Born & Bred // June 2017 // Champions

T H E

JUNE 2017

O F F I C I A L

M A G A Z I N E

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T H E

R A M S

C L U B

CHAMPIONS

TAR HEELS CAPTURE SIXTH NCAA BASKETBALL CROWN

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June 2017

WELCOME

Letter from the Editor

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There’s no bad place to watch Carolina win a national championship.

As Tar Heels, we’re lucky that we’ve had plenty of opportunities to test that theory. I spent most of Monday, April 3, petrified about that evening’s national championship game. Upon arrival at University of Phoenix Stadium, three hours before tipoff, I sat as far as possible from other humans, attempting to discourage any attempts at conversation.

I worried about all the keys to the game: Joel Berry’s ankles. Tar Heel free throw shooting. Whether I had remembered to do everything exactly opposite from one year earlier.

But in the moments when I allowed myself to dream about Carolina beating Gonzaga for the championship, I knew exactly where I wanted to be after the game: on the court, standing beside the podium during One Shining Moment.

In 2009 in Detroit, I unexpectedly discovered my media credential allowed me floor access after the game. I did my best to look like I belonged, but I was on the court after Carolina won an NCAA basketball championship. To me, it seemed slightly ludicrous. I’d watched and rewatched my VHS copies of the 1982 and 1993 titles until the tape decomposed.

And there went Tyler Hansbrough, celebrating, followed by Wayne Ellington, speechless…and here I was, right beside them.

Somewhat by mistake, I ended up directly next to the podium while the in-arena video boards played One Shining Moment.

Watching the Carolina players and coaches enjoy those three minutes together was my personal highlight of the 2009 title.

It was so memorable I wanted to make sure to do it again in 2017 if the opportunity presented itself. But here’s what I learned: the Final Four world has changed in the past eight years. I made it beside the podium during the video. But so did about a hundred PRODUCED BY THE RAMS CLUB EDITOR IN CHIEF ADAM LUCAS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS LEE PACE & TURNER WALSTON PHOTOGRAPHY JEFFREY CAMARATI & J.D. LYON, JR. DESIGN JUJUBE SPORTS PUBLISHING

other photographers and media members. It felt a little different, a little more staged, than it did in 2009.

I know: times are really tough when you can find something negative about watching One Shining Moment with the Tar Heels on the arena floor after a national title.

It was still memorable. But it wasn’t the indelible moment that will stick with me forever, as it did in 2009.

Unexpectedly, that came a few minutes later, when I walked into the stands. My wife and I hugged the way people do in movies, the type of “Can you believe that?” hug everyone needs to give and receive at least once. Our youngest son, who was in tears last year in Houston, was beaming. Our oldest daughter was bagging the celebratory confetti. Our oldest son, who is usually too cool for emotion, had one of the widest smiles I’ve ever seen on him. And our youngest daughter was crying tears of happiness.

We took a photo, but I don’t need it to remember that moment, because I can still see every second of it—just like I can see my dad surprising me by showing up during his busiest time of work for the 1993 final, or getting to put on Woody Durham’s headset and talk to the Tar Heel Sports Network audience after the 2005 final, or the view near that podium in 2009.

And I know you’ve got those memories, too, which is what this issue is all about. We asked you where you were and whom you were with and what you did on the day and night of April 3. These pages have your answers, plus a whole lot more.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this issue for sharing their stories. And thanks to everyone in that photo we took in Phoenix for reminding me you can’t plan your unforgettable shining moments.

ADAM LUCAS Editor in Chief ramsclub.com

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THE CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION “I never got to meet Coach Smith. But I can only imagine how happy he is with the job you’ve done with this program.”

—NATE BRITT TO ROY WILLIAMS AT THE UNC BASKETBALL AWARDS CEREMONY

B O R N & B R E D R O U N D TA B L E

10 Championship Teams Starters from Roy Williams’ three NCAA title teams talk about their experiences

BY ADAM LUCAS

2 0 1 7 N AT I O N A L C H A M P I O N S

16 Behind the Scenes

Rams Club member J.D. Lyon Jr. has been photographing Carolina basketball for over a decade. He shared some of his favorite behind-the-scenes shots from this year’s team.

PHOTOS BY J. D. LYON, JR.

ON THE COVER: The Tar Heels celebrate the program’s sixth NCAA championship after a 71-65 win over Gonzaga on April 3, captured with a fisheye lens.

COVER BY J.D. LYON, JR.

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36 EDITOR’S LETTER p. 3

2 0 1 7 N AT I O N A L C H A M P I O N S

20 I Was There...

We asked members to tell us where they experienced the 2017 title, and the answers spanned the globe.

BY RAMS CLUB MEMBERS

20 24 28

42 TAR HEEL TICKER p. 6 2 0 1 7 N AT I O N A L C H A M P I O N S

36 Championship Style

Alexander Julian outfits Roy Williams for three national championships.

BY TURNER WALSTON

Phoenix

Franklin Street

Around the World

2 0 1 7 N AT I O N A L C H A M P I O N S

30 Roy in the Valley

The foundation for Roy Williams’ coaching success was laid in Asheville, where he still has deep roots.

BY LEE PACE 2 0 1 7 N AT I O N A L C H A M P I O N S

34 Coaches’ Awards

Players received awards in seven categories for each of 39 games in the 2016-17 season.

PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

2 0 1 7 N AT I O N A L C H A M P I O N S

38 On the Biggest Stage Fencer Sarah Hanvy sings the national anthem at the Final Four.

BY TURNER WALSTON

FIRST PERSON

42 C.B. McGrath: “A Perfect Ending”

First-person insight from assistant coach C.B. McGrath about the path to a national title

BY C.B. MCGRATH

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TA R H E E LT I C K E R IN THEIR WORDS

TAR HEEL SOCIAL MEDIA

CAROLINA BASKETBALL ALUMNI TOOK TO TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM FOLLOWING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WIN greenranger14 Danny Green 12,657 likes

greenranger14 #GDTBATH #witnesses #6 #Family

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CAROLINA BASKETBALL FAMILY IN PHOENIX 6

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June 2017

JEB BARLOW MICKEY BELL MICHAEL BROOKER PETE BUDKO DANTE CALABRIA VINCE CARTER PETE CHILCUTT

HUBERT DAVIS JEFF DENNY MATT DOHERTY HUGH DONOHUE TOBY EGBUNA PHIL FORD BROOKS FOSTER

BOBBY FRASOR BRAD FREDERICK DAMION GRANT DANNY GREEN JOHN GREENE BRENDAN HAYWOOD MITCH KUPCHAK

worldwad Jawad Williams 978 likes

worldwad 2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS Welcome to the club fellas!

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wayne_elli Wayne Ellington

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bigmayallday Sean May

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wayne_elli Let’s cut em down!!!! Congrats to the young fellas! Proud of these dudes! #RedeemTeam #GoHeels #TarHeel4Life

mg1nyard Marcus Ginyard

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bigmayallday Practice 101 ..... last practice of the year!! #getintoit #finalfour “We Didn’t Come This Far, Just To Come This Far”

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mg1nyard Last one standing...So proud of this team and this university! Forever in the history books! Someone take me to Franklin Street!!! THANK YOU, CHAMPS #GoHeels #NationalChamps #FinalFour #UNC #WinnerStays #GDTBATH

bwood_33 Brendan Haywood

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bwood_33 Congrats to this group of tough young men!!! Tar heels are champs again!!! #uncbasketball #redemption #gdtbath

GEORGE LYNCH JACKIE MANUEL SEAN MAY JAMES MICHAEL MCADOO WES MILLER MAKHTAR NDIAYE TERRENCE PETREE

DERRICK PHELPS DAMIEN PRICE BRIAN REESE KING RICE WILL ROBINSON MELVIN SCOTT SASHA SEYMORE

JACKSON SIMMONS KENNY SMITH JIM SMITHWICK JB TANNER RICHARD VINROOT THOMAS WILKINS SCOTT WILLIAMS

SCOTT WILLIAMS SHAMMOND WILLIAMS AL WOOD JACK WOOTEN DENNIS WUYCIK SERGE ZWIKKER

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TA R H E E LT I C K E R FILL IN THE BLANK

WHAT MAKES A CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM IS PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

JACK MURRAY, SENIOR, MEN’S TENNIS

Won the 2016 ITA National Team Indoors championship against Virginia in Charlottesville, ending Virginia’s 140-match ACC win streak “I think it was the belief. We’d come close a lot, and it was the belief that we could win, but also the belief in each other that the guy next to you is going to come through, and it really showed. After we lost the doubles point to Virginia, I just remember Brayden (Schnur) did a really good job. He sat us all down, players only, and he said, ‘Hey guys, we can definitely do this. We might not ever come back to this situation. I believe we can win.

I believe we can all win. Let’s go out there and do it.’ And I think that was really big for us.

We came out and fought really hard.”

MAGGIE AUSLANDER, SENIOR, WOMEN’S LACROSSE Won the 2016 NCAA championship

“How the team can trust the process collectively. What differentiated last year’s team from the previous two years I played for Carolina was the collectiveness that you could feel with everyone on the field. Our leadership that year was collective through the senior class who won a championship their freshmen year. With the veterans on the team being the leaders, they knew how to make our team win, and that was through love and friendship. This is not taking away from the hard work that we did in the offseason or the hard games we played in season, every good team will go through that, but it is how you overcome it through leadership.”

JESSIE ANEY, SOPHOMORE, WOMEN’S TENNIS Teamed with Hayley Carter to win doubles title at Freeman Memorial Championship in Las Vegas in January

“Trust and fight. I know these are cliché attributes for winning a championship, but it became cliché for a reason. These qualities of a team don’t just show up when you’re in the spotlight and need them the most. They are practiced every day, guided by the team’s leaders and coaches. I know through experience that it’s a slow and difficult process to achieve deep trust and fight, and much easier to lose. And to me, the most important effect of a trusting, tough team is knowing that you are trusted. It gives you the security and confidence to perform under extreme pressure.”

