Preseason No. 1 North Carolina likely out of NCAA Tournament after Thursday's loss

North Carolina's bubble burst on Thursday.

It's a shocking outcome for a program that reached the finals last year and retained the core that led it there.

The Tar Heels lost to the Kansas Jayhawks 72-69 in the NCAA championship game a season ago after blowing a 40-25 halftime lead, but still built up enough goodwill to score the Associated Press preseason No. 1 rank heading into this season.

That's historically been a harbinger of at the very least reaching the NCAA Tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams. North Carolina is poised to buck trends with its 68-59 loss to Virginia.

Entering Thursday's game, the Tar Heels ranked 90th in offensive rating (108.1) and 128th in defensive rating (100.1). They didn't excel on either end of the floor and paired with an inconsistent regular season, North Carolina likely won't have a strong enough resume to have a chance to reach the Final Four for a second consecutive year.

Key contributors to last year's tournament darlings including Caleb Love, Armando Bacot, RJ Davis, Leaky Black and Puff Johnson returned but couldn't bottle the magic that led them from a No. 8 seed to nearly cutting down the nets in New Orleans.

People were quick to point out the epic flameout this season, with USA Today national sportswriter Dan Wolken particularly critical of head coach Hubert Davis for the team's 2022-23 faceplant. 

The Ringer's Rodger Sherman took a different approach, pointing out the troll job the Tar Heels perfected by essentially having the same team that sent Duke's Mike Krzyzewski into retirement fail to make the big dance the following season. 

That wasn't the intention when North Carolina set out to avenge its championship game loss, but it's one of the few things the Tar Heels can hang their hat on after a season unlike any other.