The ACC is in trouble and there’s no way around it anymore.
Duke is head and shoulders above any other team in the league right now and then it’s just a bunch of question marks, which mainly circle around North Carolina.
The Tar Heels entered the season as the projected second-best team in the conference, and still could be considered that, but its loss on Tuesday night against Florida dropped its record to 6-5 and a tough neutral site matchup awaits against No. 18 UCLA on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
A loss to the Bruins would make Carolina 5-6 in non-conference play with its best win coming against Dayton, which is now ranked in the Top-25 of the AP Poll, in a heroic comeback effort.
Still, the Tar Heels are No. 37 in the NCAA’s NET rankings with a 1-5 record in Quad 1 games that includes losses to Kansas, Auburn, Michigan State, Alabama, and Florida. They are a perfect 5-0 in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games.
That’s a current resume that puts you on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament with a real chance of missing out on getting a bid into the field.
It puts so much pressure on Hubert Davis’ team to win against UCLA and avoid any bad losses in the ACC, which there will be plenty of opportunities to do so this season.
Do they have enough firepower outside of its guards to compete against quality teams? Can they get any production out of its big men?
They are serious questions that do not have answers right now and a loss in New York City almost forces Carolina to finish within the top three of the ACC regular season standings to have a chance at making the NCAA Tournament, outside of winning the NCAA Tournament.
Granted, it’s December and there is s lot of basketball still to be played but the pressure could be mounting in Chapel Hill pretty quickly if North Carolina doesn’t find a way to turn things around soon.