Sports

North Carolina AD Bizarrely Defends Tar Heels When Pressed On Underseeded ACC Rival

#March Madness
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Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey reacts to a call.

© Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images


The NCAA Tournament field is set, and as is the case each year, question marks surround certain teams. In this season’s case, many of those concerns revolve around the ACC.

North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham, the chair of the selection committee, did his best to clear the air on those issues Sunday. His explanation of the Louisville Cardinals left much to be desired.

Pat Kelsey was upset upon learning his team’s March Madness fate following a 27-7 season. The Cardinals have been one of college basketball’s best stories, improving by nearly 20 games after going just 8-24 last year.

Louisville went 18-2 in ACC play. They then made a run to the conference championship game before falling to Duke in the title game. Still, the Cards were assigned an eight-seed on Selection Sunday.

Not only were they seeded three lines lower than most bracketologists had projected, but they received a truly awful draw in terms of competition. They’ll first face a Creighton team fresh off a Big East Championship Game appearance. A win would move them into a likely matchup with No. 1 overall seed Auburn.

Oh, and they’ll have to play the first weekend in Rupp Arena, home of the rival Kentucky Wildcats. Everything that could go wrong, did.

Bubba Cunningham explained the Louisville decision.

He chalked it up to the ACC having a down-year. While the Cardinals did win 18 of their 20 games against conference foes, just three came against NCAA Tournament teams (UNC, Clemson 2x).

“Yeah, I think Louisville had a great year, but I do think when you take a look at our league, we ended up getting four teams into the tournament this year, obviously Duke being the leader of teams out of the ACC, Clemson. Clemson beating Duke certainly raised their profile.

“As the committee looked at and put Louisville into the field and then we scrubbed them up and down the board, that’s where the committee felt that they should be ranked this year, and then obviously [North Carolina] came in at the very end — in fact, WE wouldn’t have been in had Memphis lost in the American conference championship.”

-Bubba Cunningham

Cunningham has taken heat for the committee’s inclusion of his school, North Carolina, in the tournament field. The Tar Heels have long been considered a team on the outside looking in. They went 1-12 in Quad 1 games. Many believe Cunningham’s presence on the committee influenced the decision to put the Tar Heels in the bracket.

Oddly, when asked about Louisville, he opted to talk about UNC. It seems, he too, might have doubts about their tournament status as he continues into defense-mode. He again felt the need to justify the Tar Heels’ standing.

Unfortunately for Louisville, they seem to have gotten a bad draw. They’ll now put the focus on Creighton as they push towards an NCAA Tournament run.