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North Carolina Tar Heels: 2005 vs 1993, Bracket Challenge

By John Woodcock

Apr 1, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Tyler Ennis (11) drives to the basket past Los Angeles Clippers guard Raymond Felton (2) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 115-104. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Tyler Ennis (11) drives to the basket past Los Angeles Clippers guard Raymond Felton (2) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 115-104. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 1, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Tyler Ennis (11) drives to the basket past Los Angeles Clippers guard Raymond Felton (2) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 115-104. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Tyler Ennis (11) drives to the basket past Los Angeles Clippers guard Raymond Felton (2) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 115-104. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

The North Carolina Tar Heels Final Four Bracket Challenge continues with some personal favorites, 2005 taking on 1993.

Last time in the North Carolina Tar Heels Final Four Bracket Challenge I committed sacrilege. I allowed the 2016 team to defeat the mythic 1957 team in the third round. I am trying to get away from that being a problem by moving on to the next game and hoping no one notices.

That game features two teams near and dear to my heart. The 1993 Tar Heels were the first Tar Heels national championship that I witnessed as a living person. Naturally they played the Michigan Wolverines, who employed my uncle at the time. It is not my first college basketball memory – I remember J.R. Reid and Scott Williams and the Laettner shot against Kentucky was also seared into mind, but it is the first time I seriously followed the NCAA Tournament in its entirety. It was first year I filled out a bracket (as the games progressed, not as a predictive tool).

The other team in this matchup is the 2005 team. I was a UNC freshman in 2001 and was not certain if I was witnessing the end of Carolina basketball with the 8-20 team. Our biggest basketball related dorm event was pulling for Indiana to beat Duke that year. Imagine my relief as Roy Williams took over and then the team won the title while I was just about to leave campus. We also switched from Coke to my preferred Pepsi that same year.

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Even now, I remember the celebration of the 2005 title as a huge moment of relief that I had somehow pulled them through their close run game with Illinois. I had seen Sean May on crutches in Greenlaw in 2002. I had seen Raymond Felton in person (he was not his listed 6’1”) also near Greenlaw. I once saw Coach Williams and Marvin Williams walking near South Building talking to each other. The 2005 title is very personal to me, which is why I have been sweating out the academic scandal that threatened to take it away.

For these two teams to face each other is a personal nightmare, which is why I am glad my simulator has me covered.

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