Getting into the 68-team NCAA Tournament field was a long, anxious process for the North Carolina men’s basketball team, which had to sweat out Selection Sunday in a way that a program of its pedigree isn’t accustomed to doing.
Getting to their first March Madness game has proven to be equally challenging for the Tar Heels.
Coach Hubert Davis’ team arrived late in Dayton, Ohio, Monday and missed its scheduled news conference and practice ahead of its First Four game Tuesday night against San Diego State. The NCAA acknowledged the change in plans, which it described in a statement as being related to “travel issues.”
Those issues, according to the Raleigh News & Observer, occurred when North Carolina’s NCAA-chartered flight arrived late at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The plane landed in Dayton at 6:29 p.m. ET, about two-and-a-half hours behind its originally-scheduled arrival.
The Tar Heels had been slated to begin their 40-minute practice at 6:35 p.m. ET, but didn’t take the floor until 8:11 p.m. ET.
“We just kind of stuck with it,” North Carolina forward Ven-Allen Lubin said, according to Luke DeCock of the News & Observer. “It was affecting everybody on the team but we stuck together. We just hung out, talked, interacted with each other. We bonded. It wasn’t an issue. We’re here now.”
After an up-and-down regular season, North Carolina, with a 22-13 record and a 1-12 mark in Quadrant One games, was the last team in the NCAA Tournament field. When coupled with West Virginia’s surprising exclusion, the move generated significant backlash and heated chatter, particularly since Tar Heels athletic director Bubba Cunningham was the chair of the tournament selection committee.