The North Carolina Tarheels won against Michigan last night for their 5th NCAA title.
In an article on the "Associated Press" by Aaron Beard:
"A lot of outside people were saying we have to win it all or it's going to be a failure," Hansbrough said. "Well, you know what? It's not a failure. We came back to win a championship. We did, and we got the job done. There was a lot of pressure, but no one's disappointed in this locker room."
The horn had barely sounded when the Tar Heels (34-4) ran to midcourt, mobbed each other and jumped around on the Final Four logo. Some fought back tears, others couldn't wait to grab those championship T-shirts. This was a title a year in the making, starting the day those four players came back and made the team everybody's preseason pick to win it all.
The Tar Heels were just too much for the Spartans, who were playing in front of a home-state crowd and hoping to be a diversion from the economic woes that plague the city.
It turned out the Tar Heels had plenty to play for, too.
"Having the cause for Detroit is one thing, giving up millions of dollars to come back to win a championship is a pretty good cause, too," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "That makes me feel good for them and our game."
Hansbrough finished with 18 points, the final game of a career in which he set the Atlantic Coast Conference's scoring record and the school's rebounding mark.
Lawson had 21 points and a championship game-record eight steals, while fellow junior Ellington scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half to help the Tar Heels take a commanding lead. Green, a senior, had just six points before fouling out with 1:41 to play.
Still, the stats didn't matter. Not to a group that had carried the Tar Heels to a regional championship game in 2007 and a Final Four last season, only to fall short each time.
Not this year.
They roared out of the gate to take a double-digit lead in the first 4 minutes and made enough plays near the end to thwart the Spartans' desperate, but ultimately futile, comeback attempts.
"No one tried to play over their head and try to do things they weren't able to do," junior Deon Thompson said.
The moment was particularly sweet for Hansbrough, who talked openly about how badly he wanted to win a championship from the moment he arrived in Chapel Hill in 2005. He became one of the few four-year stars seemingly left in the college game and the first returning AP national player of the year since Shaquille O'Neal in 1991.
Lawson, Ellington and Green all opted to enter the NBA draft so they could work out for teams. But coach Roy Williams said none had the guaranteed draft position they wanted — Ellington and Green didn't figure to be first-round picks — so they opted to come back for another push.
With their top six scorers back, the Tar Heels started the year as the unanimous pick to win the championship. They played through injuries and under the weight of impossibly high expectations, including questions of whether they would go unbeaten. Hansbrough — praised for his determination and gritty work ethic — was even criticized for his game not being what it was last season.
But it all paid off Monday night, when they completed a dominating run through the NCAA tournament in which they won every game by at least 12 points. They were the first team to win every game by double figures on the way to the title since Duke in 2001.
"We came back to accomplish something," Green said. "We had to make some sacrifices. We had to give up a lot of individual things to make this work. There were some times where we had some slip-ups, but for the most part, I think we did a great job of working with each other and leaning on each other — especially in March."
Congrats to North Carolina on their victory.
