New Orleans – Armando Bacot’s right ankle is crooked once again in the national title game and had no other support to offer. He had already spent most of the last 24 hours preparing for this game, and with the ball falling by 1, the Tar Heels were left without a chance with 50 seconds left. Bacot stubbornly refused to accept the betrayal, pulling himself off the ground where he had been crumpled for a while as the game continued on the other end and, with his face showing the pain of every move, tried to jump where the game had continued. This moment that so neatly encompassed this season for North Carolina, a moment that began with sudden defeats and losses and questions about toughness and ended with an incredible, magical course that came in a few breaks. Bacot had said he should be left without his right foot. Less than two months ago, former UNC forward and current Pitt assistant Jason Capel revealed his feelings for the Tar Heels. Capel, at the time, was right. After that moment, though? Carolina decided it would no longer be this team. Caleb Love had twisted his ankle as well. Twice. Brady Manek took many shots in the face. Puff Johnson vomited after being hit in the stomach and was already suffering from a severe hip injury. Playing with injuries is one thing. Many players do this, especially at this time of year. Earlier this season, it would take a wing to bring down the UNC. Until the end of the season? You would need a bulldozer. All year long, as the UNC rolled, they seemed unrivaled. But they did not roll often and were often quite victorious. And even the slightest setback would make them spin. Bacot was like that when he started his career in Carolina. He would play great games and then disappear. He was in one of the worst teams in Carolina for the last 50 years as a freshman. His lack of self-confidence was evident and he was often lost in his head so much that he was not seen for large areas. But now; This player looks very far away. The first year version of Bacot would not have thought twice about leaving the game with an injured ankle. Not even his junior version thought twice. “I do not think there was any difficulty. We all really wanted to win. We got here and that was a huge goal for us was just to hang a banner,” Bacot said. “And we really wanted to win. I really would not let anything stop us from getting to this point.” Trying and losing is sometimes harder than not trying, because at least you can say you did not care. This is what ordinary people do on a daily basis. Who wants to make friends if they can turn you down? Who wants to go on a date if they can end up with a broken heart? But without the risk, there is no reward. Carolina knew she had to dedicate herself completely to every game and every possession to get to where she is. And he did, starting at least in part with that loss of Pitt and continuing to grow, that sense of cruelty, of cruelty, of perseverance. Whenever things went awry, every time things seemed to go wrong for UNC in this NCAA tournament, they were not over. UNC has always had an answer. And he tried to have one again in the national title game. UNC had a mini-version of their game against Baylor, where they almost took a 25-point lead. This time, the biggest lead in the first half was 16 and they were ahead with 15 in the break. UNC never shot well, however, and this continued as the fight continued. But they stopped restoring their own lost shots. Nevertheless, Kansas was always going to have a course in it. Carolina had an answer, but in the end, not enough. There was a lot of discussion that led to this game that because of the victory over Duke, the UNC was playing with the house money. There is truth in this, of course. But not for Carolina’s players and coaches. Definitely, he should not have been in this national championship. But he was in it. It’s hard to get to this stage of the NCAA tournament no matter how good you are. It is possible that no UNC player will return to it. The money of the house is for the fans. Players do not want any of these. They just wanted to win. RJ Davis’s eyes were red and swollen. Davis, who was so magical against Duke and Baylor, did not manage to score enough to lead his team to victory. Puff Johnson wept as the Tar Heels left the pitch. Once a freshman, he will have the opportunity to return to the title game. But ask Cam’s older brother how easy it is to get there. He had a heroic performance, a performance reminiscent of Grayson Allen’s turn in the national title game in 2015. But it was not enough. “I can honestly say I gave him what I had. And that’s what I try to do in every game and every day of my life,” Johnson said. By the time his vomit cleared from the Superdome floor, he had actually left everything he had on the field. Caleb Love, who could not repeat his role as a hero as his three-pointer failed to equalize, looked straight down during the post-match press conference. Until he had to talk about his teammates. “It hurts for us to get here and do it like this, everything we went through. But the good thing is that I would not want to go through this with anyone else,” Love said as his eyes filled. tears. Hubert Davis is an emotional man. Leaky Black said Sunday that he sometimes cries before races. No national title games or Final Four games – just normal old games. Davis, like any good father, wants his players to equalize and then pass on his achievements. In his first year, his team did just that, reaching a national title match that Davis’s teams never did, losing a game in 1991. It’s hard to know if Davis grew up as a coach or not, or at least in the X and O divisions. Because we do not know what he was like before. But he has clearly mastered many aspects of being the first coach, and especially when he put an end to the last element – to make a team want to do what it takes to win. And he loved them. With wild and without reservations. He wanted to have the types of moments he did. Help lead them there. But he had to participate in them as well. As he looked out into the locker room into a sea of swollen eyes and faces in his hands, he remembered where they had come from. A program in transition, a program that is questionable, players who could not cut it, an unknown coach. Now, he has gone to a national title match in his first year and has shown the world that his players are special. Maybe because they are special, but it is also because Davis himself is. “I told them after the game that my desperation to have these experiences in a Carolina outfit was very important to me. “I was very grateful that this year they were able to have a lot of experiences that they could grab and lean on and smile at,” said Davis. “I can not remember a time in my life when I should have been disappointed, but I am so full of pride. I’m so proud of these kids for what they have done for themselves individually, as a team, for the way they have represented our university, this program, our community. “I can not ask them to do more than what they have done. And I am extremely proud of each and every one of them.” Whether it was Bacot dragging his useless ankle to the pitch to try on a show or Johnson literally vomiting, they left everything they had on the floor in New Orleans. And it’s a harbinger of what’s going to happen in Chapel Hill. “Just having Coach Davis as coach, he was amazing all year. And everyone on our coaching staff was great. And just this program, we all enjoyed being here all year and playing just for Coach Davis.” said Bacot. Then, shortly before he and his teammates and the head coach left the last press conference of the college basketball season, he added: “This will not be the last time you see this program here.” ,
