Champagne wishes, caviar dreams

As Tyler Hansbrough and the Tar Heels return victorious to Chapel Hill, we sign off after a busy month of college basketball coverage. Hope you enjoyed it.

Check out the Daily Tar Heel for more news on the title celebration and UWIRE for the best in college sports journalism.

(Photo by Rachel Hamlin of the Daily Tar Heel)

From the Wire: North Carolina

David Ely and Jesse Baumgartner kick off what surely will be a week of championship coverage for the Daily Tar Heel after UNC stormed to its fifth championship:

It all started when they decided to come back.

Four players declining the riches of the NBA, motivated to make one more run at history. One more run at a national title.

And everything that happened this season — the expectations, the No. 1 rankings, the blowout wins — pointed toward this one signature moment.

A scene that suddenly became reality in front of 72,922 spectators Monday night.

Senior Mike Copeland wildly flung the ball into the air. Players jumped up and down in jubilation amid a blizzard of confetti. Tyler Hansbrough hugged coach Roy Williams as explosions rang throughout Ford Field.

They did it.

From the Wire: Michigan State

Cash Kruth, Alex Altman and their State News colleagues pick up the pieces after the Spartans’ season came to an abrupt ending:

Same two teams. Same venue. Same sad story for the MSU men’s basketball team. Four months after thumping the Spartans by 35 points at Ford Field, North Carolina came back to the Motor City on Monday night and reaffirmed that it is the best team in the nation, as the Tar Heels throttled MSU 89-72 to claim the 2009 NCAA national championship.

“They played well and I guess I was disappointed,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “We turned it over early, we missed some shots early and we didn’t check very well. They got off to that 24-7 lead and that’s the way it stayed. We couldn’t really dig into it.”

Analysis: 1 North Carolina def. 2 Michigan State

1 North Carolina 89
2 Michigan State 72

NCAA final • Ford Field, Detroit
By Doug Tifft

– Leading 31-11 after 10 minutes, North Carolina steamrolled to its fifth NCAA championship. The Tar Heels were the best team in college basketball at the start of the season and dramatically proved they still hold that mantle by dismantling Michigan State in almost every area the Spartans had to focus on.

Greer: Versatile big men power UNC to 5th title

By Jeff Greer

Big men beware: The 2009 NCAA tournament served notice the days of the traditional cement-footed post player are long over. While there were a few old-fashioned big fellas hanging on — players such as Hasheem Thabeet and Samardo Samuels — the new-age big men took over this year’s Big Dance.

Blake Griffin, the national player of the year, was just the latest version of the do-it-all power forward, the 6-8, 6-9, 6-10 guy who can score from anywhere on the floor, either in the halfcourt or in transition. Last year, Michael Beasley dazzled the nation with his inside-outside dominance, snatching double-digit rebounds every night and scoring in a wide range of ways. Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina’s star senior and 2008 player of the year, evolved into a hybrid forward as his career progressed. The list goes on and on.

5 things to watch tonight

By Doug Tifft

Five things to watch tonight as Michigan State and North Carolina square off for the championship:

The post position of the Tar Heels big men
North Carolina is at their best when they are able to get out in transition and establish Tyler Hansbrough with deep post position, allowing him to either lay it in or get fouled. Transition post defense was one of the few areas where Michigan State struggled in its semifinal win over Connecticut. If Hansbrough is able to get the deep post position Hasheem Thabeet was able to carve out against Goran Suton and the Spartans, the Tar Heels offense becomes much more efficient.

A rock and a hard place

Scott Rich of the Duke Chronicle grew up a Michigan fan, which leaves him unsure which team he should hate more in tonight’s championship game:

Since I received my acceptance letter from this university a year ago, I have bled Duke Blue.

But for the 18 years prior to that day, I bled maize and blue.

So you can probably see that tonight’s National Championship game between North Carolina and Michigan State is the ultimate lose-lose situation for a fan like me (save possibly a North Carolina-Ohio State matchup). Hatred for one of these teams has consumed my life for the past year, while the other was my inner-state rival during my entire childhood.

Osterman: Izzo & Williams join the coaching greats

By Zachary Osterman

Roy Williams said he was “going to enjoy the dickens” out of his team’s Final Four victory Saturday night. Tom Izzo couldn’t even describe his emotions, or those of his team.

Regardless, both men, universally considered among the best coaches in college basketball, have found their way back to the top of the mountain. Up next is a national title game featuring perhaps the best coaching since Williams and Jim Boeheim squared off in 2003.

But these respective runs — Williams from the position of national front-runner and Izzo from the relative mediocrity that has been the Big Ten in recent years — have done more than bring them once again to the national spotlight. Because of how it came about, this game, however it ends, solidifies Izzo and Williams as the two premier coaches of their generation.

From the Wire: Monday Links

Today’s best from college newspapers around the country:

Michigan State has come a long, long way since getting whomped by the Tar Heels in December
– Alex Altman, The State News
ALSO: The Spartans look to knock off a third No. 1 seed; MSU fans are in full force

Will North Carolina be able to dictate the tempo once again? — David Ely, The Daily Tar Heel
ALSO: Detroit rallies behind the Spartans

Arizona strikes out once more, this time with Xavier’s Sean Miller
– Lance Madden, The Arizona Daily Wildcat

By nearly leaving USC, Tim Floyd reminded us coaching is all about money, power and ego
– Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, The Daily Trojan

Oklahoma‘s Blake Griffin capped his brilliant season with a well-deserved Naismith Award
– Eric Dama, The Oklahoma Daily

From the Wire: Sunday Links

Today’s best from college newspapers around the country:

North Carolina handled Villanova to get to the title game — Jesse Baumgartner, The Daily Tar Heel
ALSO: Another superlative start carried the Tar Heels

Hometown favorite Kalin Lucas led Michigan State past UConn — Alex Altman, The State News
ALSO: Just what the Spartans needed: Raymar Morgan came through as promised; So did the MSU bench

Villanova didn’t have enough to pull off another underdog win — Nathan McGann, The Villanovan