The annual NCAA tournament is to begin in the next few days, with fans ready to cheer for their teams. 68 teams will battle it out in a three-week clash to bag the national college-level championship, not to mention the life-long bragging rights that come with it. However, players from the alma mater of Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan won?t be a part of this year?s Madness.
The University of North Carolina’s basketball team won?t feature in any of this year?s Men’s Division I matchups. Surely spelling misfortune for fans as well, the team could not gather enough wins to make it to ‘March’ this season.
Michael Jordan alma mater to skip NCAA Tournament
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2023 will be the first year that the North Carolina Tar Heels will be missing out on March Madness, that too after being ranked as the number-one team in the preseason.
Until next season. Thank you, Carolina. 💙 pic.twitter.com/zXtWZM0OzR
— Unc Zone (@ZoneUnc) March 13, 2023
This will also be the first time that a team first-ranked from the preseason will skip the tournament since its scope was expanded back in 1985 to include 64 teams on the table. Michael Jordan, who is now arguably the most recognizable face of the NBA, played on the Tar Heels championship squad during his freshman year in 1982.
Fans are clearly unhappy about the latest Tar Heels news. However, some went a step further to claim that they were glad to have avoided how the team would surely have performed after its failure to even find a place among the matchups. A fan’s tweet that read ?Saved us the embarrassment.??is a case in point.
Saved us the embarrassment
— 🎭L T🖤 (@only1lemdizzle) March 12, 2023
Another fan compared their performance with another team:??Meanwhile @KUHoops lost two first rounders, and earned a #1 seed, again. Only thing that matters is the end result, so no time to rest on laurels, but it speaks to the ability of Self to keep rolling year in and year out. In the competitive @Big12Conference, no less. #RockChalk.?
Meanwhile @KUHoops lost two first rounders, and earned a #1 seed, again. Only thing that matters is the end result, so no time to rest on laurels, but it speaks to the ability of Self to keep rolling year in and year out. In the competitive @Big12Conference, no less. #RockChalk
— Carlos Pacheco III, MD (@CP3_MD) March 13, 2023
A few more reactions from fans reveal the need to troll felt by many:
Hubert Davis probably had all kinds of For Sale signs put in his yard by angry fans. There's no way they should have been that bad. I know he's embarrassed.
— Gray's Analogy (@S_D_Brown1218) March 12, 2023
they really came back as preseason number 1 just to go to the NIT
— Streetz (@_Streetz) March 12, 2023
— Matthew Uehling (@MatthewUehling) March 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/doballer02/status/1635056782841352192?s=20
While most fans targeted the team’s decline in performance, some aimed for head coach Hubert Davis. Incidentally, UNC has also decided to forego the National Invitation Tournament.
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Hubert Davis declined the NIT invite
The University of North Carolina has not had the best of seasons. As if finishing with a 20-13 season record and failing to make it into the NCAA Men?s Division I Tournament wasn’t enough, head coach Hubert Davis rejected an invite to the NIT tournament as well and has made a formal statement in that regard – perhaps having realized that his team would not be taking part in the Madness after all.
It is the head coach’s second season at the University. Despite a strong showing in the first season, Davis evidently could not will his team enough for this year’s March Madness.
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