'We learned a lot': UNC basketball reflects on missing the 2023 NCAA tournament

CHARLOTTE — Sitting on a training table in UNC's locker room at the Spectrum Center, Armando Bacot paused when asked who won last year’s NCAA tournament. Bacot, who is gearing up for a first-round tournament game with the Tar Heels on Thursday, took a beat. He laughed.

“UConn,” he said.

Yes, UConn. He was also able to recall the other three Final Four teams: Miami, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State. But did he watch?

“I didn’t watch those games.” 

In fact, he said he did not watch a single game of the tournament. After North Carolina missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010, he just couldn’t. Last year was only the fourth time the Tar Heels did not make the tournament since 1975. Between the transfers and returners, nearly every player on this UNC team sat out of the tournament last year. UNC also declined an invitation to participate in last season’s National Invitation Tournament.

So what did he do last March? 

He spent time in Miami. If the tournament was on the TV, Bacot would change the channel. He had completely blocked out the game of basketball. It took him a while to get over the disappointment. He said it took until after the Tar Heels scrimmaged FAU ahead of the season. Before then, with all the new pieces, he was still unsure how good this team would be.

“Until [the FAU scrimmage], I was like, ‘Man, I don’t want that feeling again,’” he said. “It was tough for a long time. Me, RJ [Davis], all of us, we felt terrible for a long time.”

For Bacot’s teammate, Cormac Ryan, the pain of not playing in March Madness last season was the same, even though he was at a different school. Ryan also couldn’t bring himself to watch the tournament. As the competitor he is, he was pissed off.

Graduate forward Duwe Farris did not watch many games. Going into last season, he said the expectations were so high, given the Tar Heels were the pre-season No. 1 team, and they were excited to make another Final Four run just like they did in 2022. But by the end, after UNC did not hear its name called on Selection Sunday, Farris was frustrated and did not care to watch.

However, some Tar Heels did watch. Seth Trimble and Creighton Lebo both did. For Trimble, it was hard to see other teams play while UNC was at home. 

For Lebo, the time was strange. He was used to playing in March, multiple weeks in a row, so it was different to have so much free time. 

But all the Tar Heels’ experiences last year, ranging from dejection to frustration to weirdness, all had a purpose.

“We learned a lot from last season and the hardships of it,” Farris said. “It was really hard, but it prompted a big change in the program. And so I don’t know if we’d be where we are today if we didn’t have the hardships of last year.”

Farris said the change manifested in new faces added to the roster, but also in a new approach and renewed focus over the summer that has carried over into the season.

And now, North Carolina is back in the Big Dance — albeit with nearly a completely different team — as the No. 1 seed in the West region. 

The Tar Heels learned it the hard way: nothing is promised. The 2023 letdown provides perspective as they start their 2024 NCAA tournament run.

“Cherish the moment,” Lebo said. “Realize this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Everyone’s really excited and ready to go.”

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