Why a miracle run by the UNC Tar Heels could decide the future of the ACC tournament
A season that started with Roy Williams breaking one of Dean Smith’s traditions is approaching an end with Williams breaking one of his own. There aren’t many firsts when it comes to the ACC tournament and Greensboro Coliseum, but North Carolina practicing in the building Monday instead of on campus is definitely one.
It is perhaps not as surprising as Williams allowing Cole Anthony to speak with the media before playing in a game — even though Smith was always harder on freshmen than Williams ever has been, and those times have certainly changed. But for those who grew up with the instinctive rhythms of the ACC tournament ingrained in the fibers of their being, seeing North Carolina arrive early is still a disruption to the natural order of things.
Williams was quick to caution that it has nothing to do with the Tar Heels’ equally unusual early arrival at the tournament as the 14th seed, opening against Virginia Tech in Tuesday’s second game, and everything to do with North Carolina being on spring break and unable to get into the building Tuesday morning with court time already allotted to Wednesday’s debutants.
But if breaking with tradition at the end of a season that broke with tradition in other ways is a chance to shake up the Tar Heels’ mojo, that’s something that would appeal to a superstitious coach who never fails to spit in the Mississippi for luck.
“I hope it always feels strange,” Williams said.
It’s anyone’s guess how this goes for North Carolina this week, but seeing the program that has won 18 of these things at the very bottom of the bracket makes for a compelling storyline in a year when both the standings and all-ACC voting lacked runaway winners.
The tournament, from top to especially bottom, is wide open. It feels like the Tar Heels are either going home Tuesday night or sticking around for a while. They may be the scariest 13-18 team in the history of this tournament. If they get past Virginia Tech, Syracuse awaits — a team that has lost eight straight to North Carolina and has won a total of two ACC tournament games in the six tournaments for which the Orange have been eligible.
It feels like the kind of year when anything could happen, a throwback to the days when the seven teams not in the Les Robinson Invitational would come to Greensboro with genuine belief they could win the title. The No. 4 seed is the Vegas favorite. The preseason favorite is the No. 3 seed. The reigning national champs are the No. 2 seed. And the No. 1 seed is one of only six schools to have actually won this tournament in the past 20 years.
It’s a fascinating year, the kind that recalls the days when the stakes were higher, when only one team was going to walk out of this tournament with a chance to win a national title. That would be true even if the tournament weren’t in Greensboro, where the history is always a little thicker, the memories always a little closer.
In some ways, Greensboro has as much at stake this week as North Carolina. There are a lot of new, skeptical athletic directors in the ACC who have never seen the tournament here. That’s one reason why only the next two tournaments have been awarded. The Greensboro loyalists within the ACC wanted to make sure everyone had this experience before they voted on the future, which is going to include Washington and Charlotte and Brooklyn. The only question is whether that’s with Greensboro or instead of Greensboro.
A historic run by a traditional in-state power that has fallen on hard times might provoke the kind of atmosphere for which Greensboro has become famous. Or Greensboro might just provide it on its own, with or without North Carolina.
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 6:10 AM with the headline "Why a miracle run by the UNC Tar Heels could decide the future of the ACC tournament."
