Men’s Basketball
It’s old news by now, but North Carolina took home the national championship Monday night, routing Michigan State 89-72 in front of a NCAA Championship-record crowd of 72,922 at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich. It was the fifth championship for North Carolina and the second national title for coach Roy Williams during his career.
Here are a few perhaps lesser-known interesting tidbits about the game:
1. After the game, Michigan State senior guard Travis Walton said to reporters about the Tar Heels, “You’re looking at a team that could probably beat the worst team in the NBA.”
The worst team in the NBA is the Sacramento Kings, for whom Rashad McCants currently plays; McCants was the second-leading scorer of the only other North Carolina team to win a championship under Williams, in 2004-05.
2. Even as Michigan State made a mini-run to cut its deficit to 16, Michigan State alum Magic Johnson was spotted walking down the alleyway leaving the arena with around 3:30 remaining in regulation.
3. With the win, North Carolina’s senior class of Tyler Hansbrough, Bobby Frasor, Danny Green and Mike Copeland became the winningest class in school history with a 124-22 record, surpassing Quentin Thomas’ 123-win mark from last season.
4. The Tar Heels won every game in the NCAA Tournament en route to the championship by double digits. The last team to accomplish that feat was Duke in 2001.
5. North Carolina’s win also made President Obama happy, as he picked the Tar Heels to win it all on Sportscenter before the Tournament began. President Obama also picked the Tar Heels to win the championship on the campaign trail last March, but the team fell short in the Final Four, disappointing Obama.
“Now, for the Tar Heels who are watching, I picked you all last year — you let me down,” the president said on Sportscenter. “This year, don’t embarrass me in front of the nation, all right? I’m counting on you. I still got those sneakers you guys gave me.”
They didn’t disappoint. With the Tar Heels’ win, Obama bounced back from picking just one team correct in the final four to posting a bracket that would have finished in the top 20 percent of ESPN’s 5 million person pool.
Baseball
ACC baseball saw a Saturday filled with exciting finishes. In the most compelling matchup of the weekend, No. 3 Georgia Tech downed No. 5 North Carolina in dramatic fashion, with a little extra punch, albeit needlessly so. With the score knotted at six apiece in the 10th inning, Georgia Tech senior catcher Jason Haniger belted a grand slam in the llth inning to send the Tar Heels packing. The win was the only one of the three-game set for the Yellow Jackets, however, as North Carolina won its first series in Atlanta since 1998.
Wake Forest also held off Virginia Tech in extra innings, as Carlos Lopez hit a two-out RBI single in the 10th, lifting the Demon Deacons to a 15-14 win in Blacksburg.
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