North Carolina was supposed to be playing an important game tonight against Miami (Fl).
The Tar Heels (12-6, 7-4) were coming off a 91-87 win over crosstown rival Duke.
After the win, sophomore Armando Bacot and freshman Day’Ron Sharpe decided to go to a party with no mask on and, well, you can figure out the rest.
In the camera phone era, that is a fatal mistake. The Daily Tar Heel broke the story along with posting the video they had been provided.
The mistake meant UNC’s game with Miami (Fl) will not be played tonight and with the ACC having a tight schedule, who knows, when or if, the game will be made up.
Currently, North Carolina is in the Last Four Byes category in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology.
With the Tar Heels having a NET Ranking of 50 and an 0-2 record against the AP Top 25, they are anything but a shoe-in for the NCAA tournament. What makes it worse is that this was a home game. UNC is 6-0 in Chapel Hill and for a team that needs to continue to win, this was the wrong game to lose. Their next game is scheduled to be in Charlottesville against UVA (13-3, 9-1).
College students will be college students. Whether people want to hear it or not, Covid-19 doesn’t impact everyone on the same level. Socially college age students and below have been asked shoulder the burden of giving up part of their growth for the sake of everyone. That’s a big ask.
Heck, adults around the country have been able and/or been unwilling to make the same sacrifice.
In the case of Bacot and Sharpe, they let their guard done and didn’t follow the the protocols that come with playing college basketball but fans need to resist acting like they let us down.
You shouldn’t be living your life through kids on a college campus and put the unrealistic burden of requiring them to be perfect during an unprecedented time.