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TA R H E E LT I C K E R FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHER

FLASHBACK: HANGING LOOSE IN MAUI

BY J. D. LYON, JR.

The great benefit for me traveling with the team is they get to know me, and they’re more at ease. They aren’t scared to cut up, and that’s what makes it fun.

The thing about this group is they were fun, they liked each other on and off the court, and they had a mission.

The bottom line is they enjoy having fun and goofing off, and what I try to do is stay out of the way. Every now and then, somebody will say, ‘Hey JD, get a picture,’ but usually

they’re just having fun, and I happen to capture it.

I use a Canon 1DX, because that has some waterproof capabilities. It’s what an NFL guy would use to shoot football in the rain. I use the same equipment for games and candids, because I want to make sure I get quality pictures. It’s a 24-70 mm zoom, so that’s kind of the allpurpose lens. It gives you a good range of zoom with a nice quality.

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CHAMPIONSHIP

TEAMS 10

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PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI, BOB DONNAN, UNC ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS & J.D. LYON, JR.

STARTERS FROM ROY WILLIAMS’ THREE NCAA TITLE TEAMS TALK ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES

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ADAM LUCAS: When did it first sink in, if it has, that you won a national title?

TYLER HANSBROUGH: For me, it was as soon as we won it.

Kennedy (Meeks) and I were both seniors, so it was the best way to go out and end our college careers.

SEAN MAY: I distinctly remember the plane ride home from St. Louis. It was a two-hour ride, and everyone was constantly talking about what had happened during the game and after the game.

From a coaching perspective with this year’s team, it’s weird because it still hasn’t sunk in. We talked about it just the other day— can you believe we shot so poorly and still won it? I’m constantly thinking about how we were able to pull that off.

KENNEDY MEEKS: It hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe I’m still in shock. I felt like we had so much going on this season, and trying to bounce back from last year, that for it to all come to an end seems kind of surreal. It’s definitely exciting that we won, but as far as it sinking in, that hasn’t happened yet.

AL: What would you two tell Kennedy about what he’s accomplished?

TH: Before the season, I wasn’t sure they had a chance. It turned out to be my favorite group to watch since I left Carolina. The thing I liked about them is how they stuck together. It was one of the toughest teams, and played with some of the best spirit, of any Carolina team I’ve seen. Everyone was pulling for each other and on the same page. And because of that, people will be coming up to them for years and telling them where they were or what they were doing when they won the title. I still look at the Franklin Street photos from 2009. I have them around my house. Every time you come to Chapel Hill, someone will remind you of what you did in 2017.

SM: The thing you don’t realize until years later is how much Carolina basketball means to so many people for so many reasons.

As you move through life, people will want to share that with you

or how they watched you as a kid and you were their favorite player. That one moment of accomplishing a championship means so much to people. Twelve years from now, they will be talking to you about getting 14 rebounds in the Final Four against Oregon or about your blocked shot against Gonzaga. I know that because they’re still talking about what we did 12 years ago, and that’s when you start to realize how much this means to people.

AL: When did you think the 2017 team had it in them to be this good?

SM: When we beat Florida State we knew we could beat a really talented team. But when we lost to Duke in the ACC Tournament, Coach Williams asked me what I thought and I said, “The crazy thing is these guys are good enough to win it, but I don’t know if they believe they’re good enough to win it.” But all of a sudden, some of those areas where we weren’t putting things together started to click. We didn’t play well in the tournament offensively.

But at the end of several games, our defense was as good as we needed it to be when we needed it to be there. We weren’t a great defensive team, but we were great defensively when we needed to play. That’s when I started to feel confident about anyone we played against. I felt we were the one team that could match up with anyone.

AL: What enabled each of these teams to perform so well defensively in March and April?

TH: With our team, I never thought much about us defensively.

We had so many weapons and were so powerful offensively. From watching this year’s team play, they were so much bigger than most teams they played. They could outrebound them and give them problems inside. They could pound teams inside and beat them up on the offensive boards.

KM: We had a fear of losing again. We had that in the back of our minds.

Coach stayed on us about being a good defensive team, and kept telling us no team had won a championship without being good defensively.

At the end of the season, that was our biggest motivating factor.

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WITH GOOD TEAMS, YOU HAVE SOME GUYS WHO JUST WANT TO SCORE OR GET ASSISTS. WITH THIS TEAM, WE DIDN’T DEPEND SOLELY ON ANY ONE PERSON, BUT WE UNDERSTOOD WHO SHOULD BE IN THOSE POSITIONS. THAT PULLED US THROUGH IN A LOT OF GAMES.” -KENNEDY MEEKS

SM: As the season goes on, of course you get better. And as you get to the end of the season, your focus becomes greater and the mistakes start to dwindle. You might have a bunch of missed box outs in February, but in March you don’t see that as much.

Especially with older groups, when you have a bunch of juniors and seniors and they’re getting towards the end, they subconsciously hone in on those little mistakes and that enables them to be better defensively.

AL: All your teams had key upperclassmen. What role does that play?

SM: All our teams had upperclassmen who had been through it.

Tyler’s team had gone to the Final Four already, so the stage wasn’t a big deal. For us, it was a little different. We’d never had success in the tournament. But we were older, so we could handle it better. To me, that’s the key correlation to all three teams.

TH: In San Antonio we basically got our tails kicked. We still had that hunger in us. If you’ve never been to a Final Four, the excitement of getting there can leave you satisfied. Losing in 2008 drove us to get better, and when we got to the Final Four in Detroit, we were like, “Let’s finish this thing out.”

AL: Head to head, in the prime of these teams, who wins?

SM: There’s no question Kennedy’s team would finish third.

KM: Timeout. We wouldn’t be last.

SM: What’s crazy is that there are so many similarities. Joel Berry and Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton are three really good point guards. They each had a big guy. Head to head, on any given night, you never know. I always tell people Tyler would’ve gotten 28, but I

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would’ve gotten 28 myself too. They’re all great teams. Tyler’s team probably had the most firepower.

KM: Yes, whew. They were stacked.

TH: We had so many weapons and people forget that Tyler Zeller was hurt most of that year. But what I like is that all these teams had guys who stepped up and had big games in the tournament when it might not be expected. We had Deon Thompson. Luke Maye stepped up for this year’s team. I really enjoyed that.

KM: I will say that we had the best bench out of the three. Nate Britt could come in and have a great defensive game, Kenny Williams could knock down some big time shots, and everyone saw what Luke could do. We would’ve had an edge there.

SM: You have to remember: we had the number-two overall pick coming off the bench. I’m just putting that out there. One thing people forget with the 2017 team is we never really got to see them with everyone healthy. That’s the scary part.

AL: When someone says something to you about your championship season, what comes to mind?

KM: I think about the losses. I really feel like we could’ve won those games. With the exception of Indiana, where we didn’t play like ourselves and it was a very hostile crowd, I think we could’ve won all the games we lost.

SM: The friendships. So many people still come up to me and talk about our team and how much fun we looked like we were having.

That’s because we were. It was never about you. It was about us or the next guy or what you could do to help the next guy. Like I told this year’s team, it’s different when you win it. Last year’s team is

ROUNDTABLE close and will always be close. But this group will be on another level. Kennedy will have guys in his wedding from this team and guys who are the godfather of his kids from this team. There’s a closeness that comes from finishing what you set out to do.

TH: For me it was the friendships and bonds. But it was also that my senior year was kind of exhausting. I was coming off a shin injury and trying to get healthy. I came back in shape, but not in great playing shape. Trying to get back while managing that injury was exhausting, but capping it off with the championship was the very best way to go out.

AL: What’s the difference between a really good team and a championship team?

KM: Not caring about who does what. With good teams, you have some guys who just want to score or get assists. With this team, we didn’t depend solely on any one person, but we understood who should be in those positions. That pulled us through in a lot of games.

SM: While you’re involved in it, you never really know what the missing piece might be. In my sophomore year, Coach Williams’ first year back here, we thought we were really good but we really weren’t. But if you bring in one or two guys who might fill that void of what you’re missing—it could be effort, intensity, energy or anything—that can get you over the hump. Being older and more experienced helps, but so does making those one or two tweaks.

With this year’s team, it was a little more depth, size and energy to go with a little more experience from having been through last year.

TH: Our senior year, we were always trying to see what we could do to get better to win a championship. After a loss, we’d have one of our best practices of the year. We weren’t satisfied, no matter what part of the season it was. It wasn’t necessarily personnel. It was seeing what we could do better to compete or win.

AL: What’s something Coach Williams said during your championship season that sticks out to you?

SM: Coach Williams says it all the time: “It’s amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.” Our first year with him, we just heard him say it. But the next year, we really listened to it. I can’t recall a time his second year when a guy was picking up a stat sheet to see how many shots he got.

TH: My senior year, Coach Williams probably yelled at me more than he did combined in my freshman, sophomore and junior years.

You could definitely tell he was really wanting to push us.

KM: It would probably be after conditioning when he told us we were still good enough to go back and win it and be the last team standing. That gives you confidence as a player. In the back of your mind, you were still thinking, “What if we go back and lose again?”

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WITH OUR TEAM, I NEVER THOUGHT MUCH ABOUT US DEFENSIVELY. WE HAD SO MANY WEAPONS AND WERE SO POWERFUL OFFENSIVELY. FROM WATCHING THIS YEAR’S TEAM PLAY, THEY WERE SO MUCH BIGGER THAN MOST TEAMS THEY PLAYED. THEY COULD OUTREBOUND THEM AND GIVE THEM PROBLEMS INSIDE.” -TYLER HANSBROUGH

Hearing him say we were good enough to win it meant he believed in what we could accomplish.

when a lot of coaches try to explain the game, not teach it. That allows guys to come in and learn and have great success.

