Is North Carolina Overrated? From No. 1 in the Country to Last in the ACC

He missed badly - way short - but followed his shot. When he did that, it ruined UNC's defensive balance, and Chas McFarland took the ball in for a wide open lay-up. Wake went up six, and the game was all but over.

I've mentioned this before, but one of my biggest concerns about UNC going into the season was that the players were going to be thinking about the NBA Draft. Instead of truly playing within the UNC system, I was afraid that Green, Lawson, Ellington, and Hansbrough would instead spend the year trying to impress NBA scouts that come to the games.

The fact of the matter is that all four of those guys had a chance to enter the NBA Draft. Hansbrough didn't test the waters, but as for the other three guys, they wanted to head to the league.

For some reason, Green (injuries), Lawson (arrest), and Ellington (poor showing) had to withdraw their names because they weren't going to be first-rounders.

Throw Ginyard (when he gets healthy) and Deon Thompson in there, and you have six guys that are trying to prove they belong in the league.

The reason everyone was so high on UNC this year is that they brought back essentially their entire team that was a No. 1 seed last year and reached the Final Four, adding three Mickey D's All-Americans to the mix.

My question: Are the UNC guys really that good? The NBA pours over and studies every detail about a players personal and athletic life before the draft, but the bottom line is that there really isn't anything that can keep a player from being taken if he has the talent.

There is always a GM that will be willing to take the risk if the guy is good enough. The rumor on draft night this year was that Darrell Arthur was destined for kidney failure, but he still managed to be a first-round pick.

All three of the Heels that came back had problems of their own, but none of them were highly regarded enough to be a considered a lock for a first-round pick.

While it is obviously a good thing for the Heels to get those guys returning to campus, it's not exactly Worthy, Perkins, and Jordan in their primes coming back to suit up.

Have the Heels been overrated? Clearly.

After all the undefeated talk earlier in the year, they went out and started 0-2 in conference play.

That doesn't change the fact that UNC is one of the favorites to win the ACC and a clear Final Four contender.

They just aren't as good as everyone thought they would be.

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