The North Carolina Tar Heels are the 2009 National Champions.

Thanks for a great year, guys.  I’m going to miss this team.

The North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team plays for the national championship on Monday, having put away a very good team from Villanova last night.  I’ve been a Tar Heel fan for many decades.  But I’ve never enjoyed a group of players as much as I do this team.  Obviously, the team gets strong leadership and support from a great group of juniors, including Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Deon Thompson.  But this senior class–Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor, Marcus Ginyard, and Mike Copeland–is an historically special group.

How good is this group of seniors?

• They have won at least 30 games three seasons in a row–first time in Carolina history.
• They have won 100 games in three seasons–first time in Carolina history.
• They have won 123 games in four seasons–tied for best in Carolina history.  The senior class needs one more win–just one more–to make them the winningest class in Carolina history.
• Danny Green has played in 122 wins–more than any other player in Carolina history.
• Tyler Hansbrough has scored more points than any player in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference and more free throws than any player in the history of college basketball.
• The senior class has won three regular season ACC titles and two ACC tournament championships.
• They have won four times at Duke.

The only thing this group of seniors has not done is play for a national championship.  They now get to do this on Monday.

About Monday’s game, Danny Green said:  “It’s our last game.  We have nothing else to play for.”

In 2005, Tyler Hansbrough was a senior in high school, signed on to play college basketball for the University of North Carolina.  On April 4 of that year, he sat in the stands as a fan and watched North Carolina beat a fantastic team from the University of Illinois to win the national title.

After the Villanova win last night, Hansbrough said, “I remember watching all the excitement afterwards.  I talked to Marvin and Sean and Jackie and I saw how much winning the championship changed their life. It was exciting to be in high school and know I was walking into that kind of program. I’ve thought about what it would be like to do that myself. A night like that has been on my mind ever since I’ve been at Carolina.”

Monday night is this North Carolina senior class’s opportunity for a “night like that.”

And now it’s time to get very serious about Tar Heel basketball.  

North Carolina plays Oklahoma today, a school that’s been on my personal radar all year.  I don’t think of it as the Hansbrough-Griffin game–more like the Carolina-Griffin game, as Oklahoma has relied on Blake Griffin for most of its offense this year.  Their freshman point guard, Willie Warren, is good but no Ty Lawson. Tony Crocker can have big games (like he did against Syracuse), but Wayne Ellington should be able to keep him under control.  Taylor Griffin brings senior maturity to an otherwise pretty young team.  

Carolina should win this game.  Carolina has more offensive power than Oklahoma, and they’ve been playing excellent team basketball so far in the tournament.  Oklahoma has two players who average in the double-figures; Carolina has five.  Oklahoma tends to turn the ball over, and Carolina is terrific in transition.  However, it will take strong defensive play for 40 minutes and solid games from Hansbrough, Ellington, Lawson, and Green to get past this Oklahoma team.  When those four click at the same time, Carolina can’t be beat.  Thompson and Davis both also will need to play hard underneath, and Frasor will need to bring his high-energy defense.

One interesting stat comparison worth watching in this game:  Hansbrough shoots 86% from the free throw line; Blake Griffin shoots 60%.  Griffin actually gets to the foul line more often than Hansbrough, but Hansbrough makes more free throws.

We’re at that point in the season where every possession matters, and watching a game like this is like watching the final 30 seconds for 2 hours.  It’s exhausting.

And I love it.