"Every wrestler is talented in college," Bentley said. "The biggest thing to winning is that when you take some hard knocks, step right back up and keep working hard. Coming back from those hard knocks is the biggest asset you'll find."
Bentley and the rest of the Tar Heels will have to put that philosophy into practice tonight, as they head to Raleigh to open ACC play against N.C. State at 7:30.
The weekend was not kind to the
No. 20 Tar Heels, who ventured to Hampton, Va., for the Virginia Duals only to be ousted after losses to Cal State-Bakersfield and Kent State.
Yet UNC understood, even before the season began, that nonconference setbacks would not prove devastating.
"Really, in wrestling, the only things that count are ACCs and nationals," Bentley said last week. "Everything else is pretty much just practice until then. That is what we are concentrating on so that we can bring this program up into the top five in the nation."
The Tar Heels (1-2) are certainly putting in the work to move themselves into the nation's elite.
A trip to the wrestling training center in Fetzer Gym reveals a team that works on drills before practice and offers to stay late to perfect techniques, all in hopes of winning the ACC title for a fifth consecutive year.
"We like to think we are always going to be a contender for the ACC championship, but we don't take it for granted," UNC coach Bill Lam said. "I don't feel like we have been where we should be nationally. We need to get back up there."
