For the Heels it’s from Alabama to NYC

Madison Square Garden (GoogleSearch)

I like to know how many of the fans that didn’t want this team to go to the National Invitation Tournament are still thinking the same way now that the Tar Heels are headed to the Big Apple, more precisely Madison Square Garden, to play in the semi finals of the tourney. And they are headed to NYC because 4th seed North Carolina (19-16) defeated 2nd seed Alabama-Birmingham (25-10) by the final score of 60 to 55. Once again, just like the game against Mississippi State, the Heels won this game as a team, working together, making clutch shots and free throws when needed. If people thought it was a mistake to go to any post season besides the NCAA’s I think the only mistake would have been not going to this one. What a difference it is for the fans, and for the team itself, to say how this season is finishing compared to how it would have if they didn’t go to the NIT (with a blow out loss to arch rival Duke and then losing to Ga Tech in the ACC Tournament). But I am not sure if people can truly see what this young and talented team did on the road.

They beat a team that hadn’t lost in 33 non conference games in a row by keeping the scores low. The Blazers kept the opposition at about 60 points per game this season, the same amount of points that the Heels had in this game. Difference being that while the preview of this game was that UAB wears the opponents down with their hard core defense it was UNC that held them scoreless for almost 10 minutes (from 10:21 in the second half to 0:35). This is once again brings me to my phrase of the season for this team “it is what it is”, and what it was tonight was a team that had to play through a bit too many turnovers, some runs by the Blazers and most of all by sticking it out when the game was on the line and not folding. I am not going to try make you believe that these are the 2005 or 2009 NCAA title run teams, but what I am going to try to convince you is that the team you are watching is for real. Two road games in a row played tight and coming out with a win is no fluke, it’s what this team has turned into.

And once again, when the game was on the line, sophomore point guard Larry Drew II came through with a nice drive into the lane and a beautiful finger roll for the needed basket. It wasn’t the game winner this time, that was left up to another part of UNC’s game that has greatly improved, the free throw line, but it showed that when the D can’t sag as much as it was in during ACC play Drew can create in the paint. In my preview of the game I said that Deon Thompson, John Henson and Tyler Zeller (who played after being said he would be 50-50 for this one) would need to score 35 points and 20 rebounds. They went for 28 points and 22 rebounds. This is the team’s bread and butter, with Thompson having 14 points and 12 boards (season high), and Henson chipping in with 14 (tieing his career high) and 3 this was definitely a pair that UAB could not keep up with.

I also said that Drew and Strickland needed to stay below 5 turnovers, they had 5, while having 10 assists, they combined for nine. The pair also chipped in for 19 points, with Drew having 11 of them. Again, it’s amazing (at least to me) to see the transformation of this squad, even at the floor general position in this tournament. And while not everything was perfect tonight, case in point the drive by Strickland with the chuck up high off the back board (in hopes to draw the foul) or the drive by Drew threw the ball out of bounds cause he was caught in the air and with no one to pass it to, overall this team has definitely improved in this part of its game as well. Of course there were two players that could have done more (or better) for the Heels, Will Graves and Leslie McDonald went 0 for 9 overall and 0 for 7 from beyond the arc, and even worst is that it seems McDonald can not wait to shoot the ball once he has it in his hand. Maybe it’s me, and maybe I am wrong, but trying to get a good pass inside or a fake shot and drive might help his game a bit.

On defense UNC played pretty well, and while some of was because UAB almost seemed as it wasn’t allowed to shoot in the first 25 seconds of the shot clock, none of the Heels looked out of place when they were guarding the Blazers. Sure, the sequence with Carolina up by 3 points, where the defended for 30+ seconds just to give up an offensive rebound, to then guard once again for over 30 second to again let UAB get the rebound to finally fouling the shooter after another 25+ seconds had gone by was almost too much to watch as the game was coming down to the stretch run. Reality being had this sequence had been a month ago it would have been the prelude to a loss, this time it was just a bump in the road in a hard fought win. Like the saying goes “what a difference (include your time table here) makes”. Again, is this the perfect team? No, but they are better than they were before this tournament started as well as being a perfect 3-0 and that is why they are headed to New York City.

The skeptics will say that winning 3 games in the NIT doesn’t make up for not going to the NCAA. That can be true, but then again there are the critics that complain everytime a top recruit does not come to Chapel Hill. Does the chance of winning the NIT make up for this season or for not being able to defend the national title? Probably not, but it does show the team is improving and more importantly it is giving the young players on this team more playing time that they would have missed out had the Heels not gone to the National Invitation Tournament.

Who is going to be UNC’s next opponent? Well, for that we must wait for tomorrow night, with Virginia Tech and Rhode Island fighting it out to see who will play in MSG. Interesting point was made by Tar Heel Fan: if North Carolina was to make it to the final of this tournament they could face Illinois in what could be a rematch of the 2005 NCAA title game. Conspiracy theories can begin now. I have to wonder would would Bruce Weber want a chance to get back at Carolina or would he prefer to avoid the possibility of having lost both the NCAA and NIT to the same team in less than a decade. Let the speculations begin!

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