Maybe it’s a sign that perhaps North Carolina should not be part of March Madness 2025.
The Tar Heels arrived in Dayton on Monday more than two hours later than scheduled and missed their media availability when the NCAA’s charter flight did not pick the team up on time ahead of Tuesday’s First Four clash against San Diego State, according to The News & Observer.
The Tar Heels had been slated to land around 4 p.m., but instead arrived at 6:29 p.m. after the plane did not depart RDU International Airport until 5:12 p.m., per the report.
No. 11 North Carolina missed its scheduled practice time from 6:35-7:15 p.m. and instead took the court at 8:11 p.m. in advance of Tuesday’s 9:10 p.m. contest against the No. 11 Aztecs.
“We just kind of stuck with it,” North Carolina forward Ven-Allen Lubin said, according to the paper. “It was affecting everybody on the team but we stuck together. We just hung out, talked, interacted with each other. We bonded. It wasn’t an issue. We’re here now.”
The rocky travel schedule adds to what has already been an interesting week for the blue-blood program.
The Tar Heels’ inclusion in the NCAA Tournament emerged as one of the biggest storylines coming out of Selection Sunday due to the team’s shoddy 1-12 record in Quad I games.
Many noted the dilemma of having North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham as the selection committee’s chairman, especially when he received a one-month bonus for the Tar Heels making the tournament and can make up to an extra $100,000 with a national title.
The Post has you covered with a printable NCAA bracket featuring the full 68-team March Madness 2025 field.
North Carolina’s inclusion in the bracket kept West Virginia from the field of 68, and Governor Patrick Morrissey ripped the committee Monday.
“Nearly every single sports fan, pundit and Bracketologist had WVU as a shoo-in for the tournament,” Morrisey said. “This was a miscarriage of justice and robbery at the highest levels.”
North Carolina can silence some of the haters with a win on Tuesday and the Tar Heels are 4.5-point favorites — even with the disrupted schedule — against the Aztecs.
The winner will face No. 6 Ole Miss in the South region bracket Friday.
“It was a lot of delays, a lot of waiting on scheduling to be sent to us,” North Carolina forward Jae’Lyn Withers told The News & Observer. “A lot of time playing the waiting game.”
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