I wrote a few months ago about how that in this day and age, everything that comes along in the world of sports is immediately compared to the greatest of all time. Every time a great game is played or a championship team is crowned, the media rushes to ask the question: is this the greatest we’ve ever seen?

Just this past week, there has been discussion about whether or not Tim Tebow – were he to win another Heisman and national championship next season – would be considered the greatest college football player in history. And barely into the college basketball season, it was happening as well, before the team had done anything worthy of being mentioned among the best ever.

Just 10 days ago people were still lauding this year’s version of the UNC men’s basketball team as possibly the greatest team ever. Great talent, great coach, great program. Nobody can touch them. They may very well go undefeated on their way to (most certainly) winning the national championship.

Then, the conference season began.

UNC is now 0-2 in ACC play.

You can imagine how much this Duke fan is enjoying that.

Granted, this premature christening as the greatest college team ever assembled has happened through no fault of their own. Nobody in the UNC camp is claiming such a title. It’s largely media-driven, of course, and I’m sure message boards and blogs have played a part as well. It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that sports reporters and commentators lose their minds on a weekly basis and make all sorts of outrageous claims. It’s just what they do. Much of the time they simply look foolish.

UNC’s most recent loss is not a surprise. Wake Forest is another very good (and currently top 5) team, so playing at their house was definitely a possible loss, even for “the greatest team of all time”. The first loss, to BC in the “Dean Dome”, was much more of a surprise. One thing seems evident, though: the Heels are having trouble with great point guard play. BC’s Tyrese Rice and Wake’s Jeff Teague both appeared to have outplayed UNC’s Ty Lawson.

The other thing I’ve seen raised is a question of chemistry. If the chemistry of the team is not right, it doesn’t matter how much talent you have. Whether or not there is anything to that remains to be seen. It’s only speculation at this point, but could prove damaging to UNC’s title hopes if it is factual.

Some are already suggesting that perhaps Wake is the best team in the ACC. I think that’s jumping the gun a little. The fact is that Wake barely held on to a game they should have won a bit more easily, considering how UNC played. And their non-conference schedule was nothing to get excited about. Wake, Duke and even UNC can all make that claim at the moment. Clemson is also still undefeated. But I think it will take quite a few more games to decide who the best team is in the ACC, and if UNC works out any issues they may have, chances are it will still be them.

As a Duke fan, this have been a great couple of weeks. Sure, I am well aware that Duke’s losses are coming, and it’s a long season still. But you have to enjoy an 0-2 start by UNC because it doesn’t happen very often.

One thing, though, I believe we can put to rest. This is an exceptionally talented team, and has the potential to be a great team and a national champion. But a note to all of the writers and talking heads out there: no matter what happens between now and the end of March, it’s time for a little perspective, people. This is not the greatest team of all time. Looking back to 1982, it would be hard for me to even call this the greatest UNC team of all time, much less of all of college basketball history.

There’s a lot more to being a great team than having the most talented players, and you just don’t see as many great teams these days as in days past. So, now that they’ve stumbled out of the gate in the ACC, perhaps the clowns in the press will allow them to just be a very good UNC team, and – as much as it would suck for us Duke fans – they may still prove to be a great team in Detroit this spring.

(May it never be! Go Duke! GTHC!!)