Normally March is a time is a time of great joy for basketball fans all over the country, but this year this basketball fan is feeling anything but.

After an experience earlier this month it really hit me that this would be a long month. It started during the confrence championships, KU was playing their first game against Texas Tech and a group of people were talking about stats and how far they thought KU would get in the tournament when someone in the group said, “This is why I don’t like March, I always feel so left out.” This really hit me deep down. Even though our means of thinking were totally different, we were both feeling the same way.

This person was reffering to their knowledge about basketball and the way they feel when they are watching the game with a group of people who know what is going on. However for me it was completely opposite. I am a huge fan of the game and consider myself knowing a lot about the game, but I was also feeling left out. For my purposes it was a team that was getting left out. 

It is no secret that I am a huge North Carolina fan, and it is also no secret how bad they have played this year. Knowing this you might say things like, “They have been bad all year, you should have known they weren’t going to make the tournament,” or “They won it last year, they can’t be good every year.” Both of these are true, yes I knew they had no shot at making the tournament halfway through January and yes they did win the championship last year, but it is still North Carolina. It is expected to make the tournament every year and when they don’t and you see all the other teams playing it doesn’t feel good and the sadness you thought was over in January when you relize your team is no longer in contention comes back to haunt you. It also doesn’t help seeing Duke in the Final Four.

One thing that I have taken away from all of this though is that North Carolina did recieve an invitation to the NIT and have made it to the Final Four. They will be playing their first game tommorow against Rhode Island on ESPN. While this isn’t the real tournament and I may catch more greif from the NIT bid than I would had they not went anywhere, I am still glad to see them play and improve as they move towards next year’s goal.