AL: How has Coach Williams changed over the course of these three titles?

TH: Sean said it right, he’s a teacher. Why would he change what he’s doing? He’s had so much success for so long. In college basketball right now, everybody is trying cutesy outfits or hemorrhaging threepointers, and Coach Williams is having success with the same type of basketball he’s always taught. There’s no reason for him to change. When you watch his practices, they are probably the most organized practices in all of sports. Teams and players get better in his practices.

KM: Over the years, you gravitate towards his work ethic. He puts so much into basketball. He won’t retire anytime soon, because he won’t know what to do.

AL: When he first came back, he talked a lot about Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison. Do you find that he’s now talking about each of you?

KM: He talks about Tyler every single day. He talks about how hard he worked and how we should match his intensity. That’s a pretty hard thing to do. Tyler is one of the most intense players ever.

He definitely talks about previous teams. He’s told us about how Raymond (Felton) wouldn’t take limited reps because he wanted to be in every part of practice.

SM: He’s similar. Sometimes I have to remind the current guys that he has yelled at me, too. But he’s also different, and I think he’s more soft when it comes to the current guys. I’ll sit on the sidelines sometimes and think, “There’s no way he’s not going to put them on the line for that.” Maybe he’s matured, or maybe he’s tired of yelling about the same things. But I know for sure he was softer on Kennedy’s team than he was on my team.

KM: I think he was probably less hard on us as seniors than he was as freshmen. My freshman year, we had so much going on, and we didn’t get away with anything on or off the court. That wasn’t the case this year, and there was also a fatigue issue where he didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

TH: When I go watch his practices, I think it’s amazing how anyone who played for Coach Williams, even at Kansas, can come in and practice and not miss a beat. He still has that same fire. When he gets into a game and gets emotional, you want that from your coach because they are into it as much as you are.

AL: Even though college basketball has changed from 2005 to 2009 to 2017, why is he still successful doing it his way?

SM: You have to look at who he is to his core. For him, it’s about the people. It’s not about one individual who is bigger than the program.

No matter what, he’s never going to commit to one guy and put him above the program. That’s what has allowed him to have longevity.

And also, at his core, he’s a teacher. He teaches the game in a time

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SM: You’re right, he did talk about Nick with the post players and Kirk with the guards. We never understood it until Nick and Kirk came and worked out with us. I couldn’t believe how hard Nick went.

That’s when you understood why he talked about them. That’s when I understood why Nick was the National Player of the Year. It’s a level of respect they have earned. And when I left, I was proud, because I felt like now he would have to talk about me. And when Sterling

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THE GREATEST PERSON TO EVER PLAY THE GAME WENT TO THIS SCHOOL. HE’S STILL NOT BIGGER THAN THE PROGRAM. CAROLINA HAS NEVER LET ONE SET OF PEOPLE OR ONE TEAM BE BIGGER THAN THE PROGRAM. THAT’S WHY 60 FORMER PLAYERS COME IN AND HAVE DINNER TOGETHER BEFORE THE OREGON GAME AT THE FINAL FOUR.” -SEAN MAY

Manley and Brandon Huffman are here, he’s going to talk about Kennedy and his 14 rebounds in the Final Four, just like this year he talked about Brice Johnson and his 23 rebounds against Florida State or his five blocked shots against Providence.

AL: What does it mean to you—or what will it mean—to be able to look up and see a championship banner in the Smith Center rafters that belongs to you?

TH: I work out at the Smith Center in the summer and I look at it all the time. It’s the most limited section in the rafters. I love seeing it up there.

SM: When you come into the building, there’s really only one way in, through the tunnel, and you have to look up there and see it. Those are great teams and now you’re part of it. You set a goal that’s the goal of every team that plays here, and to finally cut down those nets and complete that task, it builds you up as a man and as an individual but also as a team. And for the younger guys, it’s big because when you call a foul in pickup, there are no questions asked.

TH: I can’t imagine what those foul calls are going to be like in pickup with these guys (nods at Kennedy). Bannerless, they were bad. With a banner, I can’t imagine what this is going to be like.

KM: Wow (laughs). I actually thought about having that championship banner during the season more than I’ve thought about it since we won it. But I know it’s going to be such a big-time moment to see it up there.

AL: Carolina is in the unique place where winning separates the program from the vast majority of other basketball programs in the country. There are a very, very few other programs that have won at the level Carolina has won. What separates Carolina from those programs?

KM: There’s not another program like this school where you can call anyone who came through here, and they are ready to help you. We always stick together. No matter what you need, there’s someone who came through the program who can help.

SM: It’s the people involved. Not just with the basketball, but with the University. It’s a family like no other. I hadn’t seen George Lynch in three years and never played with him, and we picked back up in Phoenix like we always do. I didn’t play with Brendan Haywood and he is one of the closest friends I’ve ever had. Other programs don’t have that type of connection.

TH: Sean said it right. When I first got into the NBA, I lined up next to Vince Carter, had never met him, and he started talking to me. We had that connection because we played here. I ran into Michael Jordan in the hallway after we played the Hornets, and we had that connection. Rasheed Wallace talked to me when we played the Celtics, because we had that connection. It’s a family. The network of people and of players available to you is unbelievable.

AL: Lots of places try, but why can’t anyone else replicate that?

SM: It’s easy to say. It’s a lot harder to get people to come back.

Time is the most valuable thing you have, and people want to give it back to the program here. Alums come back because we want the next group to be successful. That started years ago with Coach Smith. The greatest person to ever play the game went to this school. He’s still not bigger than the program. Carolina has never let one set of people or one team be bigger than the program. That’s why 60 former players come in and have dinner together before the Oregon game at the Final Four. You can’t mimic those things. It can only be built over decades of people giving time and energy to the program.

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

BEHIND THE SCENES 1

RAMS CLUB MEMBER JOHN D. LYON, JR. HAS PHOTOGRAPHED CAROLINA BASKETBALL FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS. WE ASKED HIM TO SHARE SOME OF HIS FAVORITE IMAGES FROM THIS YEAR’S PATH TO THE TITLE. 16

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 3

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1. Kennedy Meeks on the podium with the national championship trophy. 2. Brandon Robinson douses Roy Williams after the win over Gonzaga. 3. Kenny Williams and Nate Britt celebrate. 4. Roy Williams hugs his grandchildren, Aiden and Court, on the podium after winning the title. 5. The Maye family (Born & Bred, February ’17) poses after the win over Kentucky.

6. Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks arrive back at RDU after the national title game. See dozens more behind-the-scenes photo in Redemption, the official book chronicling the 2017 national title (see ad next page).

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June 2017

pre-orders available now – save $5 with free shipping!

Celebrate the Heels’ National Championship with the official companion book!

REDEMPTION

Carolina Basketball’s 2017 Journey from Heartbreak to History Adam Lucas, Steve Kirschner, and Matt Bowers

T

Available October 2017 224 pp., 200 color plates $35.00 hardcover

his is the official behind-the-scenes look at the Tar Heels’ ride to the 2017 national title. Featuring some never before published, exclusive photographs that take readers from the practice court to the team bus to the locker room, this book is the most complete chronicle of a UNC national championship ever made available. In addition to the full-color images, the book also includes interviews with the players and coaches that can only be found here, a foreword from head coach Roy Williams, and all-new stories from Adam Lucas, Steve Kirschner, and Matt Bowers, who accompanied the team every step of the way. Much more than a story of Carolina’s 33 victories, this is the complete journey of one of Carolina’s most unique championships, from heartbreak in Houston to the storybook finish in Phoenix. The result is a must-have book for Tar Heel fans everywhere.

To order, visit www.uncpress.org • Use Promo Code 01CHAMPS at checkout Save $5 off the $35 list price and get free shipping!

at bookstores or 800-848-6224 • uncpress.org • uncpressblog.com ramsclub.com 19

2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

I WAS THERE:

PHOENIX

“

BY DAVID STALEY, HILLSBOROUGH, N.C.

When Carolina beat Notre Dame to advance to the 2016 Final Four, one of my college friends (who now has a sibling at UNC) posted a social media poll asking whether his sister should go to Houston or stay in Chapel Hill for a potential party on Franklin Street.

I had a simple reply: “Stay in Chapel Hill. If you’re a student, there’s no better place to be than Franklin Street.

Attending in person is for adults.” Not until that moment had I contemplated going to Houston. But as I typed that reply, I came to the realization that, at age 31, I was an adult.

So I booked a flight and set to work convincing friends to go with me. Several agreed. But slowly, they all backed out, citing how expensive it would be. They weren’t wrong. The flight alone was $900, but I was willing to pay that plus tickets plus a hotel room split 2-4 ways in exchange for potentially seeing a national championship in person. Once everyone had bailed, though, I couldn’t justify spending all that times two so that my wife and I could go together. So I cancelled my flight and resigned myself to watching on TV. Until Thursday. That’s when I started the process of trying to convince my wife to drive to Houston (yes, from Chapel Hill). She was not on board. Through the sheer power of

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persistence - some may call it annoyance - I finally got her to make me a deal. If Carolina beat Syracuse Saturday night, we’d drive to Houston for just the championship game. And we did. The entire round trip lasted 72 hours, and we were in the car for approximately 34 of them. Sandwiched in between two 17 hour drives was “the shot.”

Phoenix wasn’t just redemption for Joel Berry and Justin Jackson and Kennedy Meeks, it was redemption for Tar Heel fans all over. Whether you had your heart ripped out sitting at home on your couch or drove 2,300 miles to see it in person.

And I’m sure redemption would have taken place whether I’d watched the Gonzaga game from my couch or Top of the Hill or any other location. But it seemed most appropriate for it to occur in Phoenix. So on December 20, 2016, I planned in advance and booked flights for my wife and I to go to Phoenix. Arrive Saturday morning, leave Tuesday morning. In search of redemption.

