Season Recap: North Carolina

2009-2010
North Carolina: 20-17 (5-11 ACC)

By their fans' standards, it was nothing short of a disastrous year in Chapel Hill. UNC was coming off another national championship, and was losing most of its best players. But the returning talent was equal to any other team in the league. They were even in some people's Top 5 in the preseason. And the season started out ok. They started out 7-1, with wins over Ohio State and Michigan State. But then things started to unravel. The tipping point was a loss at College of Charleston.

North Carolina's youth never really seemed to gel. They would get into stretches where they would just continue to turn the ball over and miss shots, and games would spiral out of control. They were especially vulnerable at home, going 3-5 in the conference. And at one point they lost 7 of 8 games. That is just not Tar Heel basketball. If you take a look at their five conference wins, two of those were against NC State and one was against Miami. They just did not get it done against top shelf competition in the conference.

The one bright spot of the season had to be how the Tar Heels played in the NIT. They honestly should not have even gotten a bid to this tournament, and could have gone out quietly. But they won four games in getting to the final in Madison Square Garden. Perhaps that's something to build on for next year.

Best Win: 89-82 over Michigan State (12/1)

This was back in the part of the season where the Heels were playing well. But still, beating a Final Four team like Michigan State was a big achievement. UNC built a big halftime lead and was able to hold on for the seven point win. It had to be a big confidence boost for the Heels, which did have a very tough non-conference schedule. Their next game, in fact, was a road game at Kentucky.

Worst Loss: 75-60 to UVA (1/31)

There were a lot of candidates for this slot, but I'm going to go with their home loss to UVA. They had lost three of four coming in to this game, but no one expected them to just get blown out at home by the Cavaliers. This was one of those games where the Heels just had no fire and things seemed to spiral out of control. This was also the start of that losing streak of 7 out of 8.

Postseason Play:

At first, it looked like the postseason would be short for UNC. They built a lead in their first round ACC Tournament game against Georgia Tech, only to see that disappear. They were lucky to get a bid to the NIT, but made the best of it. It started with a strange home win against William and Mary, in a game not played in the Dean Dome. Then they traveled on the road and beat Mississippi State by 2 and UAB by 5. UNC carried that momentum to New York, winning in overtime over Rhode Island before finally falling to Dayton by 11.

What's Ahead:

UNC probably has the most uncertainty of any team in the conference coming into next year. A lot of the pundits will have them ranked pretty high purely based on talent. Although they are losing a lot: Deon Thompson and Marcus Ginyard are graduating. Ed Davis is going pro. And David and Travis Wear have transferred out. So what's left? They still have solid guards in Larry Drew and Dexter Strickland. 3-point shooter Will Graves returns. As do solid big men Tyler Zeller and John Henson. That right there is a pretty good starting five. But it remains to be seen whether they can put it all together for a solid season.