Last night’s game was an aberration. If Carolina and Kansas played again, the Jayhawks might win, or the Tar Heels could prevail, but there’s almost no chance that we’d witness another ‘imperfect storm’ of Kansas playing ‘lights out’ on both ends of the floor while no one in Carolina blue seemed to be able to dribble, pass or shoot for most an entire half. Unfortunately, the “one and done” nature of the NCAA Tournament that gives Cinderella a chance to excite us in the early rounds applies in the Final Four too: One bad day and you go home. Carolina found that out the hard way Saturday night, playing easily its worst eight and a half minutes in the first half of its most important game, and leaving every Tar Heel fan aghast in shock and horror as the deficit expanded from 5 to 28 points in what felt like the blink of an eye.
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Marching with the Heels
The Imperfect Storm
Round 5: Kansas Jayhawks
By now, everyone knows that tonight’s Final Four in San Antonio will be the first time that all four #1 seeds have all survived and advanced to meet in the national semifinals. So if you thought the Tar Heels had a tough road through the East Regional (they did), as he saying goes, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” Tonight’s game (estimated 8:47pm tipoff) against Kansas is almost certain to be a classic. If nothing else, it’s a chance to see at least six future NBA first round draft choices. Unfortunately, only half of that impressive accumulation of talent will be wearing Carolina blue, while the other half will be wearing a darker shade.
#1 vs. #1 = Good Omen for UNC
According to SI.com, this year’s Final Four will end in only the 6th meeting of two #1 seeds for the National Championship since the NCAA began seeding teams in 1979. (The previous 5 matchups were: '82 UNC over Georgetown; '93 UNC over Michigan; '99 UConn over Duke; '05 UNC over Illinois; and '07 Florida over Ohio State.) Perhaps it’s a good omen that all 3 of UNC’s National Championships in the seeding era were won in confrontations of top seeds, and maybe it’s an equally promising sign that after 3 of the previous 5 times #1 played #1 for the title, “One Shining Moment” had a decidedly Carolina blue tint.
Alert: Replay of '05 Title Game and Tyler on SI Cover
For anyone looking for some good memories to kickoff Final Four weekend, you can check out ESPN Classic at 1:30pm on Friday for a replay of UNC’s 2005 National Championship Game win over Illinois. Also FYI, Tyler Hansbrough is featured on the Sports Illustrated cover this week, so head to your nearest newsstand if you’re a collector of such things.
Psycho T is Clutch
His teammates call him “Psycho T”. After scoring 20 points in the second half of Saturday night’s East Regional Final and dominating the most important game of his Carolina career when it mattered the most [28 total points, 12-17 FG (70%), 13 rebounds], it might be time to give Tyler Hansbrough a new nickname: “Clutch”. No doubt others made significant contributions to the Tar Heels first Final Four trip since 2005 (notably a huge 3-pointer by Ty Lawson with 5:07 on the clock to push the Heels’ lead from 4 to 7), but without Hansbrough, there would be no trip to San Antonio for Carolina. The two long 2-point jump shots Hansbrough made with 2:27 and 1:36 left in the game that extended the Tar Heels’ lead to 7 and 9 points respectively will be forever etched in the memory of every Carolina fan. As unforgettable as those shots were, they are only examples of the many times Hansbrough stepped forward in the second half. Consider this: The Tar Heels scored a total of 39 points in the second half, and 8 of those came on free throws made in the last 1:00, taken by the Tar Heels because Louisville began fouling to stop the clock after the second of Hansbrough’s jumpers extended the lead to 9 points with 1:36 remaining. That means “Clutch” scored 20 of the Heels’ 31 points between halftime and ‘free throw time’. (The remaining 11 points were scored by Lawson (5), Deon Thompson (4) and Alex Stepheson (2).) That, put simply, is stepping up and ‘being The Man’.
UNC Women Defeat Louisville in Sweet 16
Round 1 goes to the Tar Heels. Congratulations to Coach Hatchell and the top-seeded UNC Women’s Basketball Team for beating the #4-seed Louisville today and advancing to the Elite Eight of the Women’s NCAA Tournament. The Lady Tar Heels rallied from as far as 18 points behind to defeat the Cardinals in the Sweet Sixteen, and now get ready to play the winner of #2-seed LSU and #3 Oklahoma State on Monday night in New Orleans.
Round 4: Louisville Cardinals
The Tar Heels surprised almost all of us by posting a relatively easy win over Washington State Thursday night, a win in which Carolina played some of its best defense of the season. Now, the Tar Heels must face their most capable opponent yet – the Louisville Cardinals. Tar Heel and Cardinal fans expected the teams to face off this season. They just thought it would happen in November instead of March. However, a Louisville loss to BYU kept the much anticipated matchup (both were top 10 teams at the time) from happening in Las Vegas.
Round 3: Washington State Cougars
Saying UNC and Washington State have contrasting styles is like saying Britney Spears and Laura Bush have slightly different approaches to parenting. By now, you’ve probably heard that Washington State likes to slow the game down and play “grind it out” basketball. As a Tar Heel fan, you know that nothing other than slippery NCAA logos (which the NCAA finally woke up and removed) irritates Coach Williams more than a slow-paced basketball game. It’s no secret: The Tar Heels want to run fast and pile up the points. The Cougars want to walk the ball up the court, milk the shot clock for all its worth, and rely on playing in-your-face defense to win low scoring games. Ask Notre Dame and Winthrop how much fun it is to play the Cougars. The 41 and 40 points the Irish and the Eagles scored, respectively, had to feel a bit like watching paint dry to two teams who averaged 79 and 65 points per game this season.
History Unkind to #1 When Top 4 Seeds All Advance
Every Carolina fan has been saying it since Greg Gumbel said, “#2 Tennesseee” during the Selection Show, but now that the East Region is the only one where all of the top four seeds survived, it’s official: the East is the toughest region. If you’re wondering how often this has happened before (10 of a possible 92 times) and how the #1 seed has fared in those situations (not a good omen for the Heels), Robbi Pickeral offers some interesting history a
A Welcome Surprise
By now, you’ve probably read plenty of superlatives about the Tar Heels’ victory over Arkansas, and I certainly agree that the performance we witnessed on Sunday was among the best any group of Tar Heels has delivered in a long time. Top to bottom, every single player performed at or near the top of his game, and the result was domination of a magnitude expected by almost no one, including me. Unfortunately, none of the 221 points UNC scored in the RBC Center will carry over to Thursday’s game against #4 Washington State in Charlotte. Look for a preview of that game coming soon, and if you’re going to be cheering for the Heels in person in Bobcats Arena, post here and let me know.
