5 reasons UNC won’t win the National Championship

1. Lack of quality victories away from home

Like most teams in power conferences — especially the ACC — North Carolina avoided playing away from home too much in their non-conference schedule. In fact, they lost their only true away game — a 76-67 contest against an Indiana squad that didn’t even make the NCAA tournament.

These struggles continued in conference play. Thanks to an unbalanced ACC schedule, North Carolina played only four away games against ACC teams that made the NCAA tournament. A fifth contest – a ‘semi-home’ game against Notre Dame – was contested at a neutral arena located in North Carolina. And they lost to every squad besides Wake Forest, who didn’t even make it past the First Four with its NCAA tournament bid. Double digit losses to Miami, Duke, and Virginia don’t speak strongly to the Tar Heels’ bona fides when playing quality teams on the road. Their only non-home victories against teams that made it to the first round of the NCAA tournament came at neutral venues, where they beat quality opposition in Wisconsin and Oklahoma during the non-conference season, and Miami during the ACC tournament.

Next: What happens to Cinderellas when the glass slipper doesn’t fit?

Every NCAA game this year will be contested outside of North Carolina, thanks to local legislation that the NCAA opposes. Obviously, this means North Carolina will have to win games against quality opposition outside of their home stadium and state — something that didn’t really happen this year. They’re certainly a good enough team to do it, but it’s a worrying pattern.