If this was November or December, you could find very little argument against UNC for the National Title. They were the preseason favorite, and they were straight rolling teams. The Tar Heels beat Kentucky by 19, Notre Dame (ranked eight at the time) by 15 and in perhaps their most emphatic statement of the year, they crushed Michigan State at Ford Field on Dec. 3 to the tune of 35 points. The Heels were riding high behind the grit of Tyler Hansbrough, the leadership of Ty Lawson and the suave of Danny Green and Wayne Ellington.

But conference season hit and they came back down to life. The Heels lost their first two games in ACC play. Tyler Zeller missed significant time with a wrist injury. Marcus Ginyard never saw the floor all conference season due to injury. Suddenly Goliath was slayable.

But, these were still the Tar Heels, still a team full of immense talent with a stellar coach. They won the ACC, only losing one more after the 0-2 stumble. They’ve had little problem dispelling their opponents in the NCAA  Tournament; Their average margin of victory in four tournament games is 22.5.

The Tar Heels should win it all because they were supposed to win it all. And they are right here, right now with the opportunity to do so. No remaining team has more talent than the Heels. (Though, UConn and Nova are right there.)

If they play their game and play it well, the Heels should be cutting down the nets, and Barack’s bracket will have the winner picked correctly. Mine, however, will not.

Zeller tried to downplay the role of the recent sanctions imposed on Coach Kelvin Sampson as a reason for spurning the Hoosiers, but one of his quotes following the press conference caught my attention. Zeller was asked how the sanctions affected his decision and here’s what he said:

“A little bit, but not really. You gotta look at the long run and the more I looked into it, the long run was kind of confusing. I wanted to get it over with and I couldn’t figure out what exactly was going to happen. So a little bit, but like I said, I just felt more comfortable with North Carolina,” Zeller said.

Zeller is the second five-star recruit in North Carolina’s 2008 class, joining forward Ed Davis from Mechanicsville, Virginia. The Tar Heels also have a commitment from four-star guard Larry Drew from Woodland Hills, CA.

North Carolina has had success with Indiana big men in the past. Sean May, from Bloomington North, was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2005 Final Four when the Tar Heels won the National Championship. Eric Montross, a member of the 1990 class from Lawrence North, was a starter for their 1993 National Championship team.

Jonathan Holmes from Bloomington South and Rick Fox from Warsaw are two other players from Indiana that have donned the Carolina Blue.

With Zeller’s commitment to Roy Williams and staff, the only major 2008 recruit that IU is still involved with is Mount Vernon (NY) forward Kevin Jones. Jones has visited Indiana, Pittsburgh, Massachusetts, Ohio State and West Virginia. Rutgers, St. John’s and Seton Hall are also in the running. A decision from Jones is expected before November 14, which is the first day of the early signing period.

Personally, I always thought the Tar Heels were the front runner here, so this isn’t much of a surprise. And UNC has scooped up a few stellar Indiana natives in the past, most notably Sean May and Eric Montross. It would have been nice to have the No. 22 ranked recruit in the class of 2008, but so it goes in recruiting. You can’t get all the big boys all the time.

So barring some unforeseen twist tomorrow afternoon, it looks like we won’t be seeing Zeller in cream and crimson. But hey, at least we have Jordan Crawford, right?

(Editor’s Note: Chris Korman of the Herald Times has confirmed that Zeller will announce for North Carolina.)