A Luke Maye buzzer beater sent our house into pandemonium. Until that moment, I don’t think my wife had ever really believed we’d be going to Phoenix. The flights I booked three months in advance were refundable on Southwest. To her it was just some idiotic hair-brained idea that would no doubt be proven unnecessary against Arkansas or Butler or Kentucky. But to me, it was redemption.

PHOTO BY JEFFREY CAMARATI The friend who posted the poll back in 2016 Four Fan Fest at the convention center, and had a new post in 2017. “Can someone take wound up getting pulled into a private event this Carolina blue cowboy hat to the games where Adam Zucker of CBS interviewed former in Phoenix? It was in the building in 2005 Gonzaga player Ronny Turiaf and former “‘Can someone take this Carolina and 2009. It was not there in 2008 or 2016.” national champion Eric Montross. (Seriously blue cowboy hat to the games in The hat was an hour away from my house.

Gonzaga, we send Eric freaking Montross Phoenix? It was in the building in And it was on my wife’s head as we boarded and the best you can do is Ronny Turiaf? No the plane to Phoenix Saturday morning. You offense, Ronny.) After the interview, the two 2005 and 2009. It was not there can’t take any chances when you’re looking took questions from the crowd and then posed in 2008 or 2016.’ And it was on my for pictures and signed autographs. If you’re for redemption.

Before the game Saturday, while walking wife’s head as we boarded the plane wondering, Eric wore the magic Carolina blue through the Westgate Entertainment District, to Phoenix Saturday morning. You cowboy hat in our picture. we were pulled into the filming of an intro Oh, and on Monday, we sat in University can’t take any chances when you’re of Phoenix Stadium and watched as Roy to ESPN’s GameDay that featured a group looking for redemption.” of about 20 Carolina fans screaming “TAR! Williams coached his way to a third NCAA HEELS!” at a group of about 20 Oregon fans title. We watched the confetti fall, though in screaming something far less cool than that (maybe “O! U!”?) far more delayed and less dramatic fashion than last year. We back at us. watched the nets be cut. We watched One Shining Moment.

On Sunday, we thought we’d take a walk through the Final We watched redemption.

“

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

“

BY CLINT HANNAH, NEW YORK, N.Y.

My grandfather went to UNC undergrad and medical school. I wear his 1951 UNC med school class ring around my neck every day.

My parents are both Carolina graduates (1979 and 1983 respectively) and got engaged outside of Boshamer Stadium. While at Carolina, I was elected Mr. UNC during my senior year, and following working one year post-graduation, I came back to Chapel Hill to get my law degree.

Though I live in New York, I still rep my love for Carolina every day, as I have an argyle UNC tattoo on my right forearm. (Actually during the Final Four in Houston, Alexander Julian wanted to take a picture with me and posted it to his Instagram--an amazing Carolina-only moment).

So with that love of Carolina and a Luke Maye induced euphoria, I booked my plane tickets to the desert and got my tickets ready.

After the semifinals, I told my friend leaving that I am glad Kennedy is a unisex name because my future first child is now spoken for.

Monday rolled around and it was slow. Painfully slow. So said I, so said our Uber driver to the stadium, so said the face of all the people waiting in line to enter. When I got inside, Carolina fans were anxious, but we were anxious together. Strangers were friends and friends were family. There was not a soul in that building who didn’t remember exactly where they were and what they felt a year

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before. And we were back. One year later.

As we all know, the game was ugly. Real ugly at parts. Whistles sounded and groans from the crowd grew increasingly. Despite the staccato nature and the abundance of missed free throws and threes, the time finally came. Isaiah hit the shot, Kennedy blocked, Justin dunked.

The 2017 North Carolina Tar Heels were National Champions.

First and foremost the team won the game. It is the team’s and it is the coaches’ win and championship. But the beautiful thing about being in the same building celebrating the win is being able to say you’re Carolina. Old Tar Heels were hugging young Tar Heels.

Friends hugging friends. Strangers hugging strangers.

It didn’t matter if you were new to Tar Heel fandom and thought Kendall Marshall was ancient history or if you had been following the Heels for decades and decades, generation after generation.

In the building that night, there were people of all ages, races, religions, genders, and each and every single one of us knew when Roy climbed that ladder and pointed to the crowd that we couldn’t be prouder to be fans of these Heels.

The Tar Heels came to Phoenix a team defined by missed opportunities and seeking redemption. They left champions. Every Tar Heel fan, student, and alumni came to Phoenix knowing that maybe, just maybe, the story has the happy ending. And unlike Houston, we didn’t have a problem.

“ “

“ “

BY MARK YARBROUGH, GREENSBORO, N.C.

The impetus for this year’s championship trip to Phoenix for me goes back to 1981 when I was a junior at Carolina and was heartbroken to see our great team fall short to Indiana.

We wanted so badly to be part of getting Coach Smith his first title. The next year was a full redemption and the win over Georgetown was fabulous, and so was the Franklin Street celebration and the whole campus atmosphere. I have told others over the years that I believe winning a championship in my senior year always contributed to a stronger than normal bond to the basketball program and perhaps even the school as a whole.

Fast forward and my oldest child, Walter, decided to follow my footsteps to Carolina. He also suffered through a loss in the championship game in his junior year, incidentally the only time we’ve lost in a championship game since that 1981 game.

Now, it is senior year and we are back again. The similarities were too compelling so we decide to go to Phoenix, a fatherson quest to bring home a championship for our beloved school and have the lifetime joy of both being part of championships in our senior years.

It was great being in the huge stadium of 77,000 but sitting in the Rams Club seats it was wonderful to see how many people we knew, a remarkable turnout of folks from our hometown of Greensboro and other friends. Being there and knowing how badly the team wanted to win made the games so stressful.

Then, all of the sudden the championship turned our way and before we could really process it, we made that quick last run and the win was secured.

It is impossible to describe the joy we felt and of those around us. I know I was bouncing up and down a lot of the last part of both the final and semifinal game like a 10-year-old boy, because the games were so close. My son and I will share this experience forever and it was a great privilege to be there in person and well worth the effort involved.

BY JIM AND JO ANN HARLLEE, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

We watched the Final Four championship game in the University of Phoenix arena. This was the 6th Final Four we have attended (1981,1982, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017—see a pattern?).

The game was extremely nerve wracking. Everyone in our section stood for the entire game. It seemed to us that UNC had the most fans at the game (the Gamecocks cheering for UNC helped). It helped that we had our “Lucky Button,” a button that we got at the 1982 championship that we carry to all BIG GAMES (this was definitely a big game). Toward the end of the game we were so nervous we could not watch the last few plays and had to depend on the crowd noise to tell us what was happening. We have to say that being at the Final Four heightens emotions - we are very high when they win and very low when they don’t.

At the end of the game we stayed and watched all the celebrations.

Then we went to the team hotel to welcome the team, a lot of fun.

We also made it back to Chapel Hill the next day in time to attend the welcome home celebration at the Smith Center.

We are proud of the 2017 team, and we are proud Rams Club members.

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

I WAS THERE:

FRANKLIN STREET

“

BY KENT BARLOW, MORRISVILLE, N.C.

We were absolutely frantic the day of April 2. A year earlier, my wife and I were prepared to watch the national championship game with a group of friends at the Hampton Inn, just off Franklin Street. Needless to say, that game did not end as intended. This year, we had booked the same location a week prior to the championship game, just in case the Heels made it to Monday night.

However, the words of Woody Durham kept ringing in my head: “Go where you go, and do what you do.” In 2005, we were students and watched the game from Granville Towers.

In 2009, we made our way back to Granville Towers, through the help of a friend. This year, it wasn’t going to be possible to get into Granville...but we could get as close as possible.

At the last second, I decided the risk was too great to frequent the same location as 2016. We cancelled our reservation and frantically began searching for a restaurant on Franklin that could accommodate our party of six. Top of the Hill? Booked. Mellow Mushroom? The line began forming at 8 a.m. that morning.

The classic pull of collegiate loyalty and employer obligation began their tug of war as Monday morning dragged on. Finally, I received a text message from my wife that West

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End Wine Bar would begin taking individual reservations at noon. I hustled over on my lunch break.

Then the waiting game began. The re-run of the CavaliersPacers game from Sunday night was on the television, and there was time spent in debate over whether Kyrie Irving’s appearance on the screen was an ominous sign for UNC. Ultimately, the decision was made that JR Smith’s inclusion on the Cavaliers roster was enough to counteract the side effects of Kyrie’s Dukie-ness.

The rest of the time until 9 p.m. flew by--a blur of nervousness and text messages to assure that everyone was in their correct place. Go where you go, and do what you do.

Just before tip off, another UNC fan entered the bar with a friend decked out completely in Duke gear. I still wonder to this moment what kind of mental state one would have to be in to 1) have a Duke friend and 2) feel it appropriate to bring them to Franklin Street on the night of a national championship game.

As the game tipped off, every UNC basket was a wave, covering the bar with new hope and much needed oxygen. Every Gonzaga basket drew back toward the horizon of 2016, and the inevitable “not again” feeling we had all been trying to ignore.

At halftime, the score stood at Gonzaga 35, UNC 32. The Duke fan in a sea of Carolina Blue was elated, and let everyone know it. In the immortal words of Billy Madison, “At no point in (his) rambling, incoherent response was he even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is dumber for having listened

to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

Halftime periods always seem to go by in the blink of an eye when UNC is winning, and drag on forever when the team is down. Likewise, it felt like the second half would not tip off until well after midnight. But once it did, a boxing match ensued. UNC goes on an 8-0 run: left hook. Gonzaga retakes the lead by 3: punch to the gut. UNC back up by two: counter punch. And then, more whistles than a circus ringmaster.

