North Carolina Tar Heels: 1957 vs 2016, Bracket Challenge
The North Carolina Tar Heels Final Four Bracket Challenge may experience its first hiccup as it enters the third round featuring 2016 vs 1957.
The North Carolina Tar Heels Final Four Bracket Challenge has reached its third round and it is not getting any easier for me. At least two of the matchups will not be decided by simulator means and that includes this first one between the undefeated 1957 team and the 2016 team.
It seems particularly appropriate to talk about the 2016 team on this particular morning since many of those players will be playing in the National Championship Game against Gonzaga tonight. It is also true that we need to divorce ourselves from the Kennedy Meeks, Justin Jackson, Isaiah Hicks, and Joel Berry of this season because they have much bigger roles now. Luke Maye was something of an afterthought on last year’s team and now he is a key rotation piece.
No, the 2016 team was well established as the tale of two seniors. The year would be decided on the games of Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson. Ironically, the team entered the year believing Paige would be the more important of the two while trust in Johnson was not terribly high. By the end, Johnson had scored forty and pulled down twenty in a game and would become an All-American. Given Paige’s health, Johnson carried the team on his back.
North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball
Paige returned from injury, but found that he had to move positions. A preseason plan to start Paige next to defensive stopper Theo Pinson was scrapped because fellow sophomore Joel Berry was playing too well. Paige became the two guard, but gave the team more experienced ballhandling on the court than it had in recent years.
There was also great depth up front. Johnson was used at both the five and the four and played beside both Hicks and Meeks depending on situation. Joel James could be brought off the bench to provide a fourth post who could still do some good things defensively while he was out there.
Three point shooting was a little ragged as the team really only inherited Paige as a distance threat. Berry hit some big shots as the year went on, but he and Justin Jackson were not the reliable options they are now. They often were encouraged to shoot it to suggest some kind of threat, but teams often focused on Paige and were not scared of letting Jackson try to beat them. What a difference a year makes.
Of course the 2016 team was full of heart too, which is why they battled back to tie Villanova in the waning moments of the National title game. Paige’s heroic shot offered them hope of overtime. They were stopped by a gaming winning three pointer from the Wildcats to cement Jay Wright’s status as a great coach.