Bill Belichick‘s highly anticipated coaching debut with UNC became a rout as TCU landed a 48-14 victory. Despite the Tar Heels scoring on the opening drive, the Horned Frogs responded with 41 unanswered points and seized the game.

The results marked the worst opening game loss for UNC in decades. The loss was the most allowed by a Belichick-coached team in his 511-game career as an NFL head coach.

Belichick has attracted more attention due to his young girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, than his coaching in his new job.

UNC’s early momentum was cut short. Quarterback Gio Lopez struggled to complete four passes and threw an interception before exiting the game with a back injury. Backup Max Johnson replaced Lopez with less than seven minutes left in the third quarter.

Johnson’s return after a season-ending leg injury from last year’s opener provided one of the few highlights for UNC. Connecting with his brother, tight end Jake Johnson, Johnson secured a 2-yard touchdown later in the third quarter.

The TCU offense consistently broke through the Tar Heels’ weak defense. TCU running back Kevorian Barnes slashed through Belichick’s defense for a 75-yard touchdown, putting the game out of UNC’s reach.

Belichick signed on in early January after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots. His arrival marked a 70-player roster change at Chapel Hill.

The coaching debut brought national press attention and celebrity presence, including UNC alumni Michael Jordan and former UNC linebacker Lawrence Taylor. The spectacle built high expectations for Belichick’s first college game.

Instead, the game highlighted significant gaps in the team’s execution and discipline. In a postgame press conference, Belichick told reporters that TCU outplayed and outcoached his squad.

“We played competitively, but then couldn’t sustain it,” Belichick said. “Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. We need to do a better job all the way around – coaching, playing, all three phases of the game.”

He provided few details outside of emphasizing the need for corrections, mirroring the atmosphere of his long NFL tenure. The game’s results sparked debate across social media and news outlets.

Despite the loss, Johnson’s return after a near career-ending injury should be noted. For Belichick, the game marked a problematic start to the new chapter in his coaching career.

The Tar Heels have less than a week to address any issues before visiting the Charlotte 49ers on Saturday.

A fight broke out on the field following a football game between state rivals in North Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 30. Footage by Josh Overcash shows players from North Carolina State and North Carolina brawling after NC State’s 35-30 win over UNC. According to reports, the fight broke out after the NC State Wolfpack tried to plant their flag in midfield at the end of the game at their rival’s North Carolina Tar Heels’ stadium. (Credit: Josh Overcash via Storyful)

On Monday, North Carolina and Miami’s ACC matchup was suddenly postponed two hours before the game was supposed to begin on Monday evening after a video of two of UNC’s players partying maskless surfaced. The video surfaced following the team’s win over rival Duke on Saturday.

The video, originally posted to Snapchat and later to YouTube by The Daily Tar Heel shows Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe partying with several individuals in a closed space, all of whom were not wearing masks.

The Miami Herald reported that the Hurricanes were concerned about possible exposure the UNC players might have had at the party.

The ACC did not say the video was the reason for the game’s postponement, but instead, they said the decision was made after a mutual agreement.

“The postponement follows a meeting of personnel from both schools, who mutually concluded the game could not move forward today,” the ACC’s statement said.

“There was a video that was out there with several of their players without masks at a party at 1 a.m. Sunday morning, which is less than 48 hours from our game,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga, told The Herald. “Our president [Julio] Frenk is adamant that student-athletes are allowed to compete, but they’ve got to stay the safe social distance. Our guys have done a fantastic job. We have not had a single guy test positive and they were all unanimous that this isn’t right. We have been quarantining, hibernating, whatever you want to call it, and we don’t want to put ourselves in a position [to get the virus]. We came to a decision that it’s better to postpone the game.”

Hurricane Florence has become such a dangerous storm that it has forced several college football games to be rescheduled or cancelled.

weekend Football Games Called Off Due To Hurricane Florence

Among the games set for this Saturday that were cancelled on Tuesday are the University of Central Florida-North Carolina matchup and the NC State-West Virginia contest.

As of Tuesday morning, Florence was still labeled as a Category 4 storm — after starting out as a Category 3 hurricane in the Carolinas last week — although the National Hurricane Center said it could potentially turn into a Category 5 disaster later this week.