After what felt like a few short breaths, the final sequences that solidify any championship occurred: Meeks’ jump ball.

Hicks’ jump shot. Meeks’ block. And then I’m hugging my friend Kyle, who I watched the championships with in 2005 and 2009. Go where you go, and do what you do.

And then we’re sprinting to the intersection of Franklin and Columbia, totally oblivious to being at work in seven hours. Go where you go, and do what you do. And there are not other thoughts in our mind, other than that Roy Williams is the greatest coach on the face of the Earth, and that somewhere Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, and Stuart Scott are all smiling. Because we’re Tar Heels, and we go where we go, and do what we do.

“

BY FRED PEARLMAN, GREENSBORO, N.C.

I graduated from UNC in 1982, so of course I was on Franklin Street just minutes after Michael Jordan hit the shot to give us the national championship. On April 3 (into the morning of April 4!), I was fortunate enough to be on Franklin Street celebrating a UNC national title for the FIFTH time. I watched the game in Chapel Hill, with my friends Robert Hooke and Richard Schneiderman. Richard and I headed to Franklin Street right after the game. We had the usual incredible time, celebrating with 25,000 of our closest friends.

As I told someone while watching the national semifinal on Saturday, this never, ever gets old.

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

“

BY NEIL WELBORNE, CORNELIUS, N.C.

Boy, the ride home last year was REALLY a bummer. Occasional moans, sighs, and “what ifs” were all that broke the silence during the two hour commute from Chapel Hill back to our residence in the Lake Norman area. I had packed the boys into the truck and driven up to watch the game with their sister Madison in the Dean Dome in hopes of witnessing history and experiencing the Franklin frenzy with my kids.

I had been there in 1993 and knew what a once in a lifetime memory I had made. And I wanted to make another priceless Tar Heel memory…this time with my kids! But it wasn’t to be. And who knew when another shot at championship number six would come.

My parents, Barry and Joanne Welborne, both graduated from UNC in 1963, then finished medical school and nursing school at “Blue Heaven” thereafter. I finished dental school at Carolina in 1992. My daughter, Madison, is a senior majoring in English. My oldest son, William, is a junior majoring in biology. Jack is a senior in high school who has been accepted to UNC in the fall. The two youngest boys, Josh and Jacob, bleed serious light blue. I have even succeeded in converting my Appalachian State wife, Mary Lynn, into at least a lukewarm Carolina girl.

Having survived multiple close games to advance to the finals again this year, the Welborne contingent was back on highway 85 with our fingers crossed hoping once again to be a part of Tar Heel history.

Between the officiating and our poor play, it was not the prettiest game we’ve ever played. I had a knot in my stomach as time ticked away. The miniscule lead felt precarious at best.

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In the back of my mind I couldn’t help but think of the potential long, quiet, gut-wrenching late night ride home again.

And then it happened. An awesome inside move and bank shot by Hicks. Meeks on the rejection and fast break slam by Justin Jackson. Steal by Meeks and now Berry is at the line with a five point lead and mere seconds on the clock!

A Tar Heel explosion. The game is over and it’s going to be a sixth banner hanging from the rafters. My kids and I are going crazy just like the other two hundred or so other people watching the game at Granville. I feel like I’m twenty years old again.

I don’t recall my feet touching the ground during the run out to Franklin. And before you know it we are reliving the scene I’ve told my kids about for years. Students in the trees. A crazy guy on top of the power pole. Thousands of students yelling, dancing, and whooping it up. A couple couches out in the middle on fire. A new cover for the menu at TOPO is surely coming soon. Tens of thousands of ecstatic Carolina fans. One incredibly happy father who is lucky enough to share such a moment with his kids.

The drive home was a little different than last year. The party continued all the way back to Cornelius. We climbed in bed around four. Alarm went off at six. But I woke up with the biggest smile on my face, put on my UNC tie and went to work living on adrenaline.

The kids were all up for class (like Luke) because that was part of the deal. But we didn’t care. The Heels are ‘17 champs and life is good. Redemption indeed.

“

PHOTO BY MICHAEL ZULAUF

BY KATELYN GLASSMAN, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

While the win against Oregon in the Final Four brought much joy, it also came with a very hard decision. Our core group of friends had watched the 2005 championship game from a dorm room in Grimes Hall, the 2009 game from the Station in Carrboro, and last year’s heartbreaking loss at Carolina Brewery on Franklin. So what to do this year? Could we overcome our superstitions? Could we return to Carolina Brewery to face our fears? After some debate, we decided to summon our courage and purchased tickets to watch Monday night’s game.

As diehard Tar Heel fans, we struggled through the trials and tribulations of Championship Monday: the butterflies in our stomachs, the complete lack of focus as we tried to do our jobs. We were all nagged by thoughts of how we could have done things differently last year. Then it hit us. Five of us had been together for both the ‘05 and ‘09 championships. But last year someone was missing. There were only four. We needed our fifth man. Quickly our friend Pete jumped into action. We had an extra ticket, and we all knew who it belonged to.

Our friend Larry showed up ten minutes before the jump ball. I wish I could say his appearance calmed our collective nerves, but the tension at our table was palpable. Throughout the game we remained relatively silent, short of breath and hearts fluttering. But when Kennedy blocked the shot and Justin ran down the court to dunk the ball with 11.4 seconds left, we knew... we were whole again.

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

I WAS THERE:

AROUND THE WORLD

“

BY WILL COLLETTE, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

Due to an error in judging tip-off time and time changes, my friend Rob Jones and I were on a plane to Phuket, Thailand, when the 2017 national championship game began.

As soon as we landed deep in the jungle of Phuket, I also realized that “He’s Not Here” was no longer a quick walk down the street, but way down yonder, farther than I would be able to travel at the moment. I would have to find another way to see the rest of the game. With halftime running out, I was sweating bullets to find a television. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one in sight, and our phones couldn’t stream the game from this remote location. We weren’t near any hotels, sports bars, or the Carolina Inn, so we had to make due with the spotty Wi-Fi in the tiny airport.

I had the idea to FaceTime my other friend, Class of ’16 alum and fellow USAF ROTC graduate, Christian Willis, all the way from Florida.

“Whassup, Bubba? Ain’t this game wild!” Christian said with his southern gentleman drawl.

“Hey dude, we’re in another country and can’t stream the game.

Put your phone on the screen so we can see it through FaceTime!”

I said eagerly.

“You got it, bo!”

The Zags put together a quick run and took the lead at 41-40. I considered hanging up as to not ruin the superstitious balance that existed before. But I decided to hold onto this roller coaster and see what Maye happen.

Justin Jackson hit 3-13 in the field and 0-7 from deep. I wanted to believe we could still find our rhythm and pull away. Even though it was nearly 100 degrees where we were, and more humid than North Carolina in July, my world slipped into ice as I watched the time count

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down from 14:00.

I caught the eyes of Phuket airport security, who watched me with their fancy berets, assault rifles, and full camouflage uniforms as I screamed uncontrollably at a phone in my hand. I probably wasn’t the best example of an American in this country, but it’s their fault for not knowing what was going on in Phoenix that day.

“Bubba I just can’t handle this.” Christian said with dismay.

“We’ll be fine.” I reassured him, “we don’t come to the title game twice in a row and walk away empty handed.”

Three minutes to go.

At this point, I didn’t know if the hot spicy Thai food near me or the game was sloppier, but I was sure we were destined for another title. Heels pulled ahead with some quick buckets, and time started to dwindle down.

One minute to go.

Heels were up 66-65, and the ball was tossed across the court in a wide arc. Even though our screen was pixelated and choppy, it didn’t take much to tell that a big play was developing.

BOOM! No, that wasn’t the sound of the ensuing monsoon off in the distance, but instead the shock that we heard on the other side of the world from a game sealing dunk made by Jackson.

“HOLY CAROLINA. DID YOU SEE THAT!” Rob and I looked at each other as we screamed a language no one around us understood.

Ten seconds left.

I was almost certain at this point that even a buzzer beater couldn’t take away this win, until I saw Meeks leap into the air and swat the ball harder than we were swatting mosquitos. Then I knew.

3…2…1…confetti.

“WE DID IT! WE’RE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!” Rob and I yelled as we hugged each other and jumped off of chairs. At this point, all the passengers around us and security were staring at us.

“He’s a father, everyone! My friend just became a father!” Rob said to hopefully explain our irrational excitement and sudden spike in volume.

Winning a title is sweet, but redemption feels a little bit sweeter.

We proceeded to run down the streets of Phuket listening to Petey Pablo and House Of Pain on repeat until it finally sunk in that our school had won it all.

“

“

who grew up a diehard Blue Devil. And my wife; an NC State grad who’s as cynical and anti-UNC as they come. Together we make up I am a United States Army officer and 2013 graduate of the a conglomerate of what makes ACC basketball in the state of North University of North Carolina. I am currently deployed to Iraq in Carolina so exciting, riding the highest highs and lowest lows with support of Operation Inherent Resolve with the Army’s 82nd Airborne our schools and teams.

Division.

