Kansas loss will stick with UNC
UNC coach Roy Williams wears a Kansas sticker to the NCAA championship game.
Mar 30, 2009
The 2008 Final Four is remembered here for Roy Williams wearing a Kansas sticker. But what matters most is how that loss to Kansas will stick with this North Carolina team, and the memory of that beating will only help UNC this week in Detroit.
Even a year later, it seems hard to believe how badly Carolina trailed in the 2008 Final Four to Kansas. Kansas led 38-12 when CBS announcer Billy Packer famously exclaimed, “This game is over.”
The Jayhawks’ lead grew to 40-12 with 6:49 left in the first half, a shocking advantage over a UNC team many thought might win the national title.
The Tar Heels rallied in the second half and trailed just 54-50 with 11:16 left in the game after a basket by Wayne Ellington. And Carolina was still down just 58-53 with less than eight minutes remaining.
But the energy the Heels had to expend to get back in the game, and the talent on the Kansas roster, was too much. The Jayhawks won 84-66 and went on to claim the NCAA title.
In some ways, what happened was a result of UNC’s expectations. Carolina players talked from the beginning of the 2008 season of how they wanted vindication for the 2007 regional final loss to Georgetown. The Heels blew a big lead in that game against the Hoyas and failed to reach the Final Four.
That drove them all year in 2008. But once they reached the Final Four, the Heels lacked their usual poise and desire. You often see teams seem overwhelmed by major events, but to see it happen to UNC was jarring.
Even North Carolina learned it could be humiliated.
That lesson hasn’t been forgotten.
“We've got to come out strong, because last year we didn't really come out strong, and Kansas went up about 20-some points,” point guard Ty Lawson said Sunday. “This year the main thing is come out strong at the beginning of games and don't wait until the second half to start playing.”
Forward Danny Green said this is “a different team” and added, “It's a new year, a new day, a new game.”
“We know what our goals are,” Green said. “We know what our focuses are and what we have to do to win games. ... We don't want to come out sluggish or lackadaisical and let them jump on us because we know how hard it is to dig yourself out of a hole and waste a lot of energy doing that.”
The Tar Heels will have no illusions about Villanova. The Wildcats thumped Duke in the East Regional and are a ferocious defensive team. Carolina often raves about how good Marcus Ginyard is on defense, but heck, Nova has half a dozen guys that tenacious.
The Heels will play harder, and better, this time around.
And they will have to against a Villanova team that won’t be in awe of UNC.
