UNC Basketball: Grit and Determination Will Get Tar Heels Back to No. 1

Talent and offense alone will not make the North Carolina Tar Heels better, they have loads of both. This team needs a commitment from all to continue to play like the season is on the line. 

The mad dash towards March Madness continues with every last marquee team vying for a comfortable spot atop the heap. 

It is getting mighty crowded during a wild season, but North Carolina has exactly what it takes to bring order to the chaos. 

Fresh off a four-game winning streak, the Tar Heels have put the ugly loss to Florida State well behind them. Now they have a game in the Maryland Terrapins that should serve as a barometer for how much concentration this team has. 

Looming in the not-so-distant future are two clubs the Tar Heels will be gearing up for. No. 5 Duke and No. 18 Virginia will no doubt measure the toughness of this team, but Maryland will demand they put their best foot forward, no matter the opponent. 

The other side of toughness is getting through a grueling season unscathed. Harrison Barnes is healing from a mild ankle sprain, but that just serves to remind us of the injuries that have plagued this team's perimeter. 

North Carolina may be deep, but they can hardly suffer from another injury after Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland went down. Losing Barnes for any amount of time would be catastrophic. 

This is a team that has it all when it comes to talent. They are first in the nation in points per game at 84.1 and first in grabbing boards per contest, 46.3. 

There is no reason this team should lose the easy ones that are supposed to be gifts along the way. Instead, they saw Chace Stanback of UNLV score a career-high 28 in an upset over the Tar Heels in November. 

Then Florida State's Deividas Dulkys' dropped 32 points on them in a blowout last month. A championship team should make it a personal affront for records and career bests to rain down on them. 

Defense has to be the measure of the day going forward. If North Carolina adds that aspect of the game each and every time they take the court, grabbing No. 1 should be no problem whatsoever. 

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