North Carolina is the best college basketball team in the nation. Sportswriters and coaches agree on that and they don't need a BCS to tell them that. They stand at 21-2 and a recent web site projected their first round opponent in the 64-team NCAA Tournament to be Winthrop, a school that outside the Carolinas rarely gains any attention or any selections in the local office pool. This is a team that lost to Birmingham Southern and Cleveland State by seven points.
But before we crown UNC the odds-on favorite in March and pencil them in for the next round, let us remember that it was just two months ago that Matt Doherty's Tar Heel squad was dumped 93-76 at home by Kentucky, leaving the head coach apologizing to the fans in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Tubby Smith's 16-7 Wildcat team has just barely climbed back into the Top 25 after they were bumped out of the polls via a November 25 loss to Penn St. 73-68.
Meanwhile, back a few months, the game after that impressive win, Penn St. fell to the currently 10-11 Wolfpack of North Carolina State by eight points.
So what am I saying? That the cellar-dwelling Wolfpack are better than the top-ranked Tar Heels? Absolutely not. But in the ACC and in college basketball, anything can happen. Especially in March.
That very same Wolfpack team fell to a North Carolina team not in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Cries of blasphemy echoed through the state, as UNC-Charlotte triumphed 95-79.
The Chanticleers later in the year lost to St. Bonaventure of the Atlantic-10, 79-78 who in turn lost to Canisius of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. In other words, the Golden Griffins beat the Bonnies 86-82.
How far have we traveled in just a few short games? From a historic battle of titans (UNC-Kentucky) to a game between two teams whose tournament wins you could count on a single hand.
But wait, we're almost done. Please just sit tight.
Canisius fell to Rider of the Northeast Conference, 84-75. The Broncs couldn't hold up their end of the bargain against the Bisons of Bucknell, losing 64-50.
American University edged Bucknell 60-58 but Coastal Carolina did them in, 72-66.
But Coastal Carolina could only muster 49 points to Winthrop's 66 just a few weeks later.
Enough already. My head is spinning as fast as yours. But in just eleven college basketball games, the best team in the nation has been replaced by a team from the Big South, one of the weaker conferences in the nation. But these teams, separated by eleven "degrees" were separated by just five points earlier this season as North Carolina triumphed 66-61 in Chapel Hill.
Winthrop is 8-2 in their conference (tied for first), and could be headed to the Big Dance as a 16 seed. If form holds, they could just find an opening-round rematch with those very same Tar Heels at a neutral site.
Five points, eleven degrees of separation and four months later, Winthrop could have a chance to avenge an early-season loss in a game that seems a lot closer than already indicated.
I would probably still write down North Carolina come a few weeks when I receive my photocopied newspaper clipping. But perhaps in pencil and not pen.
