By R.L. Bynum

PHILADELPHIA — At the start of the season, a photo of the Superdome was put on the locker of each Carolina player to remind them of the end goal — a trip to the Final Four.

After two difficult seasons and a lot of frustrations, most college basketball observers saw that as an unrealistic, lofty goal at the time.

Throughout the ups and downs when many fans and the media gave up on the Tar Heels, junior center Armando Bacot said that the team stayed focused and believed it was possible.

“I think that’s more the crazy part that I actually believed, even through all the struggles, that we would get to this point. And I’m just so glad,” Bacot said Saturday.

No. 8-seed UNC (27–9) faces No. 15-seed St. Peter’s (22–11) at around 4:50 p.m. Sunday (about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the 2:20 p.m. Midwest Regional final between No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 10 Miami on CBS) at the Wells Fargo Center with the reward of a trip to the stadium that’s been a visual motivator.

It’s a special place in Carolina basketball lore since the Tar Heels won national championships there in 1982 and 1993.

“We had a picture on all of our lockers, and that was one of the main goals,” Bacot said. “If you would have told me back then we would have made it this far, I probably would have believed.”

When Bacot announced that he would return for his junior season, he talked about wanting to finally win something and leave a legacy. A school single-season-record 28 double-doubles later, along with a historic win at Duke to ruin Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game and a regional final ahead, he’s done just that no matter what happens Sunday.

Bacot insists that the team’s confidence that it could make it to New Orleans never wavered. But they realized that a different approach was needed if that was going to happen after the home loss to Pittsburgh.

Bacot, RJ Davis and Brady Manek all said Saturday that was the turning point of the season.

“I felt like in a lot of games we would play and we would get down,” Bacot said. “It felt like we were kind of hanging our heads on getting to this part of the season. We didn’t realize that you’ve got to win games early on in the season too to get to this point. I feel like now we’re playing with that we-don’t-want-to-come-home mentality and I feel like that’s making a huge difference for us.”

Carolina has tried to block out what Coach Hubert Davis calls “the outside noise,” but it was hard to ignore. That’s particularly true when a former UNC player, Pittsburgh assistant coach Jason Capel, could be heard calling the Tar Heels soft when he was walking off the court after the Panthers’ win in the Smith Center.

“Yeah, we heard all that,” Bacot said. “I think it pissed all of us off. It was a lot of moments where we heard national media … some of these guys say these things about us. I’m just glad that it’s come at this point. Now all the teams that were so tough? Now they’re at home.”

Bacot said that he never thought toughness was the issue for the Tar Heels but rather execution.

“It was just more of a thing just trying to figure out, I think, just us playing together,” Bacot said. “A lot of the times, it wasn’t so much a toughness [issue].

“But, in those tough games when we were getting blown out, it was a lot of us personally not guarding our man and not playing a team defense,” he said. “It was more of that than a toughness thing. And I knew we had a tough group of guys. Even when we’re down in those games, even when we lost, the next day, we always felt like we could beat any team.”

Bacot said the game he thought showed that the Tar Heels had turned the corner was the 65–57 road victory over Virginia Tech on Feb. 19.

“I think we all, just as a team, played great offensively and we kind of just trusted each other in big moments,” he said.

During much of the ACC season, teams could put all of their defensive focus on Bacot, but that’s changed with guards Caleb Love and RJ Davis as well as big man Manek becoming threats to put up big scoring games.

“Just taking a load off me, it’s been great and just seeing those guys show all the great things that they can do,” Bacot said. “It makes my life a lot easier and it makes guarding us even harder. Just the thought of one player might play bad and somebody else will pick up the slack. It’s been great.”

Not so great on Friday night was the lower-back pain that he felt early in the 73–66 victory over UCLA that he hadn’t noticed during warmups.

“As soon as I got out there, the first four minutes, my back just got tight on me. It just kind of affected me all game, honestly,” Bacot said. He said that when he was taken out in the first half, it was a combination of Coach Davis’ rotation and the back issue.

“I don’t think it really hindered my play too much,” said Bacot, who said that he felt fine when he was running but got treatment on the bench during the game. “It was just when I was walking and sitting down, that’s when it really affected me.”

Bacot, who said the issues with the thumb on his shooting hand are over, is ready to add to his legacy and the legacy of the team on Sunday against the surprising Peacocks.

