Not Michael Jordan. Not Phil Ford. Not Vince Carter. Not any of the dozens of former North Carolina players watching from the stands.
Those guys were legends in their own right and in their own time. On Monday, legends roamed the floor wearing Carolina Blue.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this, though. There was confetti falling on smiling, misty-eyed players. A coach cutting down a net with his scissors waving high in the air. A trophy presentation for a team that had just won a long-awaited national title.
But the North Carolina men’s basketball team was tucked away in a locker room, where the sounds of elation from Villanova’s 77-74 victory were inaudible.
How they got to the breathtakingly quiet locker room is why it hurts.
The game started sloppy — with UNC and Villanova combining for four turnovers in the first four minutes, much in part to the Wildcats’ aggressive full-court trapping defense.
Though Marcus Paige began the game 0-for-3 from the field, he helped the team pull out to a lead toward the end of the first half. On four consecutive possessions, Paige was directly involved in the Tar Heels scoring, transforming a five-point deficit into a two-point lead.
Carnage ensued, with foul totals piling up on both sides as the teams went to their respective locker rooms at halftime. The Tar Heels led by five with one half left to play.
