I believe Queens’ Freddy Mercury said it best about the last four years of North Carolina basketball.
“But it’s been no bed of roses. No pleasure cruise.”
The team did not make the NCAA tournament in the first two years of the current senior class. Last year the team lost in the second round to Texas. A trio of talented freshmen in 2003 had run off the coach.
“And bad mistakes, I’ve made a few.”
The team was constantly criticized for not playing like a team, and guard Rashad McCants acted more like he should be playing in a sandbox than on a basketball court.
But one could tell the talent level of the three players: Sean May, a bulky center from Indiana; Raymond Felton, a one-man fast break at point guard; and McCants, the most offensively skilled player in the country.
Perhaps the three thought that greatness should be handed to them. They didn’t grasp that winning a championship is not easy. Mercury did.
“I consider it a challenge before all human race.”
Well, the Tar Heels took that challenge head on this year and Monday night emerged with the national championship after a 75-70 win over No. 1 Illinois.
The key turning point: Roy Williams was hired away from the University of Kansas and returned to his alma mater in Chapel Hill for the 2003-04 season.
Williams convinced the trio to buy into his system, especially defense in his second season. Carolina held the Illinois scoreless in the final 2:30 to pull out the victory. And now Queen can be heard throughout North Carolina.
“We are the champions, my friends.”
The junior trio did almost all the damage in the championship. There was McCants in the first half scoring 14, including a 3-pointer to give the Heels a 13-point advantage. There was May dominating his way to Most Outstanding Player. And there was Felton: hitting the big 3 to break a 65-65 tie, anticipating Luther Head’s plan and intercepting his pass with less than a minute and making three foul shots to ice the game.
Being a junior myself, I’ve identified with these players the last three years. Even though I was put on a waiting list when I applied to UNC, my heart stayed with the basketball team. Besides I couldn’t afford the tuition.
So, for the past three years, I’ve imagined that I am classmates with McCants, May and Felton. I’ve seen many games and even switched plans to make sure I saw the big ones, like North Carolina vs. Virginia.
Heading into the 2004-05 season, I knew this was our year. All the elements were in place. Most of the season, the team ran people out the building.
During the regular season, one moment stands out. Down by one against Duke with 18 seconds to play, the Heels didn’t get a shot off.
With the Duke fans celebrating and a few storming the court, the image is burned in my mind: Felton and McCants standing within a few feet of each other near halfcourt. Both had the same expression of disbelief that they let the game slip away.
Refusing to have that empty feeling again, the team joined together and won the six straight games necessary to become NCAA champions.
When the final buzzer sounded and the team was hugging each other, I could imagine myself being there in the middle.
But I wasn’t, so I did the next best thing. I hit play.
“I’ve paid my dues, time after time.”
