Season sequel not so dreamy

The 2004-05 North Carolina athletic season spoiled us — and I’m talking before April 4th.

A reeling football program with a head coach who had as much job security as a Spinal Tap drummer pulled off two of the most captivating wins in the nation last season — not to mention the program’s history — energizing a campus en route to a third-place ACC finish and bowl game appearance.

Karen Shelton’s field hockey team finished the year with a 21-2 record, an ACC championship and the nation’s top ranking heading into postseason play.

The Tar Heel wrestling team notched a conference championship of its own, while gymnast Courtney Bumpers brought her second consecutive national title back to Chapel Hill with a perfect 10.0 in the floor exercise.

North Carolina baseball was ranked as high as No. 4 in the country last spring and featured rising juniors Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard, two of the premier pitching prospects in baseball.

The women’s basketball team reached the Elite Eight for the third time in school history, won 30 or more games for the third time and beat Duke three times — including an 88-67 romp in the ACC Tournament title game. Not a bad trifecta.

A pair of Olympians paced the Tar Heel women’s soccer team to a 20-0-2 mark before a disappointing loss to Santa Clara in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.

The same Santa Clara that put the women’s soccer program on a reign delay stymied the men’s basketball team in its first game of the year, 77-66, in what proved to be a sorely needed dose of reality. In case you hadn’t heard, that team went on to win a national title.

Now 2005-06 has some enormous shoes to fill. If last year can be considered the “Caddyshack” of collegiate athletic seasons for a single university, this one will have its work cut out for it to avoid falling to “Caddyshack II” status.

The Rodney Dangerfields and Bill Murrays of North Carolina have since departed. There are more recognizable Tar Heel faces on the Charlotte Bobcats than there are on the men’s basketball roster. Nikita Bell was drafted by the Detroit Shock of the WNBA. Jason Brown and Darian Durant are trying to make names for themselves in the pros.

What remains is a cast of characters shakily poised to uphold the reputation of an athletic program currently performing at its peak.

Like Chevy Chase’s return to “Caddyshack II,” proven assets such as Bumpers and soccer stars Lindsay Tarpley and Heather O’Reilly return for runs at their respective national titles. Women’s basketball returns its top three scorers, and field hockey and wrestling figure to field strong squads as well.

The question marks, however, rest with UNC’s premier sports — football and men’s basketball. With unproven quarterback Matt Baker at the helm of John Bunting’s team and the search for his backup going about as well as Chase’s post-1985 career, fans are keeping their wallets holstered instead of shelling out big bucks for bowl game tickets.

As for the men’s basketball team, the slew of highly touted freshman is a more promising list than “Caddyshack II”’s Jackie Mason, Dyan Cannon and Jonathan Silverman, but the ACC isn’t nearly as forgiving as fiercely loyal movie-goers.

So with the year’s first sports column, I invite you to sit back and relax, grab some Raisinettes and a $5 Coke and enjoy what promises to be an entertaining athletic year.

It can’t be any worse than “Caddyshack II.”

Contact Matt Estreich at ozmodiar16@hotmail.com.