Time for Heels to heal
Mar 14, 2009
Maybe Oliver Stone can make a movie about the Heels' semifinals game in the ACC Tournament.
Did they already check out of the hotel before hand? Sure, they put up a great fight, but no one in the Heels' locker room was overly upset about the early exit from Atlanta. Now they head back to Chapel Hill out of harm's way as they look to heal in time for a tournament run that they hope will end with a net-cutting ceremony in Detroit.
Not to diminish what the ACC Tournament is all about, but of the four teams that were in the semifinals only North Carolina is considered a true national championship contender. The other three teams are really only contenders for the conference tournament title. It would mean much more for the Florida State, Duke or Maryland programs to win the ACC title.
For the Heels, they will be judged on whether they could win the national title this season. Anything short is going to be seen as a failure outside of Chapel Hill. Roy Williams and his players know that. Although they will never admit it publicly, that is the goal for this team.
The bottom line in Saturday’s semifinal was Florida State was just better. The Seminoles got key rebounds, stops and big shots from their All-ACC guard Toney Douglas, who finished with 27 points. So they move on and the Heels hope to move on to bigger and better things with plenty of season still to play.
