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Sorry about your boys, I was pulling for them, but SC may be a team of destiny.

Now as for my Heels, WOW what a finish, Luke May is a instant folk hero, hell he was a instant folk hero after what he did to Butler Friday night, but tonight will live in Tar Heel memory for long as they play the game. UK was stout, Monk was incredible in the closing moments after being pretty much held in check all game long, but in the end the basketball gods had a different idea in mind. Makes up a little bit for the heartbreak of the final last year, though there is still work to do.

And now there are four....

The first ever champion in tournament history who I think surprised themselves by doing what they have done.

The greatest success story of the past generation finally breaking thru the glass ceiling silencing the haters and doubters.

The aforementioned Cinderella who are riding momentum and perhaps playing the most consistently of the lot

And for good measure college basketball royalty trying to redeem themselves after the heartbreak of last year.

This is why they call it March madness, though we now move on to what I have always called April Anguish

Should be a wonderful weekend in what I feel is the ultimate celebration in sport, nothing beats being there on Semifinal Saturday where hope abounds.

It will end up like it always does. Cinderella's glass slipper will break into shards and UNC will win again. Although Leicester City proved last year that the impossible can happen, it's not very likely.

Weird I just sold (40038817) and he is now on the transfer list again as a free agent. How does that happen?

It's me vs my wife to win or friends bracket pool. I have gonzaga and she has UNC.

Should be a wonderful weekend in what I feel is the ultimate celebration in sport, nothing beats being there on Semifinal Saturday where hope abounds.

I'm not actually as big a basketball fan, but I do love the tourney. Nothing, and I mean nothing, in sports for me can top the last minutes of a Stanley Cup Finals game, especially if it's an elimination game and the team about to lose is down 1 goal in the final minute. And the exhilaration when a team you've been a fan of for over 30 years who never did diddly squat and then finally goes on a magical run to win the whole damn thing? Priceless.

Now that I've had some time, I can look back and still be happy with Florida's season. I hate that they had to play until after 1 am, on a game where nobody could have possibly fallen asleep afterward until at least 3, and then come back 37 hours later for the early game on a Sunday. I missed the first part of the second half because we'd gone for a late lunch and didn't get back until after the first media timeout, but SC being in the bonus already after 4 or 5 minutes despite them being the ones playing rugby was disconcerting. The simple fact is that be it destiny, fatigue, officiating or whatever else, Florida had their chances and didn't play well enough to deserve the win. Considering how many people kept writing them off every round because they didn't have Egbunu, and considering how easy it would have been for them to give up when Wisconsin had them down in OT, though, I'm pleased with their effort overall.

Weird I just sold (40038817) and he is now on the transfer list again as a free agent. How does that happen?

I think they just fired him. I tracked down who bought him from your transfer history, and they're not bot and can't be bankrupt given how much they've spent on player acquisitions in the past few days.

As Dean Smith used to be apt to say, if it's an "at" it ain't an upset. HCA always has had a great deal of pull but it seems like it is been accelerated the last couple of seasons.

As Dean Smith used to be apt to say, if it's an "at" it ain't an upset. HCA always has had a great deal of pull but it seems like it is been accelerated the last couple of seasons.

Yes, but what does he say about trying to make it through two weeks without your star Russian?

Oh, by the way, while I know you'd rather see the blue label USC lose because they are, after all, South Carolina, I have to say that if they did play UNC it would be pretty interesting in a couple of respects: A win for your boys would essentially make you the de facto SEC champions when you factor in the wins over Arkansas and Kentucky, while a win for the 'cocks would make them I think only the third team to beat Duke and UNC in the same tourney (Florida did it once, and I forgot who the other was off hand).

Coach Smith used to say that a team can compensate for the loss of a key player for one game, but beyond that they will experience issues.

BTW the only other team to beat UNC and Dook in the same tourney was Louisville back in 1986 as Never Nervous Pervis Ellison and company beat the Heels in the Sweet 16 and Dook in the final.

IF Real Carolina makes it to Monday I will actually be running appointments in the upstate of South Cackalacky which is staunch Clemson country, the possibility of the other Carolina having both the football and basketball champion is just unsettling. Those people will live off of it for 50 years. But I suspect Clemson fan will be in my boys corner, it's an ACC thing you know, which is something that applies for everyone except DOOK because everyone hates those sonsabitches.

IF it becomes a boarder war out in the desert one of the underlying historical story lines will be the legacy of Frank McGuire who was the coach at UNC in the 50's before leaving in the wake of the point shaving scandal that lead to the demise of the great Dixie Classic (the premier holiday tournament of its time). He would return to the ACC in the mid 60's at USC turning a previously morbid program into a true contender, though his teams to put it kindly were rough hewn. Ok they were out and out thugs.

The historical markers are all over this final four for the Heels. 20 years ago in what turned out to be Dean's swan song Arizona knocked them out, now it's back to Arizona with Roy I believe the exact same age now that Dean was then. 40 years ago in my earliest Carolina memory UNC and the 'band aid bunch' somehow some way made it to the final where they would fall to Al McGuire's Marquette team in what was the man who frank McGuire (unrelated BTW) passed on to hire Dean as an assistant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVNJyTV6Of4 Al McGuire was really one cool dude, basically Vitale stole everything he ever had in terms of his schtick from him. But while Vitale always has been crass McGuire while boisterous was organic, he is also the guy who coined the term Carmeron Crazies. And 60 years ago was when UNC won their first title defeating Michigan State and Kansas on consecutive nights with both games going to triple overtime, 'we'll never forget that TV show' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elj2KYjU9As https://www.si.com/vault/1982/03/29/564855/a-team-that-was...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4UqMyldS7Q The heels somehow survive a game they truly should have lost, and my boys pull off a win on the road that I did not expect, figured I could keep it close but the 22-4 run in the final minutes was a unexpected and pleasant surprise. Ok we dropped a spot in the standings but it's all good, Ladson to be honest in spite of their youth have much more overall upside in spite of their owners sandbagging like he is getting ready for Hurricane Matthew.

Last edited by Coach Lambini at 4/2/2017 9:54:58 AM