When it came to the Heels, NCAA bracket was busted from the start

Nobody’s right all the time. And that is always the case when it comes to filling out an NCAA Tournament Bracket.

I know I rarely, if ever, have gotten it right. Yet, year-after-year, when March Madness comes, we try our hand picking the perfect bracket. Some do better than others. In fact, some make a very nice chunk of change every year on March Madness.

Me, I don’t do well at all. It’s always been a mystery too because I am a devoted college basketball fan. I watch, I read, I even report on it, and yet, my official 2022 bracket was busted on the first day of the tourney.

Oh well. Like I said, everybody gets things wrong once in a while.

And you know who I’m glad failed miserably this year? The NCAA itself.

This NCAA Tournament has been so much fun to watch. Even without a true buzzer beater finish, usually a staple of March Madness, the tournament has been filled with non-stop excitement. It’s been a fitting return to normal after no tournament in 2020, and a “bubble” tournament with limited fans last year.

But, as good as its been, the NCAA screwed up when they gave the North Carolina Tar Heels a No. 8 seed this year.

Now I know North Carolina has had an up-and-down year. I know it very well because I’m a diehard Tar Heel fan, so devoted in fact, I traveled to Las Vegas back in December just to watch them get blown out by 40 points by Kentucky. And I’ll admit, on that day I didn’t think the Tar Heels were even tournament worthy.

That notion, however, didn’t last. After getting blasted by Kentucky, who of course, were bounced in the first round of the tournament, Carolina went on a pretty good run, with really only two more bad losses the rest of the way. The Tar Heels would beat Duke in Coach K’s final home game, among other good wins, and wound up finishing second in the ACC, which is no small feat.

To start the postseason, Carolina would run to the ACC semifinals, and seemed to position themselves firmly for a solid bracket come selection Sunday.

That’s not what unfolded though. Instead, teams like Colorado State, Alabama, USC, LSU and Ohio State, with not nearly as good of resumes were seeded much higher than the Tar Heels. No, North Carolina’s reward for a better record than those teams, for having a better SOS and RPI than those teams, and for finishing second in the ACC, was a modest No. 8 seed, and paired with the defending national champion in a second-round matchup.

Of course, we all know what happened. Carolina has gone on a spectacular run, and is now back in the Final Four, in New Orleans, where magical moments like Michael Jordan’s shot in 1982 and Chris Webber’s timeout in 1993 have led to North Carolina national championship glory.

Indeed, despite the gauntlet the NCAA put the Heels through, here they are, playing in a Final Four, against Duke for the first time, in a Superdome the Heels have never lost in. For a Tar Heel fan, it doesn’t get much better than that.

But, that doesn’t excuse the NCAA really disrespecting Carolina for unknown reasons. The Heels were better than an eight seed. They had been since the beginning of February. They were when they beat Duke in Cameron, they were on selection Sunday, and they’ve proved it in this tournament. They deserved better from the NCAA, no matter how it turned out.

And that fact is just proof of how, when it comes to March Madness, even its creator, the almighty NCAA gets it wrong. In fact, some would argue, the NCAA gets it wrong, A LOT.

I’d tend to agree with that.