NEW ORLEANS — As the final horn sounded inside the Superdome to signal the end of North Carolina’s 81-77 victory vs. Duke in an epic Final Four finale Saturday night, UNC stars R.J. Davis and Leaky Black sprinted to a corner of the court and grabbed their Carolina-blue jerseys to show to the large contingent of Tar Heels fans in a section just feet away from the elevated hardwood. Armando Bacot, Caleb Love, Brady Manek and the rest of the team – even the coaching staff – quickly joined them in jubilation.
There’s no celebration quite like a Final Four celebration, but this? This was different.
This was euphoria reserved for a win over a rival on college basketball’s biggest stage. For punching a ticket to the title game and ending the career of Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski in the most anticipated Final Four game in college hoops history.
UNC’s win over Duke had all the emotions of winning a championship and then some, minus the confetti shower and the net-cutting. So how will it respond with less than 48 hours to prepare for No. 1 seed Kansas for the NCAA championship on Monday night?
Downing this Duke team was no cakewalk. We’re talking about a squad with as many as five potential first-round picks. It was a battle with late lead changes and momentum shifts that could have gone either way. In the end, you could see the energy and relief escaping the UNC side after the win. One giant collective exhale after a noisy lead-up to an all-time game. Are they really up for one more of these?
This Tar Heels team seems to think it can be. Categorizing the joy of the win and preparing for Kansas is quite the challenge, though. They’ve got to be running on empty emotionally. But UNC coach Hubert Davis said Saturday that to get the best out of this team, he must consistently get them to play with emotional fire, which in part what has separated a just-OK Carolina team earlier in the year…
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Author : Kyle Boone
Publish date : 2022-04-03 23:17:35
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