By Frank Heath
Sports Columnist
When the horn sounded late Sunday evening, ending the UNC Women’s basketball team’s quest for the ultimate college basketball glory one stop shy of the NCAA finals, it would have been difficult for any observer to not reflect back almost exactly a week, to a similar disappointing ending for the UNC Men’s hoops team.
The Tar Heel women, leading No. 3 Tennessee by 12 points with eight minutes left, proceeded to play their final 15 possessions without making a single basket. Eight missed shots, seven turnovers, no offensive rebounds and two Ivory Latta free throws later, Carolina had been outscored 20-2 at the end and gone down in a burning wreckage of a defeat, 56-50.
This “meltdownâ€â€”which curiously followed a stretch of second-half play during which Carolina had nearly run the Volunteers out of the building with a 27-9 surge of its own—had to have been particularly perplexing for any supporter of the Tar Heels, given the significance of the game and the likeness it bore to the North Carolina men’s collapse the week before at the Meadowands.
In that game against Georgetown, Carolina had allowed an 11-point advantage to slip away over the final seven minutes, in an equally difficult to witness muck of impatience and lid-on-the-bucket futility.
And given the fact that last spring the UNC baseball team squandered a great opportunity to capture the College World Series when a routine putout throw from the pitcher to first base somehow went horribly awry—well, you must pardon Carolina fans if they begin to feel a bit snake-bitten.
Is there something wrong with UNC athletics that is causing these disasters to occur? Nah. Well, nothing that time, the will to win and a supply of deep-pocketed alumni won’t cure.
The fact is, some of the most celebrated champions in modern sports suffered through years of what seemed like crushing defeats and ignominy before they became champions at their game. Dean Smith failed in his first six Final Fours before finally breaking through to win the national championship in 1982. Michael Jordan did not capture the first of six NBA titles until his seventh season in the league, and his Bulls had to endure several years of beatdowns from the then-bullies of the East, Detroit and New York, before they finally won one. And Coach K, about whom I am loathe to write, but whose winning percentage cannot be disputed, visited the Final Four on numerous occasions before finally gaining his first championship in 1991.
So as history shows, he who finishes second (or third or fourth or maybe even tied for fifth)—will one day be first. And as Bob Dylan also reminds us, he (or she) who is first will later be last. So get ready for a long summer, and watch out, Florida.
Thanks Frank….for what I think is optimism in the hroes of despair. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I can attest that the wait for the real thing can be difficult for the most patient among us. It is however easy to locate teams and schools who have never (nor likely to ever) get close enough for this version of frustration. Think Duke football or Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball. I see lots of great success on the horizon. This year Tar Heel baseball is looking great and if those Tarheel basketball underclassman stay…….