Mike Patrick was wrong.

I love Patrick and usually don't have any problems with what he says.

(After all, I did choose to listen to Patrick and Dick Vitale on ESPN over Tim Brandt and Mike Gminski on Jefferson Pilot. Not that is was that hard of a choice. The arrogant Duke apologist Gminski babbled on and on and on while Brandt said "I agree" 3,257 times (I counted) in reference to the G-man's comments.

Why wasn't Dan Bonner doing the game? Even John Feinstein said on ACC Nation a couple of weeks ago that Bonner was as good at breaking down the games as anyone, including Billy Packer. But instead of Bonner we get stuck with Gminski. Oh well, it made choosing Patrick and Vitale that much easier.)

OK, back to my problem with Patrick. Near the end of the Carolina-Boston College game, with the Eagles leading 83-78 and the clock under a minute, the Tar Heels chose to play tough defense instead of fouling BC. Patrick couldn't believe it. And said so. Over and over again. If he had mentioned it once and let it go, maybe I wouldn't have a problem. But to keep repeating it just got to me.

I agree with Roy Williams' decision not to foul. Carolina was down just five and they almost got the defensive stop they wanted. Tyrese Rice missed a shot, but, to his credit, tipped the ball back in.

If, instead of the tip by Rice, Carolina would have pulled down the rebound, the Heels would have had 25 seconds or so to get down the floor and get a shot off.

Let's say them make a three. Then Carolina is only down two with 15 seconds or so left. Plenty of time to foul BC, hope for the Eagles to miss at least one shot and get back down the floor for a shot at winning or tying.

To me that makes more sense than putting BC on the foul line over and over again, as Patrick would have had the Heels do.

Also - yeah, I got a lot of problems with the announcers today - I don't agree that the major play in the game was Carolina letting Craig Smith catch an inbounds pass and scoring with 2 seconds showing on the shot clock. That play turned a 78-74 Eagles lead into an 80-74 lead with just under 3 minutes remaining.

Granted, that was a defensive letdown by Carolina (Reyshawn Terry, to be exact) and it did hurt them. Of course, in a game like this it's tough to pick one key point, but if I had to do it I'd say it was another error by Terry much earlier in the second half.

With about 15 minutes left Terry had the ball on the right baseline. He could have easily hit a short jumper and tied the score at 54. Instead, he tried to drive the basket and ended up committing his fourth foul.

Sean Marshall scored on BC's next trip down the floor. Instead of a tie game, Boston College was up four. Carolina never got closer than two the rest of the way and Terry ended up spending a little over 6 minutes on the bench. Over the last third of the season Terry has been one of Carolina's most potent offensive weapons. Obviously, he can't score by sitting on the bench.

But again, it's tough to say one play was the difference. Boston College just matches up with Carolina better than any other team I've seen this year. The big guys up front have power and speed and hurt the Heels inside, while stopping Tyler Hansbrough.

So Carolina fans shouldn't hang their heads. It's unlikely the Heels will meet too many teams like BC in the NCAA Tournament. That being said, I still don't see Carolina getting past the Sweet Sixteen.

Boston College on the other hand could go a lot deeper. I'm not saying they'll win it all, just that I won't be shocked if they do.

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Other notes of interest:

* Did Mike Hogewood really say, in discussing the Wake-Duke game before it started, that no No. 12 seed had ever won the ACC Tournament? Good call there Mike, especially since this is the first year a No. 12 seed has played in the ACC Tournament.

* Greg Paulaus really stepped up for Duke today. If he starts playing like that in the NCAA Tournament, Duke may be my favorite to win it all.

* Could announcers (yes, here I go with the announcers again) please stop talking about how well Carolina is doing after losing its top seven scorers from last year. It's March. And that's old, old news.

* Why did my ESPN feed of the game - possibly it was my cable system - keep running commercials right in the middle of game action during the Carolina-BC game? I had to switch over to the Jefferson Pilot feed whenever that happened. If you want to know how much I hated that, see above.