By: Dave Andrews

There’s a southern storm brewing down in ol' North Carolina. Tonight, while madness breaks out in places around the country, all is calm on tobacco road. Soon, the winds will start swirling and madness will set in.

To the west, the bright blue sky will turn to an even more threatening shade of light blue; Carolina blue, as Chapel Hill wouldn’t have it any other way. Their Tar Heels dropped out of the top 25 ranking like a stone in a river early on with losses to Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Illinois and Texas. Everyone justified their unfavorable fortune by the youth and inexperience the Tar Heels had, even after the team failed to make the NCAA tournament the year before, one year removed from winning it all in 2008.

Following that 7-4 start, the Heels conjured up enough strength to win five straight before losing at Georgia Tech on January 16h. Following that loss, they went on to win the next five; all against ACC teams, turning that 7-4 record quickly into an impressive 17-5 record.

Carolina traveled eleven miles east to play 2011’s first installment of the biggest rivalry in all of college sports. Despite a strong effort by Tyler Zeller, who posted 24 points and 13 rebounds, the Heels couldn’t contain Duke’s Nolan Smith, who dropped 34 in the 79-73 Duke win.

Roy William’s Tar Heels would go on to win their next six in regular season play and crept all the way up the rungs of the ACC to find themselves in second with part two against Duke to be played in Chapel Hill on the last day of the regular season. After letting the lead slip heavily out of reach in Durham, The Heels jumped out to a lead ten minutes in and never let go. After Duke had led the ACC the entire season, UNC stole away the reigns on the last day of play and earned the top seed and first round bye going into the ACC tournament.

Their first ACC tournament matchup against the Miami Hurricanes proved to be a microcosm of their season up to that point. The Hurricanes never trailed during the forty minutes of play, only tying three times. They led the Heels by as many as nineteen in the second half and led by fifteen with 7:46 left to play. Slowly, Carolina started converting consecutive possessions into points while the Canes slowly fell apart at the seams. Time after time, the Canes failed to get open looks thanks to pressing Carolina defense, and the Heels watched as the ball miraculously got turned over time after time. Still though, they seemed they didn’t have enough to overtake the Canes.

With 3:20 left, Sophomore Tyler Zeller, Jr. hit a signature turnaround jumper down low in the paint to pull within one. With the help of Kendall Marshall’s two rebounds, freshman sensation Harrison Barnes had the opportunity to take two 3-point shots to put the Heels on top, but both rimmed out. Miami’s Durand Scott missed a 3-pointer that would have made it a two-possession game. After Malcolm Grant made it a two-point lead, Tyler Zeller hit another jumper down low to tie it at 59 with fourty-one seconds to play. With twenty-two seconds on the clock, Miami’s Adrian Thomas watched the ball dribble out of his hands and out of bounds, and with it, Miami's season. As time expired, Zeller hit his third consecutive shot: a lay-up that kissed the glass as the backboard turned red, signaling the clock striking zero. Carolina stormed back in the final seven minutes to stay alive literally just in the nick of time.

The Heels were tried again the following day, as they once again seemed to have their backs to the wall against the Tigers of Clemson. UNC was down ten at the half, and once again trailed the entire game except for one possession of leading 53-52 halfway through the second half. Another sophomore stepped up for North Carolina, as Sophomore John Henson dropped 18 points and recorded 9 rebounds. While Henson kept the Heels in the game, Harrison Barnes closed the gap in the waning minutes. Barnes hit six of his eight shots from 3-point range as well as twenty-two points in front of the arc. One of Barnes’ threes came with 1:23 left to play to bring it within two. Then, déjà vu set in.

Just as Miami had done the day before, Clemson turned the ball over on the most crucial possession of the game that could have made it a two possession game with just under a minute to play. And, like the day before, Tyler Zeller capitalized on the ensuing possession, hitting a two-point game-tying jumper with thirty-two seconds to play. Miami’s Demontez Stitt’s last few second's shot rimmed out as time expired.

After leading by as many as fourteen in regulation, The Tigers were held scoreless in overtime for the first 3 minutes and 53 seconds. The Tar Heels took control as they went on to win 92-87. They went on to meet Duke in the ACC final, and the Blue Devils proved once again to be Carolina’s kryptonite, winning handily, 75-58.

Since their loss to Texas, the Tar Heels have come on like a freight train. They’ve torn through their remaining schedule, losing only two regular season games in the ACC apart from losing to Duke in the ACC tournament final. They find themselves as the top #2 seed in the NCAA tournament. The same core of young players who were coined “inexperienced” seemed to have grown up in two months and are now driving the Carolina freight train to the rafters of the NCAA, beating out all but five teams in the pre-tournament rankings. Whether it be the sophomores Zeller, Jr. and John Henson or freshman Harrison Barnes and Kendall Marshall or freshman Leslie McDonald off the bench, each game, someone new steps up to raise Carolina to victory. The starters on this team have been in college less than two years and are already a better functioning team than 90% of the teams in the NCAA.

The ACC final loss to Duke might have been the loss to bring the Tar Heels back down to earth and to refocus before they got too arrogant and ahead of themselves. They still have a long road ahead of them. Assuming they get past #15 Long Island University and either #7 Washington or #10 Georgia, they could face #3 Syracuse. If they’re fortunate to beat the Orange to a pulp, they’ll probably face the top-ranked and most-favored team in the tournament, #1 Ohio State in the elite eight. If it happens, the Ohio State-UNC matchup could be the best and hardest game in the tournament for both teams. If they find a way to muster a win over the Buckeyes, the Heels would probably face off against #4 Texas in a rematch, #3 UConn, #2 San Diego State or Tobacco Road's most-hated foe #1 Duke.

The Tar Heels have the talent to contend with the Syracuses and Ohio States on their road to Houston, for teams know that no lead is big enough when playing North Carolina. They are not a bunch that teams want to see up next in their bracket. It takes a lot out of a team to come back from 10+ points deficit, especially night after night. They’re going to have to figure out how to prevent the early deficits and not put themselves in an eventual insurmountable deficit.