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Last year, dozens of storms including Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas and Hurricane Irma in Florida destroyed many homes and left many Americans destitute.

Since Florence began its course, evacuations and emergency safety measures have been implemented in many Mid-Atlantic states like the Carolinas and Virginia.

On Tuesday, Wake Forest announced that its Thursday night home matchup against Boston College would be rescheduled to 5:30 p.m. EST from 7:30 p.m. due to the imminent storm. ESPN is still set to broadcast the game.

Other colleges and universities have also postponed or changed the location of their football games or other athletic activities this week because of the hurricane. Virginia was scheduled to host Ohio on Saturday, although that game will now be held at Vanderbilt’s stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

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William & Mary’s home game against Elon, originally scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed to an unspecified date. Duke is still set to play at Baylor in Waco, Texas on Thursday.

Villanova (31-3), who won the 2016 N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament with a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the championship game, is the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s bracket, released Sunday night.

Villanova, Kansas, UNC, Gonzaga Are NCAA 2017 Top Seeds

The Wildcats, who are a top seed for the third time in school history, defeated Creighton 74-60 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday to win the Big East Tournament.

The other three top seeds in each region are Kansas (28-4, Midwest), North Carolina (27-7, South) and Gonzaga (32,1 West). Villanova beat UNC in last year’s title game.

In the East region, the Wildcats will start their title defense in Buffalo, New York, on Thursday night against the winner of a play-in game between Mount St. Mary’s and New Orleans. Either Virginia Tech or Wisconsin would await in the second round.

Duke (27-8) is the No. 2 seed in the East, while Kentucky (28-5) is the No. 2 seed in the South. Both teams boast young, talented players, including several freshmen expected to turn pro later this year. Though both the Blue Devils and the Wildcats struggled at times due to inexperience and injury, they ended up winning the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Southeastern Conference (SEC) tournaments respectively.

The highest-seeded team from the Pacific-12 was conference champion Arizona (30-4), with a two-seed, while the Big-Ten’s highest-ranked member was fourth-seeded Purdue (25-7).

Northwestern (23-11), meanwhile, earned its first-ever NCAA berth in the nearly 80 years of the tournament. In the opening round, the eight-seeded Illinois team will face Vanderbilt, who is led by first-year coach Bryce Drew. The Commodores (No. 9 seed, West) have won seven of its past nine games and 10 of 14.

Kansas will make their record-breaking 28th straight appearance in the tournament, passing UNC’s mark from 1975-2001. The Jayhawks also won the Big 12 Conference this year for an NCAA Division I record 13th consecutive time, breaking U.C.L.A.’s conference streak from 1967-79. Kansas lost to Texas Christian 85-82 in the Big 12 tourney.

Syracuse, a controversial bubble team that made it to the Final Four last year, did not make this year’s national tournament.

The Final Four is April 1 and 3 in Phoenix.

The following teams receive automatic berths in the tournament:

Arizona, Bucknell, Duke, East Tennessee State, Florida Gulf Coast, Gonzaga, Iona, Iowa State, Jacksonville State, Kent State, Kentucky, Michigan, Middle Tennessee, Mount St. Mary’s, Nevada, New Mexico State, New Orleans, North Carolina Central, North Dakota, Northern Kentucky, U.N.C. Wilmington, Princeton, Rhode Island, South Dakota State, Texas Southern, U.C. Davis, Vermont, Villanova, Wichita State, Winthrop.

NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 11: Kris Jenkins #2 of the Villanova Wildcats drives to the basket against Cole Huff #13 of the Creighton Bluejays during the Big East Basketball Tournament – Championship Game at Madison Square Garden on March 11, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

And then there were four. After two weeks filled with surprises in the 2016 NCAA March Madness Tournament, the Final Four teams were determined on Sunday: University of Oklahoma, Villanova University, Syracuse University,and the University of North Carolina.

NCAA March Madness 2016 Final Four Set: Oklahoma, Villanova, Syracuse, UNC

The tournament began on March 13 with 68 teams, and the national championship will take place on April 4. Among this year’s No. 1 seeds — the Midwest’s University of Kansas, East’s University of North Carolina, West’s Oregon and the South’s University of Virginia — UNC is the only remaining top seed after defeating Notre Dame in the Elite Eight round.

