Redemption Tour, 2017. That was the focus and meaning of the University of North Carolina Tar Heel’s basketball season this year. And that tour began on April 5, 2016, the day after the Tar Heel’s stunning loss of the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament to the Villanova Wildcats. Carolina had tied the game with 4.7 seconds left. The Wildcats took the ball out, raced it down the court and got it to Kris Jenkins who let loose a long shot with .1 second left on the clock which swished through the net, a buzzer-beating three-point dagger for a 77-74 Villanova victory. Needless to say, the Tar Heels and all their fans were crushed. But that’s what prompted the returning players to dedicate their following season to the task of redeeming their honor and bringing their state and fans another national championship. And that they did, but not without much excitement as well as apprehension to their fans.

Redeeming the spoils of victory! Coach Roy Smith and #2, Joel Berry II, MVP of the Final Four

I am definitely one of those die-hard Heel’s fans as well as a fan of all North Carolina basketball teams. I’ve followed the Carolina Tar Heels since the mid-60’s when their famous coach Dean Smith began his search for a national championship. In his 36 years as the Carolina coach, Smith won 879 games, making him at that time the most winning coach in NCAA history. And in those 36 years, Smith took the Heels to eleven NCAA Final Fours, and of those they made it to the championship game five times, winning it twice. Before that time, they had went to two Final Fours, 1946 and then winning it in 1957 with a perfect 32-0 record. Since Smith’s retirement in 1997, Carolina has went to seven Final Fours, this year’s appearance being the 20th in school history. Of those past seven trips, five have been under the leadership of coach Roy Williams, reaching the final game four times. They won the first two only to be crushed by last year’s dramatic defeat, setting up this year’s quest for redemption.

They finished the regular season with a 26-6 record, winning the regular season conference crown, only to lose in the second game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament giving them a 27-7 record going into the NCAA Tournament as a #1 seed. Their first game was the usual #1 VS. #16 which they won easily. The second game, however, gave us Heel fans a bit of a scare. Playing the #8 seed Arkansas Razorbacks, Carolina found themselves behind 65-60 with 3:31 left in the game after at one time leading the game by 17 points. But it was then that Carolina put together one of its late-game runs, scoring 12 straight points to win 72-65, moving them to the Sweet Sixteen. There they had another easy go, defeating the #4 seed Butler Bulldogs 92-80, moving them to the Elite 8 against #2 seed Kentucky with that winner going to the Final Four.

This was another back-and-forth game between two of college basketball’s blue-blood programs. But with a little over 5 minutes left in the game, Carolina found themselves down 64-59. But, they did it again: they put together another one of those patented Carolina scoring runs, outscoring Kentucky 16 to 9. It was, however, a final shot with .3 seconds left by Luke Maye that gave the Heels a slim 75-73 victory for their 20th trip to the Final Four.

And after two come-from-behind late minute victories to make it to the Final Four, what other than the same could be expected for the semi-final game against the Oregon Ducks? It was a hard-fought game and after an Oregon basket made the score 77-76 Carolina with only seven seconds left, the Ducks fouled Kennedy Meeks, who had to that point carried Carolina on his back, going 11 for 13 from the floor to score a career-high 25 points while grabbing 13 rebounds. Unfortunately, being a 66% free throw shooter, he went to the line and missed both free throws. But Theo Pinson jumped in and was able to bat the ball back out to Joel Berry II, who was then fouled with 4 seconds left.  But Berry, a 77% free throw shooter, rimmed out both his attempts. Fortunately, though, Kennedy Meeks grabbed his 14th and final rebound of the day, salvaging the trip to the finals and the shot at redemption.

The years final opponent was the Gonzaga Bulldogs from Spokane, Washington, members of the West Coast Conference. And I’ll have to admit, that this last game was probably the ugliest and least enjoyable Final Four game I’ve ever seen, regardless of the outcome. It was a night of constant whistles from the referees, trips to the free throw line and foul trouble for players from both teams. All the whistle blowing affected the entire flow of the game and with Carolina having a 6 point lead, eight straight points from Nigel Williams-Goss gave Gonzaga a 2-point lead with 1:52 left. But Justin Jackson then took a pass from Theo Pinson, scoring a basket while fouled, then converting the free throw for a one point Carolina lead. At the other end of the court, Gonzaga’s Williams-Goss twisted an ankle and could not hit the shot to give the Bulldogs the lead. Isaiah Hicks then scored making the lead 3 points followed by Kennedy Meeks blocking a shot by Williams-Goss’ which was grabbed by Joel Berry II who passed up the court to Justin Jackson for a slam dunk that put the game out of reach for the Zags. Final score: North Carolina, 71-65 over Gonzaga, giving the Heels their sixth national title and Roy Williams his third as a coach, passing his mentor Dean Smith’s two. The six titles gives North Carolina the third most championships in NCAA history, behind Kentucky’s 8 and UCLA’s 11.

Ironically, Kris Jenkins, who buried the buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of last year’s championship game against Carolina was at floor level again this year sitting right behind coach Roy Williams. And not only was he pulling for Carolina, he also had on a Tar Heel t-shirt. The reason being that Jenkins and Carolina’s backup point guard Nate Britt are almost lifelong friends seeing that Jenkins is Britt’s brother by adoption. But this year, Jenkins was supporting his brother’s team rather than breaking their heart. And once again, all us die-hard Tar Heel fans can say, “WE’RE #1…GO HEELS!