GLENDALE, AZ – APRIL 03: Joel Berry II #2 of the North Carolina Tar Heels cuts the net after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four National Championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium on April 3, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. The Tar Heels defeated the Bulldogs 71-65. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Earlier this week, the North Carolina Tar Heels announced that they would be without the services of star point guard Joel Berry for as much as four weeks due to a broken hand. While not a dealbreaker for the entire season, it’s never good news to find out you’ll be without a guy who averaged 14.7 points and 3.6 assists per game last year and was named Most Outstanding Player at the 2017 Final Four.

What’s really rough news is finding out how he broke his hand. According to Roy Williams, Berry broke his hand on a door after losing in a video game to teammate Theo Pinson and a UNC game manager. Oops.

While Berry and UNC play the waiting game, the defending national champions don’t exactly get to cruise before ACC play. They kick off the season with Northern Iowa, travel to Stanford and Tennessee, take part in the Phil Knight Invitational, host Michigan in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and play Ohio State in theCBS Sports Classic. That’s also assuming the timeline holds and Berry is back in time for ACC play, which begins December 30 against Wake Forest.

If things go downhill in a hurry, expect Berry’s temper and broken hand to be the focus of the blame. The good news for them is that the Tar Heels are deep at the position. Freshman Jalek Felton (nephew of Raymond Felton), sophomore Seventh Woods, and video game champion Theo Pinson can all step in to play the point.

In the meantime, Tar Heels fans hope that Berry keeps things in check as he recovers and maybe dials it back a little bit on the video games. In theory, he should be back at full-strength in time for the most serious part of the season as well as the post-season, but until Berry is back on the court expect UNC folks to be counting the days.

And maybe keeping an eye on Joel’s hand’s Twitterfeed for updates.

Also, expect to see some fun signs in the crowd at Cameron when the Tar Heels take on Duke. They are other opposing crowds are going to have a field day with the fact that a video game could have derailed UNC’s entire season.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.