The North Carolina Tar Heels were a first-round exit in this year’s NCAA Tournament, but that does not mean that what transpires the rest of the way does not matter for the program.

It has been less than a week since the Tar Heels blew a 19-point lead in the second half against the VCU Rams, en route to an 82-78 loss in overtime. The result has raised doubts about Hubert Davis’ future as North Carolina’s head coach.

With all of that being said, here are a couple of things the Tar Heels should be wishing to happen later this week in the Sweet 16.

Duke Falls Short

The North Carolina-Duke rivalry is arguably the best one in all of sports. It was a tantalizing matchup the first time these two squared off this year, with Caleb Wilson and Cameron Boozer going head-to-head, as both players are expected to be selected in the top five of the 2026 NBA Draft.

However, the discrepancy between the two teams was apparent, even though the Tar Heels split the season series. The Blue Devils entered the NCAA Tournameent as the No. 1-overall seed in the entire field, while the Tar Heels limped into the field as a six-seed.

While North Carolina would obviously prefer playing in the upcoming round, which starts on Thursday night, nothing would make Tar Heels fans happier than to see Duke fall to St. John’s in the Sweet 16.

The Blue Devils have been playing with fire in the first two rounds, at various points, but they ultimately advanced to the second weekend of the tournament. St. John’s is a formidable opponent that could legitimately take down Duke.

One of the Teams With a Legitimate Head Coaching Option To Lose

It has been well-documented that North Carolina is likely to be in the coaching market, as Davis appears to be on his way out in Chapel Hill. If this occurs, the Tar Heels need to make a substantial hire that will elevate the program back to competing for national championships.

There will be a slew of options for North Carolina to consider, but two names to keep an eye on are Iowa State’s T.J. Otzelberger and Alabama’s Nate Oats. You may be asking yourself, ‘Why should North Carolina be rooting for potential head coach candidates to lose?’

Here’s why: the transfer portal opens on April 7, and ideally, North Carolina would want its presumed new head coach in place well before then. Those coaches will not be the only two to watch for, but they are arguably the most ideal.

North Carolina’s top prosecutor is asking the president for
help in the fight against fentanyl. Attorney General Jeff Jackson says
criminals are using Chinese apps to launder millions of dollars which fund
the fentanyl epidemic in the US. He thinks the president can negotiate a
change.

The effort hits home for the Nash family. This past weekend
marked four years since Jeff Nash lost his daughter, Amanda.

“It was a tough weekend. It was. I don’t think it gets
any easier,” Nash told WRAL.

Nash is one of thousands of fathers who knows what it feels
like to lose a child to fentanyl. And he knows what people will say…

“His daughter should have known not to do it. No one
forced her to do it. She was a grown woman. She was an adult who made her choices
and this was the natural consequence of her choice. And to say that would be
right. I understand that. However, two things can be right. It also is right for
our federal, state and local governments to do everything they can to keep this
poison away from our people,” Nash said.

Fentanyl is the primary driver of the opioid crisis in North
Carolina, contributing to over 75% of fatal drug overdoses in recent years. But
a small change gives cause for hope. 2025 and early 2026 data from the state office
of the medical examiner indicate a potential decline in fentanyl-positive
deaths for the first time in years.

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said there is
still work to do.

“We’re losing six people a day. I’ve spoken to a lot of families
who have lost people. I told them I’ll do whatever I can and one thing I can do
is go after the money. If you go after the profitability of a crime, you’ll
reduce the prevalence of that crime,” Jackson said.

More than $100 million a week flow through Chinese owned
apps to support the sales of fentanyl in the US, Jackson said.

Over the last year, his office got one app called WeChat
to agree to be more responsive with investigators and make encrypted spaces on
the app more hostile to fentanyl money laundering. But its sister app, Weixin is
not subject to US laws and wants the White House to take action.

In a letter to the president, Jackson and five other
attorneys general from Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Kentucky and South
Carolina urged the president to take action. It states that despite the agreement
with WeChat to work with investigators, neither it nor Weixin agree to share
data from the ap.

“In practice, this means that law enforcement can only see
one side of illegal transactions, shielding Chinese-based users from justice,”
the letter said.

Nash wondered why only six attorneys general would support
the effort. Jackson said the focus was to get a request to the president that
was not political, bipartisan and clear. 
He believes President Trump has the ability to negotiate with the
Chinese to effect change when it comes to money changing hands through its
apps.

“I think we recognize that the Chinese government is
different than the American government and if the leader of China decided to
make a change, that change would be made,” Jackson said.

Nash was reluctant to revisit his pain discussing his
daughter’s death, but said it’s worth it if this letter gets people talking or
gets any government movement to reduce the flow of fentanyl into the US.

Nash was one of the subjects in the WRAL documentary, ‘Crisis
Next Door – The Fentanyl epidemic.’

ASHEVILLE – The Asheville Orchid Festival will return in all its showy glory for 24th time March 27-29.

The festival, hosted by the Western North Carolina Orchid Society and the North Carolina Arboretum, will have an “Orchid Kingdom” theme this year, and will be an American Orchid Society sanctioned judging event.

Festivalgoers can expect to experience world-class orchid growers and breeders, regional orchid societies displays and hundreds of orchids presented in displays.

Orchids will be for sale from across the United States and Ecuador and will include rare species and cutting-edge hybrids.

“The Asheville Orchid Festival has been recognized as one of the best orchid shows in the country today,” Mike Mims, past president of the WNC Orchid Society said. “A huge orchid festival that is unlike any other orchid event in the region and lures the best of the best in the orchid industry to come to Asheville for a few days to engage and show off.”

WNC Orchid Society President Graham Ramsey, and his wife, artist Leslie Keller, each year create a theme for the festival.

Last year the two created the “House of Orchids” theme to transport visitors to another time, with a Victorian-inspired model greenhouse. 

“Usually we arrive at a theme, believe it or not, when we’re out hiking. We try to think of a theme that we can also come up with a neat display to match,” Ramsey previously told the Citizen Times.

In 2023, for the “Orchid Express” theme, Ramsey and Keller created a 24-foot-train that functioned as an eye-catching display for many orchids featured by the festival.