Delirium Tournamens: UNC Championship Edition
It’s crazy we’ve already reached what would have been championship monday of the 2020 NCAA tournament. It would have been a strange March for Carolina fans either way as the Tar Heels wouldn’t have been playing in the NCAA Tournament or NIT. Nevertheless, the complete absence of basketball has been jarring.
It hasn’t been the same as filling out brackets, participating in elimination pools, and flipping between CBS, TNT, TBS, and TruTV, but going back through footage/highlights of old North Carolina Tournament games has been a fun way to get at least a small fix of basketball and distract myself from the constant flood of coronavirus news.
Hopefully some of you have enjoyed reading these and revisiting those moments as well. Stay safe and Go Heels. We’ll get through this.
2017 vs Gonzaga
We all remember the moments —Pinson finding Justin Jackson for the layup to put the Heels, Isaiah Hicks making the late driving layup to increase the lead to 3, and Meeks blocking Williams-Goss’s driving shot attempt. One slightly underlooked moment is what happened after Meeks blocked that shot. The senior big pitched the ball ahead to Justin Jackson. A year before Jackson had a similar breakaway at the end of the first half against Villanova. Instead of trying to finish at the rim he attempted the reverse layup, missed, then Phil Booth hit a buzzer beater to cut UNC’s lead to 5 heading into the break. What happens if Carolina is up 9 at half? Who knows, but it felt like a huge momentum swing. Consequently when Jackson flushed a two handed dunk to seal Carolina’s victory over Gonzaga it seemed like a more personal moment of redemption for the UNC wing.
2016 vs Villanova
The game was over. With about 5 minutes left I made my peace with the fact that Villanova was going to beat North Carolina. Then Marcus Paige almost single-handedly brought Carolina all the way back. Yes the game ended on Kris Jenkins shot and Nova won. But it’s still amazing to watch Paige in the final minutes. His double clutch 3 pointer is probably the highest degree of difficulty shot in UNC tournament history — much more challenging than Jordan or Maye’s iconic midrange makes.
Perhaps even more remarkable, if that’s even possible, is what Paige did with 30 seconds left. The senior guard’s driving finger-roll layup rimmed out and appeared to fall directly to the two Villanova defenders standing under the basket. Somehow — I still am not exactly sure by what means — Paige ended up with the ball and banked in a layup to cut the lead back to a single point.
2009 vs Michigan State
This game isn’t compelling. UNC came out of the gate and laid a beatdown on Michigan State. The halftime lead was so decisive that my friends and I decided to walk up to another friend’s apartment closer to Franklin Street at halftime in order to be ready to celebrate. We actually missed the first several minutes of the second half, so there are moments I don’t remember watching live that gives me a bit more reason to re-watch.
2005 vs Illinois
I went back and watched the second half of this game this past weekend. My favorite part is how frustrated Ray Felton’s dad is after the junior point guard missed his first free throw with Carolina up 72–70 under a minute left.
Also Illinois missed a ton of good looks from 3 late. Its refreshing to watch after this crazy season where every late shot against the Tar Heels went in.
1993 vs Michigan
The only title game in the Argyle Unis era where the Tar Heels wore their blue uniforms. While all of these games featured aesthetically pleasing uniform combinations, the combo of Michigan’s yellow jerseys and Carolina’s blue ones is probably the most appealing of all.
1982 vs Georgetown
I watched this game from start to finish for the first time this past weekend. Three things stood out.
- Patrick Ewing was a beast. As someone whose introduction to basketball was the mid-90s NBA I kind of viewed him as more of a lumbering power big. But in this game he looks like Anthony Davis. Ewing would have dominated in today’s game
- Likewise James Worthy’s ability to handle the ball and fly down the court in transition would have made him similarly effective in today’s game.
- Even as a freshman, the way Michael Jordan just seemed to hang in the air was noticeable.
1981 vs Indiana
Isiah Thomas led Bob Knight’s Hoosiers over Dean Smith’s Tar Heels in a game that saw James Worthy saddled with foul trouble. It was Knight’s second title and Smith’s third loss in the championship game.
1977 vs Marquette
As I’ve alluded to in previous posts, the lost title for a certain generation of Tar Heel fans.
1968 vs UCLA
Dean Smith’s first title appearance pitted Charlie Scott’s UNC squad against John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty. Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) led the Bruins to a 78–55 victory — the largest margin of victory in a title game to that point. It would remain so until UNLV’s 30 point beatdown of Duke in 1990.
1957 vs Kansas
I won’t lie and act as if this is really enjoyable to watch. But the entire game is on YouTube and the actual game was bonkers with Lennie Rosenbluth leading the Tar Heels to victory over Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in double overtime.
Thanks for reading these. Going back through these games has been fun but somewhat bittersweet. Perhaps there is no better image to capture that note than this one. The NCAA tournament will eventually return and there will be more memorable Tar Heel moments to come. I’ll say it once more: stay safe and Go Heels.