The UNC Tar Heels dominated Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish 88 to 74 on Sunday, while other top seed, Virginia, fell to Syracuse 62 to 68.

On Saturday, the West’s No. 2 seed Oklahoma Sooners defeated the West’s No. 1 seed Oregon Ducks 80-68, while the South’s No. 2 seed Villanova Wildcats beat out the Kansas Jayhawks 64-59.

The FInal Four will take place on Saturday, April 2 at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, with Oklahoma and Villanova facing off first at 6:09 p.m. ET, and Syracuse and UNC playing immediately afterwards at 8:49 p.m. ET. Both games will air on TBS.

The National Championship will take place two days later on Monday, April 4.

Caption: CHICAGO, IL – MARCH 27: DaJuan Coleman #32 of the Syracuse Orange shoots against Mike Tobey #10 of the Virginia Cavaliers in the second half during the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional Final at United Center on March 27, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

UNC is one of the biggest names in college sports. The school is synonymous with Michael Jordan, the legacy of Dean Smith and five basketball national championships.

But recently, the school has decided to revamp their brand by designing new uniforms for all of their major sports. And while UNC’s football, volleyball, lacrosse, softball and baseball programs are not as talked about as its basketball, they still got some stellar uniforms as the result of the brand redo.

As the uniforms show, they have kept the same color scheme and design, but decided to focus heavily on the argyle look, which can be seen on the collar, pants and helmet of the football uniform.

But the coolest uniforms have to be from the men and women’s basketball team. Both simultaneously embrace the old and new design to create a fresh yet intimidating look.

While this is nearly on the level of the Browns’ so-called ‘color change,’ the school did enough to distinguish the new uniforms from the old.

“I think the main goal was to build on our tradition, and then come up with something that is exciting for recruits and current student athletes, and then gain some consistency across all of our sports and across the university,” AD Bubba Cunningham told the Raleigh News & Observer. “It’s really hard trying to get the same Carolina blue on all kinds of different product — whether it’s a paper product or clothing product or helmet.”

Unfortunately, this year saw the passing of one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all-time, Dean Smith. The longtime UNC head coach led the Tar Heels to two national championships, 17 conference championships and a record of 876-254 over his 36-year career.

But, more importantly, he was also known for his relationship with players off-the-court. And nothing shows this more than Smith’s will. He sent all of his former letterman $200 with the message, “enjoy a dinner out compliments of Coach Dean Smith.”

https://twitter.com/ChestPassDemps/status/581137411469647873

Even from the grave, Dean Smith is still graciously thinking of his players. It truly shows the type of person he was, especially when ESPN’s Darren Rovell did the actual math regarding this good deed.

No one will ever argue about whether Dean Smith was a class act.

Yesterday, arguably the greatest rivalry in college basketball between Duke and UNC went underway for the 239th time: UNC currently leads the series with a 133-106 record. And while the match up was a showstopper, what Duke did before the game showed that though these teams are rivals, they still respect each other. Before tip off at at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, the arena had a moment of silence for legendary UNC coach Dean Smith.

The Duke UNC rivalry was at its best when Dean Smith and Mike Kryzewski were at the helms. Smith ended his career with a 59-35 record over Duke and a 24-14 record over Kryzewski — not many can claim that over Mr. 1000 wins.

And after the moment of silence — where the players gathered at center court to kneel in remembrance — the game certainly did not disappoint. Tonight’s match up was the 72nd time Duke and UNC met while ranked: with an equal record of 36-36. But as of late, Duke has been controlling the series with a 9-3 record since 2010.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv3M9ft2TkU

It simply could have been anybody’s game as both teams went back and forth trading leads: but Duke seemed to be pulling away at halftime with a 49-42 lead. However, UNC was quickly able to squash that on the 18-point performances of Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson. At one point the Tar Heels actually pulled away to a 9-point lead. But Tyus Jones was able to level the score at 81 with 30 seconds left in the second half, which of course means they were headed into overtime.

