Is that North Carolina has not faced ANY adversity throughout the entire tournament. Besides LSU giving them a half-hearted scare for about 10 seconds, their five games so far have all been walks in the park. Gonzaga, Oklahoma and Villanova were all double-digit blowouts that were never really in doubt. On one hand it’s great that they’ve been so dominant and things have gone so swimmingly, however there’s also a negative to that. The Tar Heels at no point have been forced to: make crucial free throws, get key defensive stops and rebounds, get big baskets when absolutely needed or any of the other little things required to win a close game. They’re just so accustomed to going out, getting a big lead, having the opposition offer no resistance whatsoever, and then winning comfortably. In sharp contrast, Michegan State has been playing close games throughout their improbable run. The USC game was decided in the final two minutes and the Kansas game was decided in the final minute. They also made big second half runs to pull away from Louisville and UConn when the game was still very much hanging in the balance. The Spartans have been in games that have come down to the final possessions where they had to execute and make big plays. North Carolina hasn’t. I guess that doesn’t matter to anybody though.
What happens tonight if say things do not go the same way for the Tar Heels as in previous cake walks? How will they respond? Will they be able to handle the pressure in a hostile environment? UConn was another team that was supposedly very experienced, mature, able to handle the crowd, etc and they folded so hard when Michegan State made a big run in the second half. For a team that was renowned for their size, strength, physicality and toughness, they played like complete bitches. You could see it in their body language that they wanted no part of the Spartans when the going got tough and the crowd started roaring. They quit.
I don’t care how many seniors Carolina has, how talented they are or how many NBA draft picks they have. They can still get rattled and taken off their game if Michegan State plays inspired in front of they're home crowd. All college players can get rattled when they’re down ten points and 50, 000+ fans are screaming and yelling at them. These teams don’t have a Kobe Bryant or Dwayne Wade in their line-up who can just come in and effortlessly silence the masses on a whim with clutch bucket after bucket. I’ve seen North Carolina get rattled this season against much lesser foes on the road, (Wake Forest, Maryland) so I know it can certainly happen tonight in this setting.
Secondly, you shouldn’t be shocked at all if North Carolina loses this game tonight. If the Tar Heels do in fact go down, I’m sure you’ll hear tomorrow on ESPN about how it was a monumental upset. That’s craziness because it wouldn’t be at all. To me there would be nothing shocking at all about a Spartans victory. They deserve to be in this game and are every bit as good as the Tar Heels are. There’s no intimidation here and nothing major for them to overcome. They have a great chance at winning this game PERIOD. North Carolina does not walk on water. Yes, the Tar Heels are playing their best basketball of the season right now. But we’ve still seen them struggle this year so they aren’t invincible regardless of how indestructible/unbeatable they’ve looked in their last three games.