UNC: National Champions

This UNC team reminded me of 2007 Florida team - they simply dominated and were never seriously challenged. If anything, I think UNC was much more overpowering. There was no way any other team was going to win.

UNC looked like an NBA team in the first half (well, a short NBA team). We were just making every shot. These were difficult shots too, but not out of control circus shots. We had balance. Lawson had 7 first half steals. The whole team played wonderfully. Between last year's player of the year (Hansbrough), this year's ACC player of the year (Lawson) and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four (Ellington), our team is pretty much stacked. Any of those 3 are capable of putting up 20 points on any given night, and Green is known to do it from time to time as well.

I felt sorry for Michigan State. The television showed them all teary eyed at the end. We really crushed them. They had come so far against strong odds and the media played up their chances so much to hype the game. I mean, we beat them by 35 earlier in the season, yet the media pretended it was a fair fight, emphasizing the crowd impact, MSU's improvement during the NCAA tournament, etc. Their hopes were raised, and then they were clobbered. Seriously, this entire UNC team has never lost in Cameron Indoor and you think they're going to get scared in a semi-away game because of the crowd impact? I kinda wish it had been a little closer so MSU might not feel so bad. I hope they do well next year.

As Pat Forde pointed out, UNC didn't blow Michigan State out to the point of displacing Duke in the record book for worse loss ever in the NCAA championship. Duke lost to UNLV by 30 points in 1990. This was brilliant strategy by UNC, maintaining Duke's embarrassing record and not embarrassing Michigan State excessively. Long last that Duke record.

Speaking of which, I even almost feel a little sorry for Duke fans. They've been in a drought for quite a while. They haven't even made it to the Elite 8 in ages. They've been suffering while UNC has eclipsed them, dominating the regular season series and NCAA tournament since Roy returned. I think the struggle is good for them though. Surely, when they win their next title, which will probably happen sometime in the next 10-50 years or so, they'll be very appreciative.

And, lastly, I just want a little senior spotlight for Mike Copeland. He's on my all-time underrated team. What a hilarious guy. I love his personalized handshakes for each player on the team. I think it's good for team spirit and it's good for him because he gets on television. Loved how his handshake for Tyler Hansbrough was Tyler ramming into him and Mike collapsing backwards. He seems to be such a good-natured fun loving guy, though sadly this image was somewhat tainted by the fracas at NC State. Before his knee surgery, he was a one-man wrecking crew. He would always come in at the end of games, play 4 minutes and finish with 4 points and a rebound (or so my memory idealistically recalls). Anyhow, I'll miss him. There was one part of the championship game that I really didn't like. At the end of the game, Copeland was in and there was a fast break. He was wide open closing in on the basket, but the scrubby UNC guard selfishly dribbled it all the way up and tried to score for himself. He took a contested shot and missed. Copeland would have been open and likely dunked the ball. Instead, no one got anything.