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The Daily Tar Heel

Tar Heels remember the 2005 NCAA title 10 years later

Undisputed champions

DTH Archive. The 2005 National Championship team receives the title trophy following their 75-70 victory over Illinois, at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 2005.

There are only a few moments in life that cement themselves in the hearts and memories of thousands, only a few that can bring forward laughter, ecstasy and childlike exuberance.

For North Carolina men’s basketball fans, April 4, 2005 provided one of those moments. The team clinched the program’s fifth national championship — the crowning glory for a team and a season that would be forever a part of UNC’s history. Tonight, as Duke and Wisconsin square off in the NCAA championship, they’ll compete for that elusive prize.

As the NCAA continues to investigate findings of academic fraud at UNC, the 2005 team and title have come under scrutiny this year, and many question whether the banner will fall as part of the NCAA’s response.

The title leaves a mixed legacy of controversy and excellence, but, 10 years later, it remains something that players, coaches and students won’t ever forget.

‘It was championship or bust’

In the early 2000s, UNC men’s basketball appeared to be a shadow of its former self. The 2001-02 season culminated with an 8-20 finish — the worst in program history — and the 2002-03 season wasn’t much better, resulting in a trip to the National Invitation Tournament and the dismissal of Matt Doherty as head coach.

On April 14, 2003, Roy Williams officially accepted the head coaching job, 10 days removed from leading Kansas to the national championship game. With Williams at the helm, the Tar Heels returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 before bowing out in the second round.

Roy Williams, UNC men’s basketball coach: “The year before, 2004, was my first year back. I told the kids at that time, ‘If you do exactly what I say, we’ll make the tournament this year.’ Meaning 2004. Nobody on our squad had ever played in the NCAA Tournament… So I said, ‘If you do exactly what I say, we’ll make the tournament this year, we’ll get a little help in recruiting and next year we’ll win the whole blasted thing.’ And I really believed that, I really did.”

Dan Blank, former senior sports writer for The Daily Tar Heel: “They were coming off of arguably the worst three-year stretch of their program’s history, at least since the early years of Dean Smith … That team alone, just coming in with that experience, everyone had huge expectations. Then you throw in a guy like Marvin Williams, who came in with all this hype but no one has seen him yet. It added this tremendous X factor. It was championship or bust right from the start.”

Marvin Williams, 2005 freshman forward: “You could tell that summer when I arrived on campus that it was very business-like and that everybody was very motivated. I felt like no one took the summer off. I feel like people were constantly in the gym.”

UNC entered the 2004-05 season ranked No. 4 in the country and traveled to Oakland, Calif., for its season opener against unranked Santa Clara. But with junior point guard Raymond Felton suspended one game for playing in an unsanctioned summer league, the Tar Heels lost 77-66.

The Tar Heels faced a quick turnaround, immediately heading to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. But as opposed to letting the loss affect them, they blew past their competition — reeling off 14 straight wins and living up to their pre-season hype.

Felton: “We kind of woke up from there. I came back the next game when we got to Maui, and we just kind of turned it up from there.”

Blank: “They got really focused after that. They would just go on runs for where — five, six, seven minutes. They were unstoppable. They would force turnovers, they would get out and run in transition. It was like a tornado. You just had to run and hide and hope you weren’t in the path of destruction.”

The Tar Heels headed into the regular-season finale against Duke with a chance to claim the ACC regular-season championship outright for the first time since 1993 and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Those who were a part of the 2005 team describe the home game against Duke as being just as important as the championship. In what had been a rather lopsided rivalry in recent years — with the Blue Devils winning 10 of the previous 12 meetings — UNC was determined to avenge itself.

Both teams traded blows back and forth, but with just over three minutes remaining, Duke led by nine. Roy Williams called a decisive timeout.

Marvin Williams: “I just remember during the timeout, a couple of guys had their heads down, and Coach Williams, the first thing he said, he said, ‘Hey, everybody, pick your head up. We’re going to win this game.’ … Everybody believed. I think every single person on that team believed what he was saying, and we believed in each other.”

Roy Williams: “I promised them during the timeout that we would have a chance to win the game. That’s a silly thing to do, but I told them, ‘We’ll make plays, just do what I tell you to do again. We’ll make plays and we’ll have a chance to win at the end.’”

UNC emerged from the timeout and cut Duke’s lead to two with less than a minute remaining.

Felton: “The floors felt like they were shaking. Everybody was into it. It was just crazy, and you could see it in those guys from Duke’s eyes. There was a different look in their eyes — a look I hadn’t seen all night. So I kind of knew at that point we had them.”

Following a timeout with 27 seconds left, Felton drove to the basket and was fouled. His first free throw was good, making it 73-72. But with a chance to tie the game, Felton’s second free throw bounced off the rim.

