Gonzaga, North Carolina preparing for national title game

He’s been way more aggressive this year, which we need him to be (on) defensive rebounding. North Carolina’s back in the title-game for the second straight year, hungry to avenge last year’s heartbreaking loss to Villanova at the buzzer.

OR struggled shooting from the perimeter and gave up two offensive rebounds on missed free throws in the final 6 seconds, leading to a disheartening 77-76 loss to North Carolina in the Final Four on Saturday night.

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North Carolina led the entire second half and appeared poised, time after time, for a knockout of the never-say-die Ducks (32-7). The Tar Heels, of course, knocked Gonzaga out of the tournament that year, beating them by 22, and went on to win a national championship over Michigan State. At that point, it seemed like the only thing that stood between Gonzaga and an undefeated regular season would be some sort of unexpected stumble at the conference tournament in Las Vegas.

“I just knew that we had to be aggressive in the paint”, Meeks said. He received plenty of encouragement on social media, too. This time Joel Berry III stepped to the line. Of Meeks’ 14 total rebounds, eight were offensive boards, to go along with 25 points.

The play of the bigs was major factor in Saturday’s semifinal results. “And, you know, we just heard everything this year”. The average college student in the dorms doesn’t have his or her mistakes parsed and condemned by a national television audience. The screensaver on Theo Pinson’s cellphone shows him sitting with a towel over his head, minutes after Jenkins’ shot went through.

After such a great first game of the Final Four, you would be hard pressed to think North Carolina and OR could do better-but they did.

The Gamecocks took control of the tempo but nothing else, as they pulled the trigger too quickly, too often on shots and were outscored 14-5 to go into intermission down 45-36. Either was far from a fait accompli. The Tar Heels average 15.8 offensive rebounds per game, tops in the nation.

Williams shook that label in his second season at North Carolina, winning it all in 2004-05 and then came back with another title in 2008-09. It was just hurting and I’m just fighting through it. “That was what was weird about it”. Then Collins got the ball at the top of the key.

“I said, ‘I appreciate it”.

No, Bell was caught off guard. “[Meeks] shot it, and I wasn’t ready”. Fortunately for UNC, the timing has worked out just fine. Whether it’s lighting Xavier up for 83 points or playing a slow, physical game and grinding out a win over SC. The Zags saw a 14-point lead evaporate in a SC flurry and traded punches with the Gamecocks over the tense closing minutes. And five times altogether, playing for the NCAA championship. Silva, a sophomore, is an athletic, dynamic scorer who led the team with 51 blocks.

OR (33-6) shot 37.9 percent, including 7 of 26 from behind the arc. He was one of the main reasons that Gonzaga regrouped after blowing a 14-point second half lead to beat SC 77-73. That drove them all summer, Pinson said, getting guys eagerly out of bed for the 7 a.m. weight sessions they used to dread. His first made basket was a 3-pointer with 16:52 left in the second that cut the Carolina lead to 46-41. The Ducks received little production from Dillon Brooks, who shot 2-for-11 with five turnovers before fouling out. The Gonzaga Bulldogs are shooting 38.1 percent from beyond the arc and 71.9 percent from the free throw line.

“To be successful in our game is about taking things away from people and they do a terrific job of taking things away”, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “It was lost before that”, said Brooks.

North Carolina’s most effective offensive weapon is a made field goal. It will just take a while for us to get through and get rid of some of this hurt.

“There’s definitely some great teams with one-and-dones and stuff like that”, Jackson said. Unfairly, it will be remembered as Bell’s blunder alone.

It’s one of the more intriguing matchups for an NCAA Tournament final in recent memory. He fought through the crying to answer every question.