The Jayhawks really put a damper on things, huh?
Waking up Tuesday morning after hitting the snooze button one too many times, I’m sure I felt like most Tar Heels out there: deflated and defeated, yet proud.
The first two descriptors were immediate.
I’d hoped that — like a movie director lazily explaining a this-can’t-be-real plot — everything I’d witnessed on Monday night was just a bad dream.
The 15-point halftime comeback by Kansas, the absolute chaos and disorganization down the stretch, the injuries, the mistakes, the tears, all of it.
But, as my senses came back to me and my eyes adjusted to the sunlight, I knew what my brain recalled was reality. Every bit of it.
UNC had choked away an absolutely winnable national title game. And there was nothing any of us could do about it.
While we in the News + Record office are (legally required to be) happy for our Editor/Publisher Bill Horner III — the only KU graduate I’ve ever met — the sting of a championship loss is unlike any other.
Especially when you’re so dang close.
I’ve already been through most of the five stages of grief.
I’ve expressed denial in refusing to believe that Monday night’s title game wasn’t anything but a nightmare.
I’ve felt anger at Caleb Love for playing hero ball late in the game, at Hubert Davis for not calling a timeout to draw up a play with 20 seconds left and even at the court itself for flexing so hard that it practically snapped the ankles of Love, Armando Bacot and Brady Manek.
I’ve bargained with myself by asking a million different “what if?” questions, including: “What if Manek hadn’t have been dealt a concussive blow to the head early in the game?” or “What if the NCAA chose to play the title game the weekend following the Final Four to give players some rest?” because our guys were clearly gassed.
And, of course, I’ve wrestled with the depression, the sadness and the disappointment of it all.
But now, even though it pains me, I’m ready to fully accept the loss.
Because, at the end of the day, I’m so proud of this team.
Before the tournament started, I thought there wasn’t a chance in hell UNC could make it to the Final Four, much less the national title game.
The Tar Heels were a bubble squad.
They had nine losses entering the NCAA Tournament.
Honestly, had it not been for the win over Duke at the end of the regular season, which spoiled Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, there’s a chance they could have missed the tournament entirely — or at least been forced to play in the First Four.
They exceeded every single expectation I, or anyone else, had for them.
They dominated No. 9 Marquette by 32 points, downed No. 1 seed and defending champion Baylor in the Round of 32, eked out an upset win over No. 4 UCLA, ended the Cinderella story of No. 15 St. Peter’s and vanquished No. 2 Duke and Coach K in the Final Four, doing it all as a No. 8 seed.
It was an incredible run. And that’s probably an understatement.
Even though I couldn’t shake the fact that Love was 5-of-24 from the field on the biggest stage — and said plenty of choice words about him in text messages to various friends in the moment — I knew this team wouldn’t have been playing for a national title without him. And he should go down as a UNC legend for that reason.
There’s little doubt that the Tar Heels — especially the six players who got the majority of the minutes in the title game and beyond — left it all on the court.
Up until the final minute against Kansas, the Tar Heels fought.
They may have suffered a sprained ankle here, a concussion (or upset stomach) there, but they never gave up. Not once.
Originally, I planned on writing about UNC’s win over Duke on Saturday night in what Bacot deemed “the greatest college basketball game in history” after the victory.
I was going to rub the win in Duke fans’ faces, brag about how the Tar Heels sent Coach K to the retirement home with a loss that undoubtedly mars his coaching legacy and describe how it feels to “one-up Duke for eternity,” as Jon Rothstein so eloquently put it.
I had photos of the post-game celebration ready from CN+R reporter Taylor Heeden, who nearly suffered an asthma attack as she rushed Franklin Street with about 40,000 other folks that were thankful to be on the correct — and clearly better — side of the rivalry.
But after suffering a heartbreaking loss on Monday night, why would I ever want to throw salt in the wounds of my Blue Devil counterparts? Especially since we’re now in the same boat — watching another team celebrate a title.
However, while the Jayhawks may have put a damper on what was otherwise a picture-perfect weekend, at least UNC didn’t get knocked out by its arch-rival and have its Hall-of-Fame coach sent home in the most soul-crushing loss in program history.
Oof. That would’ve been rough.
