The North Carolina Tar Heels were the last team to get into the 2025 men's NCAA tournament and then they were the most talked-about team on Sunday night, as many analysts and fans wondered why Hubert Davis's team would get an invite after a closer look at their resume revealed they didn't do much to deserve it.
North Carolina finished the season 22-13 but were 1-12 against Quad 1 teams. Their last game was a loss to Duke, who didn't have Cooper Flagg, in the ACC tournament semifinals. Other teams like Indiana and West Virginia seemed to have better resumes but they didn't make the cut.
ESPN's Sean Farnham didn't hold back on North Carolina when asked for his thoughts on them making the tournament:
"That has to be a typo," Farnham said. "North Carolina can't possibly be in this NCAA tournament field. Because they had ample opportunities to improve their resume. The fact that West Virginia is not, with six Quad 1 wins and North Carolina is with one... And if they thought so highly of the ACC how is an 18-win Louisville an eight seed? So if you don’t value the ACC with Louisville who won 18 games in conference play and had a great non-conference what you’re telling me is North Carolina scheduled its way in because it had the fifth hardest non-conference schedule... the problem is they only won one of those games that mattered! When you talk about two wins against the field, that’s not good enough. That’s not good enough. This is an example of why we don't need to expand the tournament because we’re looking this is a NCAA tournament team. To me it’s about being elite, this North Carolina team is not elite.”
ESPN College Basketball analyst Sean Farnham had quite the reaction to seeing UNC in the NCAA Tournament field:
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 17, 2025
"That has to be a typo. UNC can't possibly be in this NCAA Tournament field. This is an example of why we don't need to expand the tournament." pic.twitter.com/0HNSS98sIa
North Carolina will face San Diego State on Tuesday at 9 p.m. in one of the First Four games. The winner will advance to play Ole Miss, who is the No. 6 seed in the South.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ESPN Analyst Destroyed UNC for Not Belonging in NCAA Tournament .
