Off the cuff: Hopefully the Tar Heels saved a little bit for the next game but they sure proved a point - although to a man they say they weren't trying to send a message with the dominating performance in the First Four "play-in" game in Dayton, Ohio.

Basketball analyst Seth Davis, who went to Duke and joined a chorus of sports experts in decrying Carolina's at-large bid into the tournament, changed his tune a bit after the big win over San Diego State.

Speaking to the camera as if it were the UNC team he said, "You proved your point emphatically and you should feel good about it."

Seth Greenberg, former ACC coach and now analyst, was very outspoken against Carolina getting a bid. But then on Tuesday, he predicted a UNC victory in this game and in the next against Ole Miss. Crazy that these guys don't think Carolina is good enough to make the tournament but they are good enough to make it to the Sweet 16.

Maybe that's it. Pushing the Quad 1 nonsense incessantly, they have to say Carolina shouldn't get in because the Heels might actually make some noise. Then there are just the Carolina haters you can't reason with.

Jalen Rose, one of the CBS basketball analysts, seems to be one of them. He was upset that Carolina got a bid too and he went so far as to say it wouldn't matter because San Diego State would take care of the Tar Heels. At halftime, he looked like a deer in headlights.

There are plenty of Carolina lovers out there too. "The atmosphere was awesome," Seth Trimble said. "Our fans were here. In March we feel that we have the home fans no matter where we are."

Former Villanova coach Jay Wright seems to like Carolina. He spoke glowingly about the Tar Heels playing with pride in the Carolina program.

The whole uproar against Carolina was really silly. The Quad discussion has overshadowed everything. I think they should drop the whole Quad discussions. No, Carolina didn't beat Alabama or Auburn or Duke or Florida or Michigan State. These are top seeds in the tournament - a lot of teams wouldn't have beaten them.

For the most part, Carolina beat everyone they should have beaten and lost to teams ranked higher than them. Using more in-depth analytics than how they played against a top team in November, the KenPom ratings have the Tar Heels as the 33rd best team in the country. They certainly should be in a tournament that has 68 entrants.

The teams that are most angry about not making the tournament seem to be West Virginia and Indiana. Those teams went 5-5 down the stretch - compared to 8-2 for Carolina including losses to Duke. WVU lost its final game to a 19-loss team. Indiana is ranked 48th in the KenPom ratings while WVU is 53rd, both well below the Tar Heels.

In the NET rankings, that the NCAA selection committee also uses, the Tar Heels are 36th while West Virginia is 51st - below Wes Miller's Cincinnati team. Yet they are talking about suing the NCAA. Carolina's win probably puts a crimp into that lawsuit.

So, in review, Carolina had more overall wins than the other contenders, are higher ranked and were playing better at the end of the season.

Not to get too political, the uproar reminds of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The vitriol directly at UNC was off the charts. Social media posters saying wild things like it doesn't matter if Carolina wins the tournament, they didn't deserve to be in the tournament. Huh?

They first say that Carolina didn't deserve to get a bid and they were going to get killed in the tournament but now that they weren't killed they're saying they still shouldn't be in the tournament. So, we don't want the best teams in the tournament? It's more like we should never have known Carolina is one of the best teams.

After an up and down year, it's strange to say but if they can keep playing like that, they are one of the best teams.

At the very least, as former Carolina great Tyler Zeller said on the radio after the game, "I think they showed they belong tonight."

Now, can the Tar Heels keep it up against Ole Miss?

-----------------

Jim Boeheim, the former Syracuse coach who is now an analyst on ACC games, admitted to not particularly liking North Carolina and he blasted the Tar Heels effort in the first half against Duke.

By the time the game was over, Carolina had won over Boeheim and he enthusiastically said the Tar Heels should be in the NCAA Tournament. "It was a great effort that was spoiled by a mental mistake," he added.

I really don't know what the urgency was for Withers to get a quick start. You don't assume your teammate is going to hit the free throw but you certainly don't risk a lane violation in that situation. He likely saw himself knifing through the lane for a tip in to give Carolina the victory.

Carolina fans should forgive Withers, who feels bad enough about his mental error, but there is blame there and he knows it.

A lot of things could have gone differently. Lubin could have hit the first free throw and then the urgency to get the possible rebound on the second free throw wouldn't have been there.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the game would have gone into overtime or that Carolina would have won if it had.

The Withers miscue lifts some off the blame off Lubin - or at least diverts attention. Had Lubin hit the first free throw, his second likely would have ended the game in Carolina's favor.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer made a good point in the post-game news conference when he pointed to Proctor's pull-up jumper with 3:25 to play as a key play of the game.

Duke hadn't scored in a couple of minutes and Carolina had cut the lead to 70-66 when Proctor hit the short jumper and seemed to surprise the Heels by pulling up for the shot rather than takng it to the hoop. It was the only basket Duke hit over the last five minutes but it was a big one.

Carolina ended up with a respectable shooting percentage at 47.3 percent (59.3 percent in the second half) but the three-point shooting killed the Heels. They were just three of 17 with the lately hot RJ Davis missing all three of his attempts.

Except for the last five minutes of the first half when Duke blitzed the Heels 15-0, Carolina was superior and often looked like the better team. All the Heels needed was for a three to go - or a couple of free throws with four seconds left to go down.

----------------------------

Archives

Carolina Football: Golden anniversary of a redeeming 50-0 victory over Duke.

Carolina Football: Excerpts from an article on the history of the Carolina-Duke rivalry.

Heel Prints reviewed each UNC game As a student sports editor years ago, prior to the season, Clifton Barnes predicted a national championship for the Tar Heels and indeed they won. In fact he wrote his lede paragraph for the national championship game almost a year early. He regrets that he didn't keep a journal after each game. He kept a journal after each game of the 2007-2008 season and you can reach them here. At the request of readers, he has kept up his journal of each game ever since. He also has written about UNC baseball and wrote an analysis after each 2008 UNC football game.

Editor's Note: HeelPrints chronicled the UNC basketball, baseball and football seasons for 2008 and 2009. Since the vast majority of comments I get about the site relate to basketball and since this isn't a paying job for me, I decided to limit my coverage and analysis to basketball. Baseball and football will remain archived and if I have comments or opinions I want to make on those or any other sports at UNC, I will make them here on the front page and then archive them in the corresponding sports section. Thanks for all the positive comments I have received about the site. Should I get sponsorship in the future, I will reconsider adding baseball and football again. Ironically, my favorite sports to watch in person are baseball and football. But my first connections to UNC came from watching Dean Smith's basketball teams on TV or listening to them on the radio in the days before all the games were televised. It should come as no surprise that people pay more attention to the basketball coverage. Thanks for your interest in this site.