Tar Heels close another successful season with disappointing loss

4/1/2008 6:02 PM

By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer

North Carolina defied the expectations that it would take a step back from the nation's elite after losing graduated stars Ivory Latta and Camille Little from consecutive Final Four teams. The Tar Heels just didn't have quite enough left to take the next step forward, either.

The Tar Heels (33-3) ran coach Sylvia Hatchell's fast-paced offense and trapping defense well enough all year to give them the first unbeaten run through the Atlantic Coast Conference in program history. They finished with their fourth straight ACC tournament title and 30-win season, closing the year ranked No. 2 with their only regular-season losses coming at Tennessee and Connecticut.

But their run ended much like last year's: with the offense stymied in a 56-50 loss to a Southeastern Conference opponent in the NCAA tournament. Last year, it was against the Lady Vols in the Final Four. On Monday night, it was against second-seeded LSU in the New Orleans Regional, a loss that ended the careers of second-team All-American Erlana Larkins and frontcourt mate LaToya Pringle.

Replacing them next season could be just as challenging as it was to replace Latta and Little.

``We've meant a lot to Carolina basketball,'' Larkins said in New Orleans. ``Over the years we've grown as players and for the past two years, with the exception of this one, we've helped our team get to the Final Four. So I think overall our careers were very successful in terms of records and numbers and what we've done for the Carolina program, but we still leave this program without a national championship, so that's the hardest part.''

North Carolina hadn't scored fewer than 71 points all season, but struggled all night against the LSU's defense. The Tar Heels came in with five players averaging in double figures, including Rashanda McCants, freshman Cetera DeGraffenreid and top reserve Jessica Breland. But aside from Pringle's 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting against the Lady Tigers, the Tar Heels went a combined 12-for-47 (26 percent) with no one in double figures.

Hatchell, named the ACC coach of the year, was clearly irritated that the Tar Heels had to play LSU in New Orleans. It marked the fourth time in six years North Carolina has had to face a lower-seeded team playing close to home. The Tar Heels have been eliminated by the eventual champion in each of the past three seasons.

``I'm disappointed we had to play each other now,'' Hatchell said. ``We should have met in the Final Four, not here.

``If LSU did go on to win a national championship then I guess we were like a good luck charm for the NCAA or something. That's what it kind of feels like.''

The talent will certainly be there next season for another run at the ACC title. DeGraffenreid had a solid debut as the Tar Heels' point guard, while McCants and Breland give North Carolina plenty of scoring punch. But North Carolina has let prime opportunities to win the program's second national championship slip away in each of the past three seasons, and it remains to be seen whether the Tar Heels can get back to this perch next year.

AP Sports Writer Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this report.