The game wound down, Hicks made his incredible play, Jackson I feel like I have to start with the game a week prior before talking with the easy bucket to seal the title. I ran screaming around the tent, about the national championship game. I sat in a tent watching a high fiving my lone UNC ally. The game ended, everyone who had small TV on the American Forces Network for the majority of the gathered to watch the national championship filtered out, leaving tournament. The collegiate allegiances of the company I had left just me in the tent. I couldn’t stop watching. I watched the post-game much to be desired for a diehard Tar Heel fan. I had a Florida fan who coverage on the TV, and streamed on the March Madness app at the had just watched his team lose to South Carolina. I had my closest same time so I could be sure to see One Shining semblance of an ally in a West Point grad whose Moment. I watched it all. I relished in it all. We were wife is a graduate student at UNC. And worst of champions. all, I had a West Point grad from the Philadelphia I know that this title is a story of this season. But area, who somehow managed to grow up a Duke “I refused to switch my seat even for a fan base, for a proud alumni, this feels like much fan (bandwagon?). And of course, being from Philly, more. We’ve had to endure the name of our great though I stood most of the game he also claimed Villanova. This is the company with university be slandered and mocked since 2010. whom I watched the entire NCAA tournament. and blocked a latecomers view. He It’s hard not to feel like this title is for all of those I gathered with mostly the same group for the could move if he wanted to; the guys that came despite the issues. For Kendall national championship (our Florida fan opted for sleep instead, with tip time being at 4:20 a.m. game depended on me standing in Marshall, John Henson, Harrison Barnes, Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson, and many more. While last here). Same 22-inch TV, same terrible coffee, and that very spot in a tent year’s team many would argue was more talented, same jeering comments from our Duke/Nova fan. in northern Iraq.” the sheer will to win that this team showed was The game started, you know how it goes. I something incredible. I couldn’t be more proud of reached down to the floor to knock on wood about the team and the players representing our University. every thirty seconds, I refused to switch my seat even though I stood As the coverage concluded, people were by now sitting around me most of the game and blocked a latecomers view. He could move if eating breakfast.

I finally walked outside again. I took a side trip to a he wanted to; the game depended on me standing in that very spot porta-john, because that’s the only place we can go here to get any in a tent in northern Iraq. privacy. I sat for a long moment and shed a few tears. Redemption At the under eight timeout in the second half, I stepped outside to was ours. make a porta-john run. The sun was already well on its way to rising I wish more than anything else that I could have been in Chapel Hill in Iraq. I remember being at this point a year ago. And I remember for this championship. Seeing the students rush Franklin Street for a the bitter disappointment that I still felt thinking about it. I said a little national championship is something I longed for as a student. But I prayer, and stepped back into the tent for the last few minutes of the can’t be there just yet. I may not be where I want to be right now, but game.

I’m where I need to be. My country has asked me to be here, so I’ll My phone continued to blow up with text messages finish carrying out my duty. Hopefully I’ll be home in time for football throughout. From my dad; a Duke fan who cheered for UNC this season.

But until then, I’ll confirm for you that seeing a Carolina game for his son. From my older brother; an App grad and lifelong championship is sweet no matter where you are in the world.

UNC fan. From my younger brother; a South Carolina freshman

BY JOHNATHAN FLYNN, LEWISVILLE, N.C.

“

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

ROY

IN THE VALLEY THE FOUNDATION FOR ROY WILLIAMS’ COACHING SUCCESS WAS LAID IN ASHEVILLE, WHERE HE STILL HAS DEEP ROOTS

BY LEE PACE

I

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OWEN HIGH YEARBOOK & PEG DIXON

It was July of 1973 when Jim LeVine, the head football coach at Charles D. Owen High in Black Mountain, was wrapping up a summer conditioning workout with a couple dozen of his Warhorse football players. He pulled several aside, ones who he knew would move on to the basketball court come November, and told them the school had a new basketball coach and they should stop in the gymnasium and introduce themselves.

“His name is Roy Williams,” LeVine said.

One in the group was a massive running back in football and a center/power forward on the hardwood named Napoleon Spencer, better known as “Porky” because he was born nine pounds, eight ounces and grew to 6-foot-3, nearly 200 pounds by junior high. Spencer and several teammates walked to the gym, peered in through the double-doors at one end and saw a solitary youngster shooting baskets.

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“Kid was 15, 16 years old tops,” Spencer says.

“He was born in Marion, grew up in Skyland and first coached here The players went back to LeVine and said they couldn’t find any in the Valley,” says Kenny Ford, a football player and golfer under basketball coach.

Williams in the 1970s and later head football coach at Owen for “I’m sure he’s there,” LeVine answered. “His car’s there. I can hear a three decades. “A lot of people in Western North Carolina have a ball bouncing.” part of Roy Williams.”

LeVine probed a little further.

“Everybody in this area was glued to their TVs,” adds Tim Raines, “What did this ‘kid’ look like?” an Owen student and athlete in the mid-1970s and for 23 years the Spencer described him and the clothes he was wearing. coach of the school’s girls basketball team. “So many people take “That is Coach Williams,” Levine said. pride in having played for Coach.”

Spencer smiles at the memory and continues with the story, saying There was no feeder system in the early 1970s in the Swannanoa that the kids returned to the gym, approached Williams and told him Valley to teach basketball and develop players before they got to they would be joining his team after football Owen High, so Williams held Saturday morning season. Spencer holds his left hand out, the clinics for kids and used his varsity players to forefinger and middle finger tight together. help run the clinics.

“Forty years later, we’re still like this,” he says, “That’s how we learned basketball,” Raines “He was born in Marion, grew up in says. “I grew up on those Saturday mornings. nodding to his fingers clenched together.

Indeed, the bond between Roy Williams Coach was full of vigor and vitality, had Skyland and first coached here in and the people and the place of his five-year the Valley. A lot of people in Western amazing energy. He had an infectious smile introductory chapter to the coaching business and personality. As a young kid, our coaches North Carolina have a part of from 1973-78 remains as steady and constant as were our heroes. They were larger than life to the currents of the Swannanoa River coursing us. You could not wait to get to high school Roy Williams.” through Buncombe County just east of Asheville. and play for him.”

Hold onto your hat when Spencer and the old boys in the Valley, as Williams’ early disciples grin remembering the first football this corridor of the Blue Ridge Mountains is called, get rolling on one practice that August when Williams, who’d never played or coached of their favorite subjects—that skinny statistician from UNC and his run football, was thrust into coaching running backs on the freshman as the boys basketball coach, golf coach, assistant football coach and team and assisting with the varsity during training camp. LeVine told athletic director (one year) at Owen High. This was just after Williams’ Williams to take the running backs and ends to one side of the field graduation from Chapel Hill and before his being called by Dean Smith and run the “monkey roll drill,” a exercise involving players rolling to come back to the Tar Heel basketball fold. and jumping over one another for 20 to 30 seconds. Problem was, As loud as Tar Heel fans were in the Dean Dome watching the Final Williams had never seen the drill and had no idea when to blow his Four in April on the big screen, as stoked as they were in Franklin Street whistle. watering holes watching Oregon and Gonzaga fall and Williams snare “We kept going and going and going and we’re dying and Roy’s his third national title, there was chest-bursting glee in the towns of just standing there with his whistle in his mouth,” Ford says. “He had Swannanoa and Black Mountain and over to Skyland, where Williams no idea how long we’re supposed to go. We wanted to please the grew up and attended T.C. Roberson High. new coach, we’d just met him. But this was crazy. Finally, one of the

“

ramsclub.com 31

2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

BOYS IN THE VALLEY: Roy Williams and Porky Spencer reminisce at a Rams Club luncheon in Asheville.

other coaches came over and blew the whistle.”

They regale a visitor with accounts of Williams’ personalized and heartfelt messages he wrote in their yearbooks, of his early coaching gaffes (i.e., feeding the team fried chicken less than two hours before tip-off), of his sitting with the students during pep rallies while the rest of the faculty held sway in the back of the auditorium. They’ll grin and roll their eyes at news of a fresh “Roy-ism,” the latest his calling the University of Maryland chancellor a “double idiot” for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong on Carolina’s lengthy NCAA imbroglio. They might mention a certain leather-covered paddle from a era when corporal punishment was standard high school discipline—“You be careful with that!” they warn—and they’ll laugh remembering the occasional wayward clipboard when the coach took umbrage to a player’s production or a referee’s whistle.

Spencer visited Williams at Kansas one year in the 1990s and was sitting behind the Jayhawk bench during a game against Texas when Williams got “the look,” as his current and ex-players reference

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June 2017

that caldron of angst about to manifest itself.

“I told everyone around me, ‘Duck,’” he says. “Sure enough, Coach rips off his coat and here it comes at us. One guy said, ‘How’d you know?’ I said, ‘Man, I’ve been seeing that look for 40 years.’ He’s a sweetheart, but he’ll jump on a chainsaw.”

They don’t have to dig too deep for accounts of Williams’ organizational skills, attention to detail and his absolute abhorrence of anything less than a hundred percent drive to improve.

“His very first practice was all timed out and very methodical,” says Stan Turner, a junior on that 1973-74 basketball team and today the general manager of the Hilton Biltmore Park, located just over a mile from Roberson High, where Williams graduated in 1968 before matriculating to Chapel Hill. “We would do one drill six minutes and go do another for three. We were on the clock for everything. None of us had seen anything like that before.”

Raines played on Williams’ golf team his sophomore and junior years before Williams left after the 1977-78 school year.

He remembers that Williams could be more relaxed driving the golf team to and from matches than he was running a basketball program—but just to a point. He illustrates with a story of one golf match held at Glen Cannon Country Club in Brevard. The Warhorses played poorly, but afterward they were joking and goofing around the clubhouse while the coaches were finishing their round—“The coaches had some pretty spirited matches, if I remember correctly,” Raines says. There was a practice range open for use by the high school players at no charge, and Williams was livid upon seeing his guys’ lousy scores that no one thought to go hit balls and figure out what went wrong that afternoon.

“Smoke was coming out of his ears,” Raines says. “He threatened to make us run suicides on the golf course—run to the first green and back, then to the second green and back. We got quite a tonguelashing.”

These old Warhorses reflect on watching the Tar Heels of today and connecting them to the Roy Williams of the 1970s. Ford mimics Williams in his crouch—fists balled, jaws clenched. “We saw it a hundred times,” he says. Ford wasn’t on the basketball team, but since he and Spencer were pals and often rode to and from school together, Ford would come to basketball practice to watch. One day Williams put him to work, giving him a padded shield to put on his arm and telling him to camp out under the basket and if a big man took a pass or grabbed a rebound on the blocks and either dribbled the ball or dropped it down toward his waist, Ford was to bang the player with the shield.