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Felton: “‘I’ve got to find a way to get this ball back.’ That’s the only thing that was going through my head. I went after it, saw Marvin open, realized I wasn’t going to be able to grab the ball, so I did the next thing that came to my mind. It was to try to tap it to him.”

Felton found the freshman forward’s hands.

Marvin Williams: “I felt like I was open, so I shot it. Thankfully it went in, and I was able to get the and-1. At that point in my life, it was definitely the biggest shot I had ever made. I had made some pretty big ones in high school, but it was the Duke-Carolina game and the magnitude of that game was so big.”

Blank: “When that ball went through the basket, it was delirium like I have never seen or experienced in a sporting event. It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard the Dean Dome. Even on TV, it sounds like a jet engine blasting off. It was so loud, I didn’t even hear the whistle for the and-1.”

With a chance to put the Tar Heels up two, Marvin Williams buried the free throw with 17 seconds left to give UNC a 75-73 edge. Duke’s Daniel Ewing’s shot at the buzzer fell into Sean May’s hands, and chaos ensued.

Blank: “I was a DTH reporter, and we take our objectivity very seriously… I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to storm the court. If that meant me being the only person left in the risers, so be it. But that was a decision like, I wasn’t going to let this riptide carry me out to the ocean. Ewing takes his final shot, the air ball that falls into Sean May’s hands, the buzzer sounds, and next thing I know I’m at mid-court. I don’t even remember moving my feet.”

Kathryn Howlett, freshman student manager: “I actually had broken my foot earlier that year at another game, and the doctor told me, ‘Don’t run around, no jumping.’ But I definitely rushed the floor that night when we beat Duke.”

Ben Couch, senior sports writer for The Daily Tar Heel: “That really was one of the wins you felt like gave them momentum, like ‘Hey, we were able to get past Duke.’ And they wouldn’t have that hanging over their heads … It’s like, ‘Let’s get ready for the tournament. It’s time. Let’s take on the world.’”

As the No. 2 overall seed, UNC marched through its side of the bracket en route to arriving in St. Louis for the Final Four. The Tar Heels dismantled Michigan State in the semifinals, inching one step closer to winning Roy Williams his first national championship. In the championship, The Tar Heels would face off against Illinois, who had lost only one game all season.

Roy Williams: “We were a little mad because people were talking about how we had the talent, but Illinois had a better team, so I challenged them to show everybody that we were a team also. Yes, we were talented, but we were a team. We would play together. I challenged them to shut those people up. And also, I said, ‘Hey, there’s only two teams that have a chance to win a national championship. One of those two teams tonight is going to win, why not let it be us? Let’s just play our tail off and see what happens.’”

The Tar Heels put the team-versus-talent narrative to rest early, procuring a 13-point lead heading into the locker room. UNC would extend its lead to 15 points in the second half, but the Fighting Illini continued to fight back.

Illinois tied the game twice in the waning minutes of the game and had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Luther Head missed a 3-pointer with merely 17 seconds remaining. Felton was fouled following the miss and stepped to the line with a chance to seal the game.

Felton: “I just took myself away from the arena. It felt like I was back at the Dean Dome, just me in the gym by myself, nobody else in there. I felt like it was just me and the rim.”

The junior point guard made both, and as May hauled in his final rebound, the buzzer sounded and the Tar Heels were declared national champions once again, winning by a score of 75-70.

Roy Williams: “When they shoot the ball and miss and Sean gets the rebound, I look at the clock and there’s two seconds left, and then I look back and Sean still has it. Then I look at the clock, and it goes from one to zero… The next thing I knew, this big, sweaty, smelly, big fella comes up and just puts me in a big bear hug. One of the greatest moments of my life.”

Felton: “My first initial thing was to try to get to my mom and dad, but they were in the stands. I was just trying to find a way to run to them, but somebody had to grab me. I fell, the others fell and everybody else on the team came piling up on top.”

Howlett: “When the game ended, I remember we just all filed out of our seats and just ran toward the court… I definitely felt like I was in a movie or something. It was surreal. It’s like, this is it. You don’t have to work any more. You’ve done it.”

The celebration spread from the floor of the Edward Jones Dome and into the locker room, where former Coach Dean Smith and Michael Jordan met the team.

Roy Williams: “When they got down there, I said, ‘Guys, North Carolina basketball is Dean Smith, Michael Jordan, Phil Ford, the ‘57 national championship team, the ‘82, ‘93. But from this day forward, North Carolina basketball is also going to be you guys. The 2005 national champions.’ It was a great moment for me, and I hugged Coach Smith. I’ll never forget it. I said, ‘Coach, thank you.’ And he looked at me, the most sincere, and said, ‘No, thank you.’”

sports@dailytarheel.com

CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story incorrectly identified the No. 1 overall seed in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. UNC was a No. 1 seed, but Illinois was the No. 1 overall seed. UNC was the No. 2 overall seed. The story has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.