Kennedy Meeks and Justin Jackson put the Tar Heels on their shoulders tonight as Meeks scored 25 points and pulled down 14 rebounds while Jackson added 22 points, including some key three pointers from the corner to extend the Tar Heels’ lead.   But there was no quit in the Ducks, and it got exciting.

First, Jordan Bell hit a layup to cut the lead to 75-71 with just 1:18 left in the game.  Theo Pinson drove hard to the basket off a rebound, drew a foul and hit both free throws to extend the lead to 6.    Then, Bell pulled down a big offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to Tyler Dorsey, who cut the lead to 3 with a three-pointer with 46 seconds left.

So, the Ducks decide to play defense – and they do a great job, forcing a missed drive by Pinson.   Jordan Bell fell to the ground in getting the rebound and realizing the Ducks had no time-outs somehow managed to get the ball to a teammate as the Tar Heels tried to swarm him to get a jump ball.   But when UNC closed in on the three-point line, Oregon decided to cut the lead as Dylan Ennis found Keith Smith under the basket for an easy layup to make it a 1 point game with just 6 seconds left.

But that decision meant now the Ducks had to foul.    They forced the ball in Kennedy Meeks hands – and while Meeks had been dominating in the lane, he is not the best free throw shooter.   Add the pressure of a chance to play for the National Championship, and amazingly, Meeks missed both free throws.   But somehow, Theo Pinson slapped the ball out and into the hands of Joel Berry II.

Berry is an 80% free throw shooter, and so normally the guy you want having the ball.   But Berry had been fighting an ankle injury all night and had shot horribly from the field.   And even if Berry makes the free throws, there is still 4 seconds for Oregon to have a chance to tie the game.   But Berry misses the first free throw short, and the suspense in the arena continued to build.   No one would expect that Berry’s second free throw would be off the back of the rim, but somehow, Kennedy Meeks stepped in, jumped over everyone to get the rebound, and quickly kicked the ball back outside so that the Tar Heels could run out the rest of the clock.

That’s right, the Tar Heels missed 4 free throws in the last 6 seconds of the game, and yet Oregon never got the ball to try to take the game winning shot.    Tar Heels fans can now exhale and breathe again.   Your team hung on for a 77-76 victory and will be playing for the National Championship.

So, we have mid-major West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga in their first ever Final Four trying to show that they are no longer Cinderella as they were in the late 90s – they are now a national program to be dealt with.    And we have power 6 Atlantic Coast Conference champion North Carolina in their 20th Final Four (the most by any program) chasing after their 6th national championship (7th if you count the one from 1924 before the NCAA Tournament existed).   They were 4 seconds away from forcing overtime last year, and now, they have a chance at redemption to claim the championship that eluded them.     Should be a great championship game on Monday night!!!!!