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.
Chief among those stars who returned was, of course, Tyler Hansbrough, who finally gets his hard-earned championship:
When Tyler Hansbrough climbed the ladder Monday to cut the net, scissors in hand and a brand new hat perched atop his head, it wasn’t as the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
Or the Regional MOP, the National Player of the Year, or the ACC Player of the Year.
But it was as a national champion, as an owner of the title that seemed to drive him throughout his years in Chapel Hill and motivate him each time he fell short. …
Even though he was effective all tournament, Hansbrough was overshadowed by the shooting of Wayne Ellington and the end-to-end speed of Ty Lawson.
But then again, that’s the way this season went for UNC’s star senior. His numbers were once again good enough for plenty of recognition — more than 20 points and eight boards a game — but after a year in which he picked up almost every individual honor, he took a slight backseat to Lawson’s play at the point which was deemed so crucial to UNC success.
“It is kind of cool. As great as he’s been — he’s going to get his jersey in the front row (of the Smith Center rafters) — that he wasn’t the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four,” teammate Bobby Frasor said.
“And I don’t think that bothers him one bit.”
Revelry? Oh we’ve got your revelry back home in Chapel Hill, including photos:
A helicopter whirred overhead.
Firemen shuffled from foot to foot against the wind. Police quietly gathered on street corners.
Then the noise downtown began to grow, from the sporadic cheer to a steady, rising roar.
And when the buzzer blared 700 miles away, Franklin Street was buried by thousands of Carolina blue-clad fans, screaming, dancing and burning the clothes off their backs.
“The crowd is unity,” said Chase Beck, a senior. “I’ve never been prouder of my school. It’s all for the Carolina spirit.”
The crowd of more than 45,000 materialized in a matter of minutes after North Carolina’s 89-72 win against Michigan State to claim the 2009 NCAA title.
Fans poured from the doors of bars and restaurants. Waves of students sprinted downtown from their dorms and the Smith Center.
Together they became a tangled mass of bodies, hoisting each other onto their shoulders, spraying beer across the crowds, climbing street lights, hanging off trees and shouting into the mass below.
“I’ve wanted to go to this school forever, and this is the happiest moment of my entire life,” said first-year Mary Brent Barnard.
