Sifting through the wreckage

Carolina destroyed Michigan State to win the school's 5th national championship. Don't be fooled, the game wasn't as close as that 89-72 final might indicate. I said it on our post-game show, and I'll say it again. Michigan State looked good during the national anthem. After that, it was all downhill.

When you (MSU) are trying to beat your third #1 seed in the tournament, and run into a focused bunch that dropped a title game record 55 on you in the first half, and laid a 35 point beating at your feet in December, the anthem was about all you had.

How good were the Tar Heels? Well, they won all 6 of their tourney games by no fewer than 12 points. Start there.

The outgoing seniors are the winningest class in school history (124-22). The names to the books: Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor and Mike Copeland. They replace Quentin Thomas who had 123 over his career.

I could go on, but in the end, the Heels were just too dominant for any band of mere mortals to contain.

Congratulations to "cadenjosie", winner of the Sports Night Blog Bracket Challenge. 12 of the 33 that played had UNC winning it all, but "cadenjosie"had enough correct picks in the previous rounds to earn the title of "Blognosticator Extraordinaire." Note to the winner: send me an e-mail so we can square you away on whatever we can dig up in the News 14 prize closet.

Thanks for playing, reading, and watching News 14 Carolina!

Mike Solarte