One of the great games ever. Where does it rank?
A stunning double-clutch three to tie with 4 seconds left.
A brilliant three to win at the buzzer.
I can't think of a time I've seen a better game in this spot in the NCAA championship.
Where does this rank all time in college basketball? Where does it rank in all sports? (This is a "fun" thread. Recency bias is ok.)
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I mean, a ticky-tack foul put Rumeal on the line. Great game, but this was flat-out epic.
I don't think the foul changed the win probabilities much versus an open Mark Hughes 12 footer. Unless Hughes would have tried driving, which I don't think was his forte.
I give UNC for coming back, but Nova almost choked that away by missing three of four FTs, then throwing the ball out of bounds.
Either way, a ticky-tack foul also helped out Nova when Booth looked to have travelled with 30 seconds left and the shot clock about to expire. It happens.
the ref should have checked the ball for tar residue from the tips of the fingers of the NC defender.
Yeah...that foul call sucked. Regardless, it was as good a championship game as I can remember. Now the long off season really strikes home.
Yeah, the foul might have "sucked." But if it hadn't been called, the NCAA might have had to face a tough decision in a month or two: make UNC vacate the NCAA Championship or let the school with the worst academic scandal in the history of the NCAA off with a punishment everyone knows isn't enough.
Justice was done. Cheaters didn't prosper this time.
Agreed, although there's pretty much no chance the NCAA would do anything effectual about UNC, given that they haven't already.
UNC is terrible. They shouldn't even be accredited anymore, much less be allowed to compete in NCAA tournaments.
I acknowledge I'm an unabashed homer, but the Final Four and Championship games in 1989 and 1993 were incredible. The Illinois and Seton Hall games were incredible, and the Kentucky and UNC games were, too. I mean, I hated that it ended with the Chris Webber time-out (though he did seem to run to half court without dribbling before taking the time-out), but it was a really close game and a legendary (infamous?) moment. I'm going to say it: 1989 championship game was CLEARLY the best of all time, and I will fight you if you disagree.
was pretty stout, bunch of jumpin' jacks. Lots of play around the rim in that game, epic
I'm trying really hard to think of better. People may bring up 2013, but the offensive flow in both 89 and 93 was at a high level. Very fast moving games. Plus there were a large number of high draft picks in both games.
a couple of dozen pizzas to that bar "Time Out" down in North Carolina. . .to express my sympathy.
Damn right^^. Plus, Glen Rice's scoring record is safe thanks to Villanova shutting Heild down.
that was a close game but it was a HORRIBLE game in terms of quality of play.
If that game set basketball back to the 50s then what did the Butler-UConn game the next year do?? Butler shot something like 18% in the first half and still had a chance if they even shot average in the second half. That was the worst basketball game I can remember watching.
No doubt. Dribble pass pass pass hold hold pass CLANG!
Long rebound. 50/50 scramble. Ball out of bounds. Inbound.
Repeat.
Great game, but I hated the officiating. It was called way too close both ways, there were so many whistles that blew for no discernable reason. So that factors in somewhere for me.
yea weren't both teams in the bonus with like 12 mins left?
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Agree on the general point about reviews and that the reffing at the tournament was, as usual, below the level of the play itself, but the refs were checking to see if there was any time left on the clock, not whether he got it off. Similar to Chatman's 3 against Indiana.
And they did it quickly. The review complaint is a strange one for this game. Wasn't the final one the only time they went to the monitors all game long? And everyone knew the last review was perfunctory. They may have reviewed the Paige three to see time left, but I think they accomplished that during the timeout anyway.
Reviews in college basketball are ridiculous, but this wasn't the game to complain about.
I thought Villanova was well-coached; UNC, not so much. Roy Williams had a huge edge inside and couldn't figure out how to exploit it. Miraculously good 3-point shooting bailed him out.
Great game at any rate.
UNC's inability to make adjustments to get their bigs involved killed them.
to Villanova for their game plan. At the same time though, the lack of in game adjustments by UNC to combat the Nova game plan was bad.
I think it was both. Villanova was pretty tenacious, swarming out there defensively. But their aggressive switching resulted in a lot of size mismatches down low, which UNC's guards didn't seem to recognize very often. If a little guy like Arcidiacono is switched onto a post, you've got to feed the post.
I don't know that Roy Williams has ever been a great in-game coach. Excellent recruiter, great at putting in a system and adapting to his team's strengths. I'd even grant great at designed plays. But there's a reason he's only won national titles when his teams have been absolutely stacked with talent beyond his competition. In game adjustments are his weakness. Well coached teams that can identify and attack his team's weakness or can disrupt his system have always had success against Roy Williams coached teams.
Being great at everything is pretty damn tough, so that isn't a real slight against Williams. I'd argue the only coach that puts it all together is Coach K or maybe Pitino (though his recruiting isn't otherworldly for how good of a coach he is).
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"Duke is not one tenth as onerous as UNC."
Maybe, but Duke is a ton more unlikable.
I dislike UNC for two reasons:
1. The '93 title game (yes, I am still bitter 23 years later that a garbage player like Donald Williams shot the lights out)
2. This.
This never gets old.