And if you thought the second half was a nail biter, they exchanged five more lead changes before the game was all said and done. In the end, it was the injured beast Jail Okafor — he twisted his ankle early in the first half — that scored the final go ahead bucket, putting Duke up 90-89. Still, the Tar Heels had their opportunities to score: J.P. Tokoto could not connect on a go ahead two and they missed a tap back after Nate Britt’s free throw. Duke finished out on top 92-90.

Dean Smith, the North Carolina basketball coach who led UNC for 36 years and to two national titles, as well as the 1976 US Basketball team to an Olympic gold medal, died peacefully on Saturday night at his North Carolina home. He was 83.

Smith had been battling through health issues since 2010 and had developed a memory loss condition. Because of this, Smith kept out of the public eye for the final years of his life and stayed around his family.

Smith’s coaching career was prolific, spanning 36 years with the Tar Heels from 1961 to 1997. During that period he coached some of the greatest players in the game, including Michael Jordan. He retired with a record of 879-254, which at the time set a record for the most wins by a D-1 coach. Smith had only one losing season, his first, through his entire career and had the Tar Heels finish in the top 3 of the ACC standings in each of his final 33 seasons as coach. UNC would win 17 ACC regular season titles and 13 ACC Tournament championships with Smith at the helm. He also had great success in the NCAA Tournament, leading UNC to 11 Final Fours and two national championships, coming in 1982 and 1993.

In addition to being one of the sport’s best coaches, Smith was a leader in many facets of the sport. He’s known for being on the forefront of civil rights as being one of the first to recruit African-American athletes in the South. That included bringing in Charlie Scott, the first black athlete to receive a scholarship from the University of North Carolina. His innovative coaching techniques led the Tar Heels to success on the court, but his “Carolina Way” also led his players to great heights off of it. 95 percent of Smith’s players went on to graduate from UNC, which has a reputation of being one of the nation’s elite public universities.

Smith received many accolades throughout his life. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. He also received Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 for his work in desegregating college athletics and pushing his players to academic success.

Tributes were outpouring on Sunday for the coach, including a gathering of hundreds of UNC students in front of the Dean Smith Center last night. Many basketball legends also told their condolences towards Smith’s death by remembering the man for the work he did.

“Other than my parents, no one had a bigger influence on my life than Coach Smith,” Michael Jordan said in a statement. “He was more than a coach – he was my mentor, my teacher, my second father. Coach was always there for me whenever I needed him and I loved him for it. In teaching me the game of basketball, he taught me about life.”

Current UNC head coach Roy Williams, who served as an assistant to Smith, told the press that “we lost one of our greatest ambassadors for college basketball for the way in which a program should be run. We lost a man of the highest integrity who did so many things off the court to help make the world a better place to live in. He set the standard for loyalty and concern for every one of his players, not just the games won or lost. He was the greatest there ever was on the court but far, far better off the court with people.”

President Barack Obama also released a statement. “Coach Smith showed us something that I’ve seen again and again on the court – that basketball can tell us a lot more about who you are than a jumpshot alone ever could,” he wrote. “He graduated more than 96 percent of his players and taught his teams to point to the teammate who passed them the ball after a basket. He pushed forward the Civil Rights movement, recruiting the first black scholarship athlete to North Carolina and helping to integrate a restaurant and a neighborhood in Chapel Hill. And in his final years, Coach Smith showed us how to fight an illness with courage and dignity. For all of that, I couldn’t have been prouder to honor Coach Smith with Medal of Freedom in 2013.”

Smith is survived by his wife Linnea, five children, seven grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

The soft-spoken UNC coach Roy Williams has not always been able to maintain the coolest composure: in fact, the general public was able to see one of his outbursts during last night’s match-up between UNC and William & Mary. During the second-half, while the Tar Heels were leading 61-47, Coach Williams was trying to call a timeout.

Unfortunately, the referee did not see this; as Williams got louder and more animated, the ref must have not liked his tone. Instead of receiving the timeout, Williams was given a technical; needless to say, he was not happy.

Luckily, the technical did not really matter as UNC finished strong: securing an 86-64 victory, moving on to 10-3. Their next match-up is Saturday Jan.  3 versus the Clemson Tigers.