2017-North Carolina

Redemption was the name of the game. North Carolina’s heartbreaking defeat in 2016 left a bad taste in their mouth. Once again crushing every team leading up to the Elite Eight, The Tar Heels were playing with a chip on their shoulder. Villanova suffered a surprising Round of 32 upset to Wisconsin, so there would be no National Championship rematch. After inching by #2 Kentucky and #1 Oregon, the Tar Heels would finally get to try and avenge their previous loss in the Final. They would face the small conference-scrappy-upstart-we’re all just a kid from somewhere-Gonzaga Bulldogs for the Championship.

 

As the dust settled the Tar Heels were too much to match and they finally got their redemption winning the Championship 71-65. Every Tar Heel stepped up in the clutch moments throughout the tournament to solidify their place in history such as Luke Maye’s unsuspecting game winner against Kentucky, Kennedy Meeks’ block party against Oregon or Joel Berry’s scoring barrage in the National Championship.

 

There is also that clip of Luke Kennard looking like a disappointed 90s after school special bully who fell down after a bounce pass through the legs by the protagonist (probably named Scooter) during Duke’s loss to South Carolina, so overall it was a pretty good tourney for Tar Heels fans.