The No. 1 seed, and highest rated team in Las Vegas – North Carolina, possibly facing an improbable No. 7 seeded Gamecocks, who hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 1973 but just won four straight as underdogs to make its first ever Final Four.
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And in the wake of their exciting, last second victory over the Wildcats, the Tar Heels are now the prohibitive favorite to win the 2017 National Championship.
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a.”, Williams said with a smile, quoting Clark Gable’s famed line as Rhett Butler. “But I do care who wins”. After the defensive change, UNC went on a 12-0 run to take a 71-64 lead with 54 seconds remaining. For he and most of his teammates, it was a 180-degree turn from the last game of this nature they experienced in the NCAA Tournament.
Luke Maye knocked down a jumper with 0.3 seconds left Sunday, answering Malik Monk’s tying 3 and lifting North Carolina over Kentucky 75-73 in the South Regional final.
“I probably should have called time out”, Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “I kept thinking that if we could have made one more basket after we got up on them, maybe they can’t catch us”. “But I needed to stop that right there”. Maye, a sophomore from Huntersville, N.C., entered the game averaging 5.5 points.
Kennedy Meeks finished with seven points, 17 rebounds and four blocks as North Carolina advances to face OR in the Final Four on Saturday.
Already prepared to lose seniors Dominique Hawkins, Derek Willis and Mychal Mulder to graduation, Kentucky awaits its annual National Basketball Association draft decisions by talented underclassmen in its latest spring roster cleaning.
Gonzaga’s Mark Few dismissed questions of whether his Bulldogs would be a failure as long as they failed to get to a Final Four after so many great regular seasons.
Freshman forwards Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones seem likely to return along with 7-foot sophomore Isaac Humphries and 6-10 redshirt freshman Tai Wynyard. The Wildcats did well to stay that close, considering that they had four starters on the bench before the half’s end with two fouls apiece.
Namely, Kentucky freshman point guard De’Aaron Fox has been at his best during the postseason and has led the Wildcats in scoring during the past six games.
“I mean, we had a great year”, said Fox. “Because once you let him get going a little bit, it’s hard to stop him”. Carolina is the one with the ball in the air this time, the beauty of the tournament and the cruelty of it in the air along with it in Memphis. Wildcats G Malik Monk’s 47 points in a December 17 win over the Tar Heels are the second-most points an opponent has ever scored on North Carolina. Fox, Monk and Adebayo each picked up two fouls each in the first half.
And perhaps no one exemplifies that balance more than Maye, the walk-on hero on a team of former high-star recruits.
Thornwell also grabbed seven rebounds and picked up a pair of steals in the win, as SC are heading to the Final Four for the first time at Glendale, Arizona. Behind, beside and around him, the Tar Heels perfectly fill their lanes on the fastbreak.
Kentucky trailed 100-98 and Calipari was imploring his young freshman to drive the ball to the hoop in transition.
What’s unusual about the post if that the Duke alum is praising a player on North Carolina, the bitter rival of the Blue Devils. This time, they combined for 25.
For South Carolina – coached by the equal-parts angry and effervescent Frank Martin – being an underdog at this point is a good thing. OR will face North Carolina on Saturday night in Glendale, Arizona. Then it was up seven with less than a minute left.
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Meanwhile, South Carolina will meet top seed Gonzaga in the Final Four on Saturday.
