With this year’s NCAA Division One Tournament well underway, there seems to be a major participant absent from the brackets: the North Carolina Tar Heels.

   This year marks the first time since 2010 that North Carolina has missed the March Madness tournament, and with a regular season record of 20-13, the Heels were deemed one of the largest disappointments this year. The team entered the pre-season as the number one ranked team in the NCAA after they made a run to the tournament finals last year, but ultimately fell to the Kansas Jayhawks.          

   According to CBS Sports, “…the Tar Heels became the first preseason No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 to ever miss the tournament.”

   The team was drawn for the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) but declined participation. Head coach Hubert Davis and the team decided it was best to move forward and prepare for the next season. 

   What has shocked most college basketball fans with North Carolina’s performance this season was the fact that the team hardly lost any of the pivotal players that led them to the championship game just last year. North Carolina was not without Caleb Love, Leaky Black, RJ Davis, and Armando Bacot, all of which were starters last season.

   Back in October, coach Davis and the four players recreated an iconic Sports Illustrated cover from 1892 that originally featured coach Dean Smith, and players Sam Perkins, Matt Doherty, Jimmy Black, and James Worthy.

   The excitement around what this team was capable of was quickly put out by their performance throughout the course of the season and extended into the conference tournament. The Heels finished seventh in the ACC after they were knocked out by Virginia in the quarter-finals.

   North Carolina’s 22-23 season was very unlike their typical year, and despite the fact that this basketball powerhouse may have suffered through a bad record and some bad press, it is almost certain the Heels will recover from this year, and be off their feet in no time.