Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 7, 1993 TAG: 9304070035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium
UNC RISES TO TOP IN AN ODD SEASON
Did you hear about the new bumper sticker on sale in a place called Blue Heaven?"If God isn't a Tar Heel, then why'd he make Chris Webber call that last timeout?"
The finish to North Carolina's NCAA championship victory Monday night - the third in a row and fourth in 11 years for the ACC's Tobacco Road - was a defining moment for the 1992-93 basketball season.
While it was deja blue in the Superdome - where UNC clinched coach Dean Smith's first title 11 years earlier on a Georgetown gaffe - for repeat runner-up Michigan it was too much of a rerun, too.
"It feels the same, exactly the same," Webber said quietly.
"We blew it," said Wolverines forward Ray Jackson.
Probably, but it was another title game that had just more than the Tar Heels' bench men - who were reacting to Smith's 37 second-half substitutions - jumping off their seats.
Then, in the final 45 seconds of the season, North Carolina's Brian Reese stepped out of bounds with the ball, Michigan's Jalen Rose gunned an ill-timed 22-footer and official Ed Hightower, one of the nation's best, missed the call when Webber started to dance a few seconds before he really stopped the music.
"Strange," Jackson said.
Was that devilish Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, that CBS moonlighter, waving a Carolina blue pompon toward his rival Tar Heels fans after the title game?
Yes, it's been that kind of season.
California coach Lou Campanelli lost his cool, then lost his job. The Golden Bears then reached the Sweet 16, where replacement coach Todd Bozeman showed he may have as large a chip on his shoulder as his old boss.
Bobby Cremins gave up a good coaching job at Georgia Tech to return to his alma mater. Then he looked in the mirror and at the toxicity of South Carolina's program since he graduated - and went back to Georgia Tech.
For the first time in 15 years, the NCAA Tournament was played without John Thompson's Hoyas.
Syracuse - after 10 straight visits - stayed home on probation, but the Orangemen's presence in the Big East Tournament probably cost that league an NCAA bid.
Nevada-Las Vegas wasn't back in the NCAA, although the Rebels managed to keep their sordid reputation intact. And even without his tutor's help, J.R. Rider got high marks in winning the slam-dunk championship Sunday night.
East Carolina became the first team with a losing record in the NCAA in seven years.
The Atlantic 10 was down to eight teams but got half of them in the field. The Big Eight had six bids and didn't take long to show that was too many.
Indiana didn't reach the Final Four and almost didn't make the Sweet 16. Xavier nearly X'ed out Bobby Knight's Hoosiers in their backyard, to which losing coach Pete Gillen remarked, "When he enters the Hoosier Dome, it's like watching Moses part the Red Sea."
Maybe, after all of that, this season needed an extra timeout.
On the final night, however, the best team from the best conference this year was the best. While coach Steve Fisher's smartest team fouled up at the finish, Carolina didn't foul period.
UNC's 10 personal fouls were the fewest for a championship participant in 22 years. Even had Webber not called the fateful timeout, the Tar Heels could have hacked their way to the title. They still had three fouls to give in the last 11 seconds before Michigan reached the bonus.
Smith had a dominating team this season - outscoring opponents by an 18-point average. There's no reason to think they will be any less imposing next year.
Smith joined Knight, Krzyzewski and Louisville's Denny Crum among active coaches with at least two NCAA titles. Fisher - if there is no NBA subtraction from the sophomore Fab Five, as expected - could join that list next season.
Carolina has been a No. 1 or 2 seed in the tournament 11 times in 15 years. The national championship is no accident.
"It's something we set out to do every year, win the national championship," Smith said. "I'm pleased we've been a national contender over a number of years. It is exciting to say, `It's over. We won it.'
"We might not be the best team, but we're the champions. I've often said that to win you have to be lucky and good."