Off the cuff: Yes, it's unlikely that Carolina would have beaten Virginia without Armando Bacot, who was hobbled throughout the game and didn't play the last 15 minutes of the game. But why is that?

Sure, he's an All-ACC first teamer but Carolina still could have beaten Virginia had Coach Davis developed depth throughout the season and if the Tar Heels could hit three pointers.

The Tar Heels went small or sparingly played Jalen Washington, who played very little during the season. There was little to no post presence as a result of Bacot being on the bench.

Going into the game, Coach Davis wanted to play inside-out, meaning getting it inside to a big man (i.e. Bacot) and either getting a basket inside or punching it out for an open shot.

That couldn't happen without developed talent in the post. Still, the Heels could have won that game had they hit three pointers. Maybe they didn't have as many open threes in this game as they did against Boston College, but they got some open shots. You also have to create shots that may be contested.

R.J. Davis was four of eight from three but the rest of the team was four of 19.

It was a maddening season because of the lack of consistency. No Carolina fan can be happy about it.

Still, the Tar Heels won 20 games and had a winning record in the ACC regular season. That has forever been enough to make the NCAA Tournament.

Under this crazy Net/Quad process for entry into the NCAAs, if Carolina had beaten Alabama in the 4OT game back in November, the Heels would likely be in the NCAA Tournament.

N.C. State, which split with Carolina, is considered one of the last four in but the Pack would likely be in a similar situation as the Heels had they not beaten Miami in overtime in January.

None of this makes sense. If a team is great in December and you beat them, it's a Quad 1 win but if that same team loses its best player and crumbles, it's no longer a Quad 1 win.

We were told by ESPN's Joe Lunardi that even if Carolina beat Virginia, they wouldn't move up into his projected field. One of the reasons why? Beating Virginia may have moved the Cavaliers from a Quad 1 team to a Quad 2 team and then the win Carolina got over them in February when they were a Quad 1 team would now be a Quad 2 victory.

Carolina would have gone from three Quad 1 wins - Ohio State and Virginia twice - to no Quad 1 wins. Insane stuff.

If they are going to stick with that system, the Quad wins should stay the same throughout the season. A team can be really good when you play them and then fall off for whatever reason. That shouldn't take away from your beating a really good team.

Anyway, it looks unlikely that the Tar Heels will make the NCAA Tournament.

"Our record is our record," UNC coach Hubert Davis said. "I think regardless of our record, I think we have shown throughout the entire year that we can compete and play and beat anybody in the country."

That's true, which is one reason Carolina fans are so frustrated. "I know that we played a really tough non-conference schedule," Coach Davis said. "I know that the ACC for whatever reason is undervalued as one of the elite if not the elite conference in college basketball, and still trying to understand -- I understand the Quad -- it could be a Quad 1 win in November, but in March it's not. But at the end of the day, we had chances. For eight or nine of the 13 losses that we had, we were up in the second half. So we had our chances."

If the Heels aren't chosen, should they go to the NIT? It would give young guys some playing time and could give the veterans a better taste in their mouths. But if they don't really go to win it, they may as well stay home.

I will say that I'd rather win the NIT than lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament - which is something that will likely happen to at least one ACC team.

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The Tar Heels moved the ball well, got the ball inside, drove to the basket and got good looks from outside - and knocked them down.

This performance against Boston College in the second round of the ACC Tournament was what Carolina fans expected to see all year - even including contributions off the bench.

Now we've seen similar performance including recently against Clemson. So which team will show up against Virginia?

The Tar Heels handled the Cavaliers at home less than two weeks ago but lost at Virginia earlier in the year when Armando Bacot went out with an ankle injury.

Well, Bacot came out of the game against BC with an ankle injury - the same ankle. But he told Coach Hubert Davis that it wasn't as bad an injury as the one at Virginia.

Bacot's presence in the paint draws a crowd even if he isn't 100 percent. But it's hard to imagine the Tar Heels winning the ACC Tournament if he is hobbled for three games.

If Pete Nance plays as well as he did against Boston College and against Virginia in Chapel Hill, it could give Bacot some rest. Nance scored double figures in both those games and had four blocks in each.

"Virginia is a really good team but our team is up for any opportunity and challenge," Nance said. "I think we'll be ready to go."

Hopefully the bench, which scored 23 points in 55 total minutes, will come through after not seeing a lot of action this season.

D'Marco Dunn hit a pair of threes and Dontrez Styles hit his only three attempt which gave Carolina its biggest lead of the first half at 39-20. Puff Johnson, at 14 minutes, played more than any of the other subs but it wasn't a good game for him.

As an aside, the most fun play by a substitute was probably Justin McKoy's running power dunk follow with less than two seconds left in the game.

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Archives

Carolina Football: Golden anniversary of a redeeming 50-0 victory over Duke.

Carolina Football: Excerpts from an article on the history of the Carolina-Duke rivalry.

Heel Prints reviewed each UNC game As a student sports editor years ago, prior to the season, Clifton Barnes predicted a national championship for the Tar Heels and indeed they won. In fact he wrote his lede paragraph for the national championship game almost a year early. He regrets that he didn't keep a journal after each game. He kept a journal after each game of the 2007-2008 season and you can reach them here. At the request of readers, he has kept up his journal of each game ever since. He also has written about UNC baseball and wrote an analysis after each 2008 UNC football game.

Editor's Note: HeelPrints chronicled the UNC basketball, baseball and football seasons for 2008 and 2009. Since the vast majority of comments I get about the site relate to basketball and since this isn't a paying job for me, I decided to limit my coverage and analysis to basketball. Baseball and football will remain archived and if I have comments or opinions I want to make on those or any other sports at UNC, I will make them here on the front page and then archive them in the corresponding sports section. Thanks for all the positive comments I have received about the site. Should I get sponsorship in the future, I will reconsider adding baseball and football again. Ironically, my favorite sports to watch in person are baseball and football. But my first connections to UNC came from watching Dean Smith's basketball teams on TV or listening to them on the radio in the days before all the games were televised. It should come as no surprise that people pay more attention to the basketball coverage. Thanks for your interest in this site.