Elite Eight

East Regional
At Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
Sunday’s regional final
No. 8 North Carolina (27–9) vs. No. 15 St. Peter’s (22–11), about 30 minutes after Kansas-Miami game, CBS
South Regional
At AT&T Center, San Antonio
Saturday’s regional final
No. 2 Villanova 50, No. 5 Houston 44
Midwest Regional
At United Center, Chicago
Sunday’s regional final
No. 1 Kansas (31–6) vs. No. 10 Miami (26–10), 2:20 p.m., CBS
West Regional
At Chase Center, San Francisco
Saturday’s regional final
No. 2 Duke 78, No. 4 Arkansas 69
Final Four
At Superdome, New Orleans
Saturday, April 2 national semifinals
No. 2 Duke (32–6) vs. No. 8 North Carolina or No. 15 St. Peter’s
No. 2 Villanova (30–7) vs. No. 1 Kansas or No. 10 Miami
Monday, April 4 final
Semifinal winners, TBA

Date	Score, record/ time, day, TV	Location	Opponent (current rank)
	November (4–2)
5	83–55 exhibition win	Home	Elizabeth City State
9	83–67 win, 1–0	Home	Loyola Maryland
12	94–87 win, 2–0	Home	Brown
16	94–83 win, 3–0	Road	College of Charleston
20	93–84 loss, 3–1	Uncasville, Conn.	Y — No. 10 Purdue
21	89–72 loss, 3–2	Uncasville, Conn.	Y — No. 5 Tennessee
23	72–53 win, 4–2	Home	UNC Asheville
	December (5–1, 1–0 ACC)
1	72–51 win, 5–2	Home	X — Michigan
5	79–62 win, 6–2, 1-0 ACC	Road	Georgia Tech
11	80–63 win, 7–2 ACC	Home	Elon
14	74–61 win, 8–2 ACC	Home	Furman
18	98–69 loss, 8–3 ACC	Las Vegas	Z — No. 7 Kentucky
21	70–50 win, 9–3 ACC	Home	Appalachian State
	January (6–3, 6–3 ACC)
2	91–65 win, 10–3, 2-0 ACC	Road	Boston College
5	78–73 loss, 10–4, 2-1 ACC	Road	Notre Dame
8	74–58 win, 11–4, 3–1 ACC	Home	Virginia
15	88–65 win, 12–4, 4–1 ACC	Home	Georgia Tech
18	85–57 loss, 12–5, 4–2 ACC	Road	Miami
22	98–76 loss, 12–6, 4–3 ACC	Road	Wake Forest
24	78–68 win, 13–6, 5–3 ACC	Home	Virginia Tech
26	58–47 win, 14–6, 6–3 ACC	Home	Boston College
29	100–80 win, 15–6, 7–3 ACC	Home	N.C. State
	February (7–2, 7–2 ACC)
1	90–82 OT win, 16–6, 8–3 ACC	Road	Louisville
5	87–67 loss, 16–7, 8–4 ACC	Home	No. 9 Duke
8	79–77 win, 17–7, 9–4 ACC	Road	Clemson
12	94–74 win, 18–7, 10–4 ACC	Home	Florida State
16	76–67 loss, 18–8, 10–5 ACC	Home	Pittsburgh
19	65–57 win, 19–8, 11–5 ACC	Road	Virginia Tech
21	70–63 win, 20–8, 12–5 ACC	Home	Louisville
26	84–74 win, 21–8, 13–5 ACC	Road	N.C. State
28	88–79 OT win, 22–8, 14–5 ACC	Home	Syracuse
	March (5–1)
5	94–81 win, 23–8, 15–5 ACC	Road	No. 9 Duke
	— ACC Tournament —
10	63–43 win, 24–8	Brooklyn	Virginia
11	72–59 loss, 24–9	Brooklyn	Virginia Tech
	— NCAA tournament —
17	95–63 win, 25–9	Fort Worth, Texas	Marquette
19	93–86 OT win, 26–9	Fort Worth, Texas	Baylor
25	71–66 win, 27–9	Philadelphia	No. 11 UCLA
27	About 4:50 Sunday, CBS	Philadelphia	St. Peter’s

Photo via @UNC_Basketball