North Carolina head coach Mack Brown knows there’s no way to excuse what happened Saturday.
The 6-0 Tar Heels lost at home to the one-win Virginia Cavaliers. SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum hinted he’d seen the massive upset coming. In an appearance Sunday on The Matt Barrie Show, Finebaum recalled a recent talk with former UNC and NFL star Jeff Saturday.
“I was on the air the other day with Jeff Saturday,” Finebaum said. “We were doing our top-four and he said, ‘Hey! What about North Carolina?’. And I said, ‘What about North Carolina?’”
“That is North Carolina. Sadly, it has been the embodiment of Mack Brown at North Carolina. He has done a phenomenal job but he just always has that game. That’s really too bad because that program probably deserved better.”
Brown responded to those comments Tuesday, without even trying to sugarcoat the upset loss to Virginia.
“I think it’s been great that I’ve had that many ranked teams,” Brown said at his media session. “That’s pretty cool. Paul’s giving me a compliment. I don’t worry about all that stuff. I try, every week, to win every game that we’ve got. And I’ve lost a bunch of them. I’ve won 280 and lost what, 140 or something? So I mean, when people say, ‘This is the worst loss ever,’ I don’t know. I’ve got a bunch of them. I’ve got a long list of bad losses.
“So if we want to get into the bad losses. You coach 35 years, you’re probably going to have some bad losses, or I’d have more wins that Knute Rockne, or whoever’s up there.”
That’s a nice, measured response by Brown. Despite the loss, the Tar Heels are having one of their best seasons in years.
[On3.com]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.