“The first time I did it, Roy chewed me out for not hitting them hard enough,” Ford says. “To this day, if I watch Carolina and I see Kennedy Meeks get a pass and dribble the ball, I’m yelling NOOOO!!!”

Most of all, they reflect on the impact he’s had on their lives.

Turner wasn’t sure as a high school senior what he wanted to do for a career; Williams said he knew someone in the hotel business and thought it might be a good fit. Raines enrolled in the hotel management program at Asheville-Biltmore Tech and over three decades has managed hotels in Atlanta, Palm Beach and Asheville.

“He wrote in my yearbook that he hoped I’d be successful because

he wanted to come work for me as the golf pro,” Turner says.

Raines and Ford learned to successfully meld both the hard and soft edges of coaching—to press players when needed but get them to like and respect you enough that they’d bust through a steel door for you.

“There is a fine line between being a coach and riding kids hard and being a disciplinarian and still having their trust,” Ford says. “I think Tim has that and I think I had that, and we got it from Roy.” “He could jump down your throat but be first one to hug your neck,” Raines adds. “I always noticed that. We got a big chunk from him and saw we could do that.”

Spencer works at a soft drink manufacturing plant in Skyland, and it’s no accident that it happens to be a Coca-Cola plant given Williams’ devotion to the brand. Williams has told the story to journalists and in his autobiography of his humble childhood when his buddies had money for after-school Cokes, but he had to drink from a water fountain. When his mother found out, she sacrificed and made sure that Roy had a dime each morning to buy a drink. Years later after Williams had become a head coach Kansas, he showed a visiting Buddy Baldwin, his high school coach, a garage refrigerator filled with cans of Coke Classic and four more cases stacked on top.

“

“I grew up on those Saturday mornings.

Coach was full of vigor and vitality, had amazing energy. He had an infectious smile and personality. As a young kid, our coaches were our heroes. They were larger than life to us. You could not wait to get to high school and play for him.”

“Roy’s never forgotten where he comes from,” Spencer says.

Spencer and Raines have both worked in Williams’ summer basketball camp, and Spencer travels often to Chapel Hill for games and has attended the last two Final Fours. He was humbled and honored by the fact Williams put him on the same row as Michael Jordan at the 2016 national title game in Houston.

“You know something about Coach Williams?” he says. “Here I am 60 years old, and when he’s around I feel like I’m 16 again. I was at camp one year and made that statement around a bunch of his former players. Marvin Williams was there and he said, ‘He does that to you, too? I thought it was just me.’”

Spencer, a strapping rock of a man still decades after his athletic prime, can puddle up talking of his old coach.

“Forty years later, he still does it to me,” Spencer says, his voice cracking not in sadness but in tribute to the strength of the relationship. Those were five quite fertile years for Roy Williams in the Valley.

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

COACHES’ AWARDS Players received awards in seven categories for each of 39 games in the 2016-17 season.

Awards for defense, blocks, charges, assist/turnover, screens, offensive rebounds and good/bad plays were determined by the grading system used by the Carolina coaching staff. (Born & Bred, April 2017) The 40th game of the 2016-17 season, against Gonzaga, has not yet been graded.

NATE BRITT

TEAM LEADER IN AWARDS FOR...

DEFENSE:

-WON AWARD 11 TIMES // 28% OF GAMES -WON FOR FOUR OF SIX MAUI INVITATIONAL GAMES

KENNEDY MEEKS

TEAM LEADER IN AWARDS FOR...

BLOCKS:

-WON AWARD 20 TIMES // 51% OF GAMES -WON AWARD AGAINST TSU, ARKANSAS, BUTLER AND KENTUCKY DURING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS:

-WON AWARD 22 TIMES // 56% OF GAMES -WON AWARD IN FIVE CONSECUTIVE GAMES TO END REGULAR SEASON (UVA, LOUISVILLE, PITT, UVA, DUKE) -WON AWARD IN BOTH ACC TOURNAMENT GAMES -WON AWARD AGAINST ARKANSAS, KENTUCKY AND OREGON DURING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT 34

BORN & BRED

June 2017

THE GRADING SYSTEM

KENNY WILLIAMS

TEAM LEADER IN AWARDS FOR...

ASSISTS/TURNOVERS:

-WON AWARD 10 TIMES // 26% OF GAMES -WILLIAMS RECEIVED AN AWARD IN EVERY CATEGORY EXCEPT FOR SCREENS AT LEAST ONCE

CHARGES:

-WON AWARD 12 TIMES // 31% OF GAMES -DUE TO INJURY, WILLIAMS SAT OUT THE BACK HALF OF THE ACC SCHEDULE AND POST-SEASON

Grading like the Carolina coaches requires an entirely different set of vocabulary. Some terms to know:

1

HALF SCREEN: Players get credited for half a screen when they set a screen required by the normal progression of the play.

2

FULL SCREEN: Players get credited for a full screen when they set a screen on their own initiative.

3

GOOD PLAY: A play that helps the team that is most likely not rewarded otherwise on the stat sheet.

4

BAD PLAY: This could be as simple as standing in one spot for too long on offense or taking a bad shot.

5

LOSS OF BALL: Not just a turnover. This is putting the possession in peril through carelessness, a bad pass, or a combination of both. Throwing a pass that is deflected by a defender but ultimately retained can be a half loss of ball.

6

ASSISTS AND COACHES ASSISTS: These are “assists the way we keep them,” as Dean Smith used to refer to them. A good feeding pass into the post, even if it doesn’t result in a hoop, is a coaches assist. So is a pass back to the perimeter that sets up a guard from a post player.

ISAIAH HICKS

TEAM LEADER IN AWARDS FOR...

GOOD/BAD PLAYS:

-WON AWARD 12 TIMES // 31% OF GAMES -WON AWARD IN BOTH ACC TOURNAMENT GAMES

SCREENS:

-WON AWARD 22 TIMES // 56% OF GAMES -RECEIVED AWARD 10 OUT OF 18 REGULAR SEASON CONFERENCE GAMES ramsclub.com 35

2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS ALEXANDER JULIAN OUTFITS ROY WILLIAMS FOR THREE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

CHAMPIONSHIP

BY TURNER WALSTON // PHOTOS BY J.D. LYON, JR. & UNC ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS

M

Style

MOMENTS AFTER HIS TEAM CUT DOWN THE NETS IN PHOENIX, ROY WILLIAMS STRUTTED INTO THE LOCKER ROOM TO A CELEBRATORY SHOWER OF WATER

from his players and staff. His white dress shirt and his Carolina blue silk tie got soaked. But not his sport coat. He’d taken it off prior to joining the mass of jumping players.

That coat, like the tie, was designed by Carolina alumnus and worldrenowned fashion designer Alexander Julian, who was in the University of Phoenix Stadium crowd on that Monday night. For the six games of Carolina’s championship run, Williams alternated between two Julian designs.

The first was a grey cotton tweed with a digital print design that the head coach wore for the team’s opening games at each of the three tournament sites. The second was the black and blue plaid that’s become a staple of big games for Williams in recent years. “I haven’t heard yet if the plaid coat and tie are going in the basketball museum like the suit

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June 2017

and tie from ‘05,” Julian, “but if not, I’m probably going to have to make him another one, because he sure almost wore it out.”

When he’s working on a new collection, Julian designs apparel specifically for Williams. The Tar Heel head coach comes into the store or Julian sets an in-home appointment with Williams’ wife Wanda. “My nephew Bart Fox goes with me,” Julian says. “He’s one of the best fitters.

He brings all the things he needs to do the pinning, and we say, ‘Coach, try this. It’s something different, something new.’”

Williams doesn’t always go for all of Julian’s ideas. “I had this idea five or six years ago of designing a series of suits and ties for the assistant coaches, and then having him be the only one that’s different, because it would sort of make a team uniform.” That got overruled. The head coach makes his own decisions on game night.

2005

2009

2017

“Roy Williams dresses Roy Williams,” Julian says. “He makes 100 took a long time before taking that plaid jacket off the hanger and percent of his decisions. I recommend things.” And just as Tar Heel fans introducing it on the sidelines. “He’s had it six years, and he had to sneak at the Smith Center eagerly look toward the home tunnel to see what up on it,” Julian says. “It was so bold for him, because he’s a conservative the head coach will be wearing when he emerges, so too does Julian. “I guy. I don’t think he wore it to a single game the first year he had it, and turn on the TV just like everybody else, waiting to see what jacket and tie now he wore it for the 800th victory and he wore it for the championship, he’s got on,” he says. And while watching from Connecticut, the designer which is such a kick.” assesses the coach’s style. “Sometimes I say I think that probably looks Twelve years ago at the celebration of the 2005 national championship, better in person than it does on television.”

Julian had an idea of what Williams would wear, so he dressed similarly.

Julian adds that the Tar Heel assistants have “Woody Durham introduces him, and he calms many of his designs in the locker room, but they the crowd down and says, Ladies and gentlemen, defer to the head coach before selecting what to thank you, but I owe it all to my Alexander Julian wear themselves.

“As far as the argyle goes, I put the suit and tie, and he’s sitting over there. Big guy, Alexander Julian has been in attendance for all stand up and take a bow.’ And I stood up to ball in play, but I’m not the one that applause on the floor of the Dean Dome.” three of Williams’ national championships, with the players in his argyle uniforms and the head And though Julian never intended for Roy made it famous. They are. It was coach in clothes that he designed. “It’s a kick,” he Williams to be his spokesmodel, customers come Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Coach says. “But as far as the argyle goes, I put the ball in and recognize his clothes in the Franklin Street Williams, their assistants and the in play, but I’m not the one that made it famous. store. “The thing I hear in the store so often now is They are. It was Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, players. That’s the reason it became people will walk in and say, ‘Oh, that looks like Roy Coach Williams, their assistants and the players. so significant. I think the design has Williams,’” Julian says, “or ‘I’ve seen Roy wear that.’”

