Cooper Flagg's injury may have unintentionally kept North Carolina out of the NCAA Tournament

The No. 1 Duke Blue Devils outlasted No. 5 North Carolina in the ACC Tournament semifinals on Friday to advance to the championship match.

It was an impressive team effort for Duke without 18-year-old phenom Cooper Flagg, who sat after suffering a brutal ankle sprain in the Blue Devils' prior win over Georgia Tech. Kon Knueppel predictably led the way with 15 points, including a trio of made 3s. Ven-Allen Lubin led UNC with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Unfortunately for Lubin, he couldn't attach that 21st point when it mattered most. Duke controlled the majority of this game before a fiery Tar Heels comeback late in the second half. With the clock ticking down and Duke's lead trimmed to one, Lubin spun baseline, then spun back toward the lane for a sweeping finish — and drew the foul with less than five seconds on the clock.

He missed the first free throw on a rough bounce. Then he made the second, but it was annulled after a costly lane violation from Jae'Lyn Withers. The fifth-year senior won't live this one down for a while...

The final score was 74-71 in Duke's favor. UNC got one final heave at the buzzer and whiffed. It's a brutal way for North Carolina's ACC schedule to end — and it might just end their season, too.

Few teams are more "on the bubble" than UNC, especially after this game. Not only is it the Tar Heels' third loss to Duke this season. This one came without Flagg on the floor. So, in a strange way, Flagg might end the Tar Heels' season after all. Just not in the way he probably imagined.

Cooper Flagg's injury might seal North Carolina's March Madness fate

UNC was offered a golden opportunity here — beat a projected No. 1 seed without its best player and earn a chance at the autobid in the ACC title game. Even without actually winning the conference tourney, beating Duke would've been a nice feather in UNC's cap. Instead, the Tar Heels are left with another disappointing loss on their CV. The committee might penalize them for losing this way, to this version of Duke.

Hubert Davis, to his credit, had UNC playing its best basketball of the season at the right time. After weeks of aimlessness to begin the campaign, however, UNC needed every last win. They could not afford a setback. Duke was always the favorite in tonight's game, but the door was propped wide open for a motivated, experienced UNC team without Cooper Flagg in its path. When presented with a chance to secure the comeback, however, silly mistakes sunk them. Now the Tar Heels' postseason fate hangs in the balance.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi placed UNC among the last four in for his Friday morning bracketology. So, hope is still alive in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels built up a fair amount of momentum before their heartbreaking, potentially season-ending defeat. That said, UNC has only beaten a ranked team once all season. Once. With three losses to arch-rival Duke to really drive home the point, UNC just has not performed against college basketball's foremost contenders.

This is a deep and talented Duke squad, but Flagg has shouldered one of the heaviest two-way workloads in college hoops. He has been the driving force behind the Blue Devils' success. For UNC to get in a 21-point hole at halftime against a team missing its heart and soul? That's a bad look, even with the impressive second half comeback effort, which obviously fell short.

North Carolina is a blue chip program that tends to get the benefit of the doubt in these circumstances. This wouldn't be the first time UNC has felt an extra weight on its side of the scale. That said, one couldn't blame the committee if the Tar Heels are left out of the Big Dance at this point. UNC was given every chance to step up and claim their spot, and they never delivered.