Bubba Cunningham felt it was best to ‘call an end to the season’ for UNC
After falling short of the NCAA Tournament, the UNC basketball program announced it would not participate in the NIT.
The Tar Heels became the first preseason No. 1 team to fail to make the NCAA Tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams.
UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham addressed the decision on the “Carolina Insider” podcast this week.
“I did stay in touch with coach Davis,” Cunningham said. “And then when the decision was made that we weren’t in the tournament, then he and I talked a couple of times … And, ultimately, we think the best thing for us right now is to call an end to the season.”
The Tar Heels were the third team out of the field, making it evident that if one or two of those second-half leads turned into wins, UNC would have likely been in the NCAA Tournament.
Unfortunately, that’s not how games turned out for the Tar Heels. Instead, the program gets a jump-start on figuring out where this roster stands and focusing on next season.
“It is an evolving process. So I don’t want to say we’re gonna have to be patient or it’s gonna be a long run, because no one wants that. And we want to fix it tonight,” Cunningham said. “But it’s going to take a little bit of time to be really thoughtful about how do we best deploy the resources to be successful. And that’s what we all want. We all want to be good. We want to be successful. We want to compete for championships.”
Competing for championships is the standard at UNC. To do that next year or in the near future, there needs to be a lot of self reflection from this season. And from many different parties.
“What do I need to do as the athletic director to help support men’s basketball, women’s basketball, all of our teams? Administratively, there’s a lot of things that we can do to help,” Cunningham added. “What can Hubert do to help the players be more successful? What can the assistant coaches do to help the players be more successful? What can the players do in the offseason that will allow them to be more successful the season?”
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
