If Virginia and Tony Bennett win the 2019 NCAA title, they’ll do so in part by tapping into an ACC tradition of benefiting from timely fluke plays.
When Dean Smith finally won a national championship in 1982 after six fruitless visits to the Final Four, his North Carolina squad was benefited by a fortuitous break in the final minute of a 63-62 victory. In that case, after freshman Michael Jordan hit a go-ahead jumper with 17 seconds to go, with the ball and a chance to win Georgetown guard Fred Brown passed not to a teammate but directly to James Worthy of UNC.