The North Carolina Tar Heels did a lot of things right in their victory over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. For starters, they won at Duke for the third consecutive year and clinched the ACC regular season championship. They also paid tribute to their late Associated Students President. But most importantly, the Tar Heels all but clinched the top overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
What’s this mean for UNC? Well, assuming they don’t crash and burn in the 1st round of the ACC Tournament, we can expect them to be seeded first in the Eastern regional. If this happens, they’ll play their first two games in Raleigh before moving onto Charlotte for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight matchups. Neither venue is more than a couple hours away from Chapel Hill , meaning the Heels will essentially play four home games before the Final Four in San Antonio. That helps. A lot.
To understand the true benefit of short travel during the NCAA Tournament, look no further than UCLA the last two seasons. Two years ago, the Bruins played in San Diego and San Jose on their way to the Final Four. Last year, they played in Sacramento and San Jose before reaching Atlanta. A few years before that, a T.J. Ford-led Texas team benefited from playing their Regional Final in the friendly confines of San Antonio.
With the Blue Devils likely headed for a #2 seed in the tournament, they may have to arrive in San Antonio via Detroit or Houston. What can we take from this game? In the end, probably not very much. A home loss in this rivalry isn’t enormously troubling, largely because both these teams are so well-coached and have dealt with hostile environments so often.
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Ah yes, Championship Week is upon us, and I was really really impressed by UNC’s poise in Cameron on Saturday. Ryan is completely correct – Carolina officially has the “easiest” road to the Final 4 in terms of venue, but what happens if they get Kansas or Texas as a No. 2 seed in their region? Look out…”easiest” is in the eye of the underdog!