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Analyst says UNC loss could send shockwaves
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- Analyst says UNC loss could send shockwaves
North Carolina lost to VCU in one of the biggest collapses in NCAA Tournament history.
The Tar Heels led for more than three-quarters of the game and were up by 19 with just over 14 minutes left, but the Rams stormed back to win in overtime. I t's now the largest comeback in a first-round game in NCAA Tournament history and the second-largest rally overall, trailing only No. 7 seed Nevada's 22-point comeback against No. 2 seed Cincinnati in 2018.
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While it may look like a typical March Madness upset, this one may have more significance than it appears. According to CBS Sports college basketball analyst Matt Norlander, UNC's upset loss to VCU could send "shock waves" across college basketball.
I don't I'm not going to sit here in the immediate aftermath of this game and say that, you know, Hubert Davis is suddenly going to not be the coach of Carolina. I would think that's more likely than not. But knowing that job, we know that area, I think the dramatic nature of this kind of result, it is going to spark a lot of introspection and a lot of questions about, OK, as we move forward here, we just got our best recruit in a long time, potentially our first top five draft pick in a generation, what do we do for next year? How do we ensure that something like this doesn't happen again? This is more than just an 11 beating a 6. This is more than just a big upset on the first day of the NCAA tournament in earnest. This is a result here that will have a little bit of shockwaves around college basketball because it is Hubert Davis, because it is North Carolina, and because it lost to a mid-major team.
Norlander isn't wrong. The backlash to UNC's loss has been strong, and former Tar Heels greats Tyler Hansbrough and Joel Berry have sharply criticized the performance against VCU.
Davis, who has had a roller-coaster tenure as North Carolina's head coach, is now firmly on the hot seat after playing with fire that has finally grown out of control. This is the second time in his tenure that Carolina has been one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament. His predecessor, Roy Williams, went one-and-done just once in the Big Dance from 2003 to 2021.
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While there has been no indication yet of whether Davis will keep his job, it is something many around college basketball are closely monitoring.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Collapse vs. VCU could send shockwaves per analyst
