Top-ranked Tar Heels far, away the best around
DETROIT -- Humility is charming, right? Humility is noble. Humility is all I have going for me tonight, one night after watching No. 4 Duke dismantle No. 9 Purdue and deciding that even if No. 1 North Carolina is far and away the best team in the country, I'd give you the Tar Heels in the 2009 NCAA tournament if you'd give me the rest of the country.
North Carolina is Tiger Woods, I wrote yesterday. But I'll take the rest of the field, and I'll like my chances. Last night, I liked that idea a lot. Liked that story. Loved the phrasing. Even chuckled to myself -- I'll take the rest of the field ... how clever -- as I drove from West Lafayette, Ind., toward Detroit.
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| While the Spartans might end up being a Final Four team, they take an obvious backseat to the Heels. (Getty Images) |
Because tonight I watched North Carolina for myself.
Holy freaking cow. The rest of the country, as I noted in that story last night, has gotten worse. Kansas is worse. Memphis is worse. UCLA. Georgetown. Almost everyone.
But North Carolina has somehow gotten better. Even with its best player, Tyler Hansbrough, limited first by the threat of a stress fracture and now an ankle injury. Even with another starter, defensive standout Marcus Ginyard, out with a broken foot. Even with top freshman Tyler Zeller out with a broken wrist.
Even with all that, North Carolina is better than it was last season. And last season North Carolina was a Final Four team.
This season Michigan State might be a Final Four team. Michigan State entered Wednesday ranked No. 13. The Spartans have been as high as No. 5 this season, and they could get there again. They're not bad.
But North Carolina isn't human.
The Tar Heels thrashed Michigan State 98-63, beating the Spartans so badly that I actually felt bad for Tom Izzo, who cut such a cute figure on the sideline. With the benches more than two feet below the upraised Ford Field court, Izzo hoisted a single chair onto the floor and sat in it, alone, like a fourth-grader isolated from the rest of the class. The last time I looked, Izzo's face was gone. It was covered by his hands. His fingers were vigorously rubbing his forehead. Or trying to peel off the skin.
"That's definitely one of the best teams I've seen in 25 years of coaching," Izzo said. "It's potentially the best team we've played against over the years."
That's quite a statement, right? But he's right. North Carolina is terrorizing everyone it plays, and North Carolina is only going to get better from here on out. Hansbrough won't be as limited as he has been. Hell, North Carolina coach Roy Williams didn't know Hansbrough was even going to play Wednesday until about 15 minutes before tip-off.
"He's a competitive rascal," Williams said. "He wanted to play against Michigan State in this setting."