That’s the reason it became so significant. I think Julian knows that there are those that turn the design has stood the test of time and it still stood the test of time and it still looks up their noses at Williams’ fashion, and he’s looks fresh. It’s been voted the most iconic in fresh. It’s been voted the most iconic OK with it. “There are people that don’t like that college sports history.” championship jacket, but that’s what makes a in college sports history.”

After his designs are out the door, they take on horse race,” he says. “What I’ve always said about a life of their own. The argyle uniforms that were Coach is, when it comes to clotheshorses, he’s a introduced 25 years ago and have since been introduced across the thoroughbred and not only is he a thoroughbred, but I would say he’s athletic department have become a trademark of Carolina athletics even Secretariat. He’s the best of all time.” beyond Alexander Julian himself. “The argyle represents a level of thought Two weeks after the national championship, Alexander Julian is looking and process, and when I see the argyles everywhere, I am thrilled. I was for something in his store, that grey digital print coat that Williams honored to have Coach Smith call me, but I never expected that the year alternated with the plaid during the Tar Heel tournament run. that I spent working on them would become my legacy,” he says.

“We actually sold the last grey,” a store employee says.

Julian’s designs for Roy Williams have become iconic as well. Williams “Oh, we did?” he says. “Thanks to Coach.”

“

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2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

ON THE

BIGGEST STAGE

Fe n c e r S a r a h H a n v y s i n g s t h e n a t i o n a l a n t h e m a t t h e F i n a l Fo u r

BY TURNER WALSTON PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI

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June 2017

C

Carolina fencer Sarah Hanvy watched on television as the Tar Heel on the Wednesday before the Final Four and was on a plane to Phoenix men’s basketball team played at the Final Four in Houston a year ago. two days later. Upon arrival, Hanvy and the three singers from the other She saw men’s soccer player Nico Melo represent Carolina in singing Final Four schools—Nina Novilla from Gonzaga women’s golf, Taylor “The Star-Spangled Banner” on semifinal Saturday. “That could be me,” Agost of Oregon volleyball and Aurie Engle Schmieding of South Carolina she thought to herself. equestrian—went through two hours of rehearsals with a voice coach And so just as the Tar Heel men’s basketball team made it their mission from Arizona State. The quartet took on vocal exercises to determine their to get back to the Final Four and the national championship game, Hanvy ranges, and then they were assigned parts. “I had probably the lowest was driven to join them there as part of a quartet of student-athletes voice and a little bit of training, so that’s how I got picked to sing the first representing the schools and singing the national anthem. part,” she said. “They played the note for me in my earpiece, and I sang.”

Hanvy’s ambition wasn’t completely out of the blue. Growing up in the To prepare herself to sing in front of more than 77,000 people –not Kansas City area, she’d sung as part of the Allegro Choirs of Kansas City. to mention more than 16 million watching at home– Hanvy drew on the There were years of weekly rehearsals that led to performances at places same focus that she takes to her sport. “What was going on in my brain like Vatican City and the White House Christmas Party. was, this is a minute and a half of my life. I’m going to go up there, I’m going At the same time she was growing up singing, Hanvy was growing to sing, and I’m going to get back down,” she said. “And that’s the same up fencing at the Kansas mentality with fencing. This City Fencing Center is so many points of a bout. under former Tar Heel I’m going to get on the Kelly Williams. While she strip, I’m going to fence, I’m could have stayed in the going to win and I’m going area, no local colleges to get off. Also, I was really offered fencing, and so excited for the basketball she looked to Carolina. game. It was kind of my “Fencing was what I was speed bump before the really passionate about,” basketball game.” she said. “I wanted to take Hanvy began the song’s it to my limit. I wanted to first line solo, and the explore that part of me other voices each sang and that side of me, so that a line before joining in when I did graduate in four two-part, then four-part years, I could say that I took harmony. They sang the everything to my utmost national anthem in front of potential and have no more than 77,000 people IN HARMONY: Tar Heel fencer Sarah Hanvy received the nerve-racking assignment of regrets.” in University of Phoenix leading off the national anthem in front of a crowd of 77,612 at the Final Four in Phoenix.

While her fencing and Stadium and more than 16 academic schedule didn’t allow Hanvy to sing with a group on campus, million at home—a far cry from Duke’s Card Gym. “I thought it went really her singing background did come in handy two years ago at Duke. Before well,” she said. “I think it was good that there were four girls, because it all a meet at Card Gym, the recording of the national anthem wasn’t working. kind of meshed together a little bit easier.”

“I was like, ‘This is my opportunity,’” she said. “The Duke coach didn’t know After the singing concluded, Hanvy was free to watch Carolina in the Final I could sing, so he very begrudgingly handed me the microphone and Four. While two of the other student-athletes had to return home because looked to the sky, like, ‘Please let this be OK,’ and it turned out fine,” Hanvy they were still in season, Sarah joined her boyfriend Jarrod Thomas as a recalled. “This past year they had one of the girls on their team do it, but spectator. “There’s no way I was missing a Carolina national championship,” she was a little under the weather, so kind of last minute he asked me to she said. “You would have had to drag me clawing off the floor.” do it again.”

A two-time captain of the fencing team and a four-time NCAA That experience in Durham led to March 31 in Phoenix. When Carolina Regionals qualifier in women’s sabre, Hanvy will graduate in May with made the Elite Eight with a win over Butler, Hanvy began emailing within a double major in archeology and exercise and sport science. She will the athletic department. Two days later, after Luke Maye’s shot over enroll in physical therapy school at Campbell in January.

Kentucky sent the Tar Heels to Phoenix, she was asked to submit an Fencing brought Sarah Hanvy to Carolina, and in Chapel Hill she had audition video. “The Star-Spangled Banner” is not an easy song to sing. It the opportunity to be a student-athlete, competing at a high level, and spans an octave and a half and is a challenge for even the most seasoned then sing the national anthem at the Final Four. voices. “Singers practice it all the time, because it has such a low range and “I’ve learned a lot of powerful lessons that you might not always get in then a high range,” Hanvy said. “I’d never sung it by myself before (at Duke).” college,” she said. “I grew a lot as a person emotionally and mentally, and But she submitted her video and crossed her fingers. “And then from I really don’t think I would have had that experience if I hadn’t come to all the videos they received, they picked one,” she said. She found out Carolina.”

ramsclub.com 39

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ramsclub.com 41

FIRST PERSON

I

“A perfect ending”

I shed tears of joy instead of tears of devastation the first and my opinion will never change—Coach Williams is the best Monday night of April. A great group of young men worked so at running a program, THIS program, EVER. hard to allow a university and an entire fan base to experience Fortunately I have been an assistant coach for the three the thrills of winning another national title. national titles under Coach Williams. In 2005, it happened so Over a year ago, I was extremely disappointed in myself. fast and was surprising. It was my first season as an assistant Villanova was my scout and I believe our guys did everything coach and it was a blur. In 2009, the team made that run look they could to win that game. In the easy and it was enjoyable to sit back and aftermath, I realized I could have done watch. more to help them. I recruited Marcus This year was so fulfilling for many and Brice and I wanted them to go out on reasons. All of our players got much “Eighteen years ago Coach top. I have not been able to shed those better from the end of last season to feelings. I know I cannot do anything now. All of them took on bigger roles Williams offered me a job. about the past and I hoped for a chance and accepted their role. They all bought Gonzaga was my last night to give it another shot. Another scouting in to accomplish their dreams. We had working for him, my last scout. The our guys we could depend on and we report for redemption!

Time moved on and we went back to had different guys step up when needed. guys gave ME another chance! work. The offseason, recruiting, camps, So many great games and memories I was not going to let anything conditioning, etc. Every returning player to last a lifetime. That is what Carolina got to work sooner than normal in the distract me from doing everything basketball brings to many! hopes to get back and give it another Eighteen years ago Coach Williams possible in preparation to win try in 2017. Phoenix was the destination offered me a job. Gonzaga was my last the National Championship. and finishing the job was going to drive night working for him, my last scout. The We all know the outcome – everyone within the program. We were guys gave ME another chance! I was not going to have ups and downs throughout going to let anything distract me from REDEMPTION!” the season—who doesn’t? A championship doing everything possible in preparation focus kept everyone on track through the entire journey. Our to win the National Championship. We all know the outcome nucleus of players returned and so did our toughness with a – REDEMPTION! renewed determination.

Thank you 2017 UNC basketball team. Thank you fans.

We flew under the radar, an afterthought by all the experts THANK YOU COACH! (?) to accomplish all we did. Our players were hungry to prove everyone wrong. And they worked as a team, with the staff and individually to make sure they would have no regrets when our season came to an end. I have never been more proud of a bunch of kids/young men in my life. I refer to them as kids because they love to have fun. They are young men because of their maturation and the class in which they represent themselves, family, program and university.

This group was tight. They loved each other. They wanted success for each other. Isaiah Hicks was just as happy Luke C.B. MCGRATH Men’s Basketball, 2003-17 Maye hit the game winner against Kentucky as Luke was himself. It was perfect mix of talent and personalities. They covered each others’ weaknesses and enabled their strengths to be displayed.

They were coachable and led by the perfect leader—the one who could navigate the team through the season. Use the right words at the right moments to make sure everyone would not forget the feeling they experienced after the shot. Do it without putting too much pressure on the team. I am extremely biased

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BORN & BRED

“

June 2017

CAROLINA INSIDER PODCAST HOSTED BY JONES ANGELL AND ADAM LUCAS

POWERED BY

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