UNC Basketball officially misses the NCAA Tournament

The UNC basketball program will not have the opportunity to make another NCAA Tournament run, as they were kept out of the official field.

What was expected is now official: the UNC basketball program did not make the NCAA Tournament field for the 2022-2023 season.

In what started as a year of high expectations ends in disappointment, as the Tar Heels went from being the preseason No. 1 ranked team to a team that didn’t even qualify for the tournament.

North Carolina becomes the first team since the tournament field expanded in 1985 to be ranked as the top team heading into the season to then miss the big dance completely.

The Tar Heels came close, as they were the third team listed among the “First Four Out,” but didn’t do enough to find their way into the field.

Of course, there are some games that North Carolina lost that came back to bite them. If they win the four-overtime game against Alabama early in the season or find a way to beat Duke in the regular season or Virginia in the ACC Tournament, would one of those games have been enough to get them in?

It’s possible, but we’ll never truly know.

Ultimately, it’s on the UNC basketball program for putting themselves in this position. Will this group accept a bid to the upcoming NIT tournament, or will they focus their attention on an upcoming offseason that could feature a roster overhaul?

For now, we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.

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