I have re-watched the UNC/Miami game, as I usually do, and have some more thoughts about it, and here they come. For quite sometimes this team hasn’t needed motivation in order to play well, but for some reason yesterday was a different story. So why could that be? Well, my theory is pretty simple: a Carolina team who had played just one game in the last xx days going up against a Miami team who had a huge come back and was believing in themselves. It was rust against legs that had been through the shuffle one already. Sure that does not justify the fact that UNC could not hold on to the ball for most of the first half (15 turnovers is just unacceptable), but it does make sense when you think about it.
UNC is in the tournament, and pretty much a lock to be 3 seed. Miami has had a handful of close games this year, and with the win the day before their head coach probably had the kids believing that they could make some noise in Greensboro. This means that the `Canes probably had a lot more to play for than the Heels, and while that is no excuse, it is a motivating factor that you can not deny or avoid. And all of this, if you check out the scores from around the college basketball world, is not just something that happened to North Carolina, as teams like Kansas, Ohio State and Pittsburgh all had close calls, with the last one even losing.
I have heard many people say “if Miami had hit three’s early this game would have been out of reach by halftime”. Sure, and if UNC had not turned over the ball this game would have been theirs by the end of the first twenty minutes. The what if’s are way too easy to put up when trying to find a flaw. The plain and simple reality is that a young team (UNC does start 1 junior, 2 sophomores and 2 freshmen) got hit and hit hard for most of an important game and still found a way to gather themselves and win it. This was not a 4-5 point comeback in two minutes, this was a 15 points rally with Miami having many oppurtunities to hit a three or something else to quiet down both the Heels on the court and the fans in attendance. They could not do it, because this team is not going to fold!
What should be scary for the remainder of the season for the Heels’ opponents is that now these kids have been hit hard, and the way they have been playing, I have a feeling that might just never happen again!
Original Story:
http://www.the5thcorner.com/after-a-f...
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