It's still kind of hard to take it all in: how in the world could this UNC team, with everything it had going for it, with a significant lead with less than 8 minutes to go - how could they go 2-21 down the stretch? Is Georgetown that good?
Well, no, they're not. That's not to knock them, because they're plenty good. But they're not good enough to turn UNC inside out and to completely turn off their offense for 15 minutes. To borrow a phrase from the past, they beat themselves. Georgetown has only lost one game since the middle of January, and they got hot at the right time, but their talent, like almost everyone else's, is a good bit less than UNC's.
So what happened? Well, exactly what we said would happen, that's what happened. We got a lot of e-mail when we said this after the game in Cameron, but in retrospect, it was spot-on. We didn't think to list Georgetown in the list of dangerous opponents, but otherwise we were entirely correct:
In fact, weâll go ahead and make this prediction now: UNC will run into a team in the tournament, possibly in the Sweet 16, if not by then not too long after that, which will force them to play conservatively and to make every possession count. Here are the basic teams UNC wants no part of (there are probably more, but this is off the top): UCLA, Pitt, a much-improved Kentucky, Butler, and certainly Florida.
UNC could have a wonderful team, but odds are itâs not this year, at least not if you measure it by tournament success.
This UNC team had enormous talent, but all season long, it showed it was capable of being punked. In the last fifteen minutes of this game, they were punked, and punked big time.
WRAL has some extended post-game video up, and it's striking how resigned almost every player is to losing players next year. Everyone speaks in basketball euphemisms, but they obviously have some idea about who might leave. The only one who discusses his own future, as we recall, is Tywon "on" Lawson, who says he expects to be back.
In the first game, Florida beat Oregon, 85-77, to get back to the Final Four and a chance to defend their title. Oregon's Tajuan Porter, who has been sensational this year, was limited to 10 points on 2-12 shooting. If there is any red flag for Florida, it's the free throw shooting in this game. 65% got it done, but in a very tight game in the Final Four, it could be fatal.
Nonetheless, the Gators appear to have recovered from whatever hit them late in the regular season, and have to be favored at this point.