North Carolina’s Roy Williams will be the granddaddy of the Final Four, compared to the trio of first-timers in Glendale, Ariz.
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And when you consider Maye played an exhausting basketball game in Memphis the night before, the Business Administration major and ACC Academic Honor Roll member certainly deserves credit for dragging himself to the classroom. “I didn’t care what he was talking about”. On Saturday, South Carolina, Gonzaga, Oregon and North Carolina will play for a spot in Monday’s national title game. The Tar Heels will be making their record 20th trip, and most of the players on this year’s roster were on hand last season to find out all about the agony of coming oh-so close to winning it all.
The Wildcats will lose star freshmen De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk to the National Basketball Association, and probably Bam Adebayo, too.
“I probably should have called time out”, Kentucky coach John Calipari said. We just played two of the highest scoring teams in the country and held them under their average. “I feel like we need some security around campus”.
They’ll talk about a game that had a little bit of everything _ floor slaps and screams, momentum swings and monumental shots, none of them more important than the one Maye, the Tar Heels sophomore reserve turned March hero, forever, made inside of the final second, his team’s season hanging in the balance.
The 6-foot-9 Maye entered last weekend as a player who has had some good moments including 15 rebounds against Florida State, 13 points at rival North Carolina State but generally played to spell starters Kennedy Meeks or Isaiah Hicks up front.
“We’re exhausted today, but we’re still excited and we’re kind of on a high about just the way it went yesterday”, said Aimee Maye, Luke’s mother. “It was a great feeling”.
In that game, the Heels were unable to stop Monk, who scored 47 points on 18-for-28 shooting (8 of 12 from three). This is the second game of the Final Four, and the victor will head to the NCAA title game.
Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox and Isaac Humphries rounded out the five-man team. It was serious enough to send the the junior to into the locker room. “It’s going to be hard to get over”.
Never before had the NCAA Tournament pitted powerhouse programs that have so dominated March.
With the Final Four set, Vegas gives North Carolina the best odds to win the NCAA Tournament, a slight favorite over Gonzaga, according to Odds Shark. They also improved to 3-1 against Kentucky in regional finals the only place these college basketball behemoths have met in the NCAA Tournament.
“For Carolina to win and Luke to happen to hit a big shot, it doesn’t get any better than that”.
The Gators shot 0-for-14 from 3-point range in the second half after going 7-for-12 from downtown in the opening 20 minutes.
North Carolina. Veteran, multi-talented, been here before more times than the other teams combined. There is no love lost on either side of this rivalry and Duke fans are likely confused as to why Laettner is showing the Tar Heels any love at all. Altman, in his seventh year, led the Ducks to last year’s Elite Eight before falling to Oklahoma but came back to beat top-seeded Kansas in Kansas City, Missouri, to secure the program’s first Final Four since that ’39 title.
North Carolina trailed 64-59 with 5:03 to play. They broke through big time this year.
Interestingly, the team that most now project as the 2017 national champ, No. 1 South seed North Carolina, has the worst defense of the four. Berry then rolled his left ankle in the opening 5 minutes.
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THE SCHEDULE: Gonzaga and SC will be Saturday’s first semifinal, tipping off at 6:09 p.m. EDT.
