Well, that's one way to silence the doubters.
North Carolina had been the pariah of the basketball world since about 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday evening, when the NCAA Tournament selection committee revealed that it had put the Tar Heels into the final field of 68. It was a controversial selection, to say the least; UNC went just 1-12 in Quad 1 games this season, fattening up their record on a historically weak ACC. And it was made even more so by the fact that the committee was chaired by none other than Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham.
To say that Hubert Davis' team entered Tuesday's First Four matchup against San Diego State without any benefit of the doubt would be an understatement, to put it kindly. But rather than wilt under the pressure, the Heels delivered a major statement, blasting the Aztecs in a 95-68 win that frankly wasn't even as competitive as that final score suggests. RJ Davis couldn't miss from deep, and we finally saw how dangerous this Carolina team can be when it gets stops and turns them into transition opportunities.
In the aftermath of such a lopsided victory, it's natural for Tar Heel fans to do a little crowing; they've taken a lot of criticism over the past 48 hours or so, and you can understand why they'd want to return the favor. But let's not allow a UNC victory lap quite yet. Sure, that performance was awfully impressive, but it's fair to ask a little more of this team before we issue any mea culpas.
North Carolina still has work to do to prove it belonged in the NCAA Tournament
That 1-12 record in Quad 1 games was the most common piece of evidence brought against the Heels in the court of public opinion, both before and after Selection Sunday. Beating the teams you should beat is all well and good, the argument went, but shouldn't we reserve at-large bids to the tournament for teams who have proven they can beat tournament-caliber opponents?
Well, guess what. After Tuesday night, UNC's record in Quad 1 games is ... still 1-12. San Diego State entered the First Four at No. 52 in the NET rankings, making this a Quad 1 win for the Heels. Granted, that doesn't make this performance less impressive; Carolina led by 40-plus points for stretches of the second half, for crying out loud, and the Aztecs were very competitive in the Mountain West this season.
But we already knew that UNC could beat teams like this; they were 8-0 in Quad 2 games this season, after all. Really, the Heels' resume doesn't look all that different than it did on Selection Sunday. There's not much separating SDSU from, say, Pitt, a team that North Carolina split its two games against during the regular season.
If this Tar Heels team really wants to shut everyone up, they need to keep going. A matchup with 6-seed Ole Miss awaits in the first round, a team that currently sits 28th in the NET rankings and went 8-10 in Quad 1 games in the rugged SEC. Chris Beard's bunch is battle-tested, and more than deserving of its spot in the Big Dance. If North Carolina breezes past them as well, then maybe it'll be time to reconsider whether we judged this team too harshly.