A deep run
Tar Heel Monthly publisher Adam Lucas doesn't pull any punches when talking about the defending national champion North Carolina.
Lucas said on this week's "ACC Nation" that he wouldn't be surprised to see UNC go all the way to the Final Four - or lose its first-round matchup with unheralded Murray State.
I would have agreed with that assessment at the start of the 2005-2006 season - especially after Carolina's season-opening 83-80 win over Gardner-Webb and then a few weeks later after the team's embarrassing loss at Southern California.
But since then, things have changed for coach Roy Williams' young Heels - who had to replace seven of the top eight scorers from last year's title-winning squad and thus expected to go through some major-league growing pains.
What had the makings of a long campaign turned around, I think, in the second half of an 81-80 win at Florida State in January - when the Tar Heels reversed what had been a double-digit first-half deficit into a key road win in 20 minutes of game action.
These Tar Heels, for those keeping score at home, own victories over traditional powers including Duke, Kentucky and Arizona - and they're doing it with a style of play and grit and toughness that would make ol' Dean Smith proud.
So relax, Adam - you'll be covering these kids for at least another weekend. If not two.
- Chris Graham