's North Carolina. How to figure North Carolina? The Tar Heels are clearly not the Tar Heels anymore. They aren't winning like they used to. They aren't scaring anyone as much. They don't seem to be doing much of anything right, in fact, especially if you listen to the Carolina fans. Boy, are they steamed. The sad truth is, North Carolina maybe shouldn't be in this tournament at all. Where North Carolina always seemed to have a shot at the Final Four, the Tar Heels now will be lucky to make it out of the first round. And if the Heels drop that first-round game against dangerous Missouri -- led by a Dookie, Quin Snyder, for cryin' out loud -- Chapel Hill won't exactly be Pleasantville. Mighty Carolina -- winners of three national championships going into its record 26th straight NCAA tournament -- has become an underdog. An un-Carolina-like 18-13 regular-season record can have that effect. Believe it. "I don't think we need to defend it," North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge says of his team's at-large invitation into the NCAAs. Carolina's selection was panned by many, especially in the face of the Tar Heels losing twice to conference foe Virginia -- a team that didn't make the tournament. "I don't think anyone played a tougher non-conference schedule than we did." Guthridge, the longtime Dean Smith assistant who rose to the top spot when Smith stepped aside three seasons ago, quietly has been taking a hammering this season. His team was ranked No. 2 in November and has since fallen out of the polls -- for the first time since 1990. Guthridge, of course, does everything quietly, and that may be part of the problem. His teams have been criticized for lacking heart and hustle, and the unassuming Guthridge has been singled out by many as the reason why. The Heels haven't lost as many games at home as they did this season -- five of them -- in 56 years. They haven't had back-to-back years when they've lost at least 10 games -- as they have under-accomplished in the last two years -- since the Heels followed an 11-10 year in 1953-54 with a 10-11 season. That's 45 years. Still, this is North Carolina. This is the school of Smith and Ford and Jordan and Worthy and Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison. This is a school hardened by years of playing the best. "Carolina should be in [the tournament], and so should Virginia. I wouldn't even get into an argument on either one," says Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who then promptly argued why the Heels should be in and still should be considered dangerous. "Carolina plays an incredible schedule. They've done it since Dean Smith started coaching there. I just think they're worthy. Most teams with Carolina's schedule would end up with a losing record. I think they're most deserving -- not in place of Virginia, but along with Virginia." The schedule is the Heels' saving grace. Carolina played Cincinnati, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Louisville, UNLV and UCLA this year and went 3-5, with wins over the Boilermakers, Runnin' Rebels and Hurricanes. Every one of those teams is in the NCAA tournament. And then the Heels had to play their Atlantic Coast Conference schedule. To be sure, North Carolina -- a No. 8 seed to Missouri's No. 9, but still an underdog in many people's eyes -- is no pushover. The program that Smith built is way too strong to fall so quickly. But the days of being the tournament gorilla are gone, at least for now. "I think we can [make a run]. I think there are a lot of teams that can do that," says Guthridge, who blames himself for the killer non-conference schedule that may have sapped the confidence of his players. "I think there are a lot of teams that are just not quite there, where they want to be." It is the one thing that Guthridge and the critical Carolina fans can agree on. The Heels, sudden underdogs in a tournament they used to rule, are not where they want to be. John Donovan is senior writer for CNNSI.com. Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
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