Thread by @ThadWilliamson

Thread re @UNC_Basketball: It’s interesting how many reactions to last night’s game and the season as a whole center the disappointment fans feel, rather than the disappointment—or rather, the pain--the players & coaches feel.
Here’s the sum total of my contributions this season:

I bought a few tickets, drove a few hundred miles to use them, concentrated and cheered while at the games, turned on the TV a bunch of times, tried to send positive vibes before and during games in hopes that somehow mattered, and tried to offer some positive comments online.

I didn’t run any sprints, do any defensive drills, sacrifice my body to take a charge, study (or prepare) any game plans, deal with the pressure of expectation, or have to try to guard a really good player on the other team. I didn’t do any of those things, nor did any other fan

The eighteen guys on the team invested all that, and more. They came up short of their own expectations, and they know that. They don’t need anyone else to tell them that.

And as happy as Coach Davis and the staff were for the guys to have some amazing experience last year, he and they no doubt hate that the players have had a very different experience most of this year.

There will be a lot to assess at a later point, once the season is officially over (and they don’t need anyone else to tell them that, either).

As a fan, I accept that I have no control over anything that happens with the team. And yet how the team performs impacts my well-being and those of people close to me, sometimes in a subtle way, sometimes in a profound way.

Carolina basketball has brought me a lot of joy and meaning and community and connections over the years. I’ve been on occasion in position to offer direct encouragement and support to people in the program, and I like to think I have contributed mostly positive vibes.

But the fact is, I’ve contributed very, very little, and gotten a great deal in return.

A lot of joy, some disappointment and heartache. And usually even in the disappointment and heartache there is a lesson, an opportunity for growth, that may not be immediately evident.

It’s a heck of deal.

What last year’s team provided me, and many other people, was a totally unexpected gift of joy. To see those guys reach a level no one thought possible, rack up some of the biggest wins in the history of the program in the process, give me the chance to

high-five random fellow Carolina fans in the Dean Dome after the Final Four win until my arm fell off, was a gift I will always treasure.

It came at a time in my life in which I appreciated the emotional boost, and at a time in our collective lives coming out of the pandemic in which the team’s run felt like nothing less than the reclamation of the joy of life itself.

That’s deep! But the key thing is, it was a gift, not an entitlement.
Hubert Davis, I think, understood this at some level, which is why he kept trying to get everyone’s focus this year on this year, not last year. Everyone’s focus perhaps included some of his own team.

I’ve never played or coached the game at this level, but I’ve been close enough to it to appreciate the extreme competitiveness of ACC basketball, and the thin margin between success and defeat. We played in a strong league, and played a strong non-conference schedule.

Apart from two games (Indiana and Wake away) we had a chance, often a really good chance, in all thirteen losses. We also pulled out some games that could have been losses.

The analytics show the defensive effort was generally very good; both the analytics and our own eyes show that the offense was there some nights, but not consistently enough to be a consistent winner at this level.

The bottom line is the Tar Heels came out on the wrong side of a painfully thin line too often. I feel for the players, coaches, and all directly involved, because none of them wanted this outcome. Numerous guys at times made heroic efforts.

Yet the team collectively didn’t make enough key plays at the key moments of key games.

Again, they don’t need anyone to tell them that.

And I’m not mad or upset about it, or mad at any of the players or coaches. They don’t owe me (or other fans) anything beyond what they owe themselves, which is their best effort.

The way I look at it, this (mostly) same group of players and coaches gave me and the Tar Heel community a huge lift and much joy last year, for the price of nothing more than watching the games and living vicariously through the nerves and tension of competition.

A year later, the players and coaches are no doubt in a position of pain, frustration, maybe embarrassment, maybe emotional exhaustion. Maybe it’s our job and responsibility as supporters to lift them up, in precisely moments like this.

It’s the inclination and willingness to do so that makes support for a college basketball team a reciprocal relationship rooted in community, not a transactional one.

If Carolina somehow got an NCAA bid, we would be the most dangerous team in the tournament. If Carolina is invited to the NIT and accepts, I will be excited to support the team and will do my best to travel a few more miles to root them on in person.

For all this team has given me (and us), that would be the least I could do.
Go Heels!

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