NEW ORLEANS -- A few minutes before midnight in the loading area outside the Caesars Superdome, the police motorcycles roared their engines to life. The flashing lights highlighted the front seats of the North Carolina men's basketball team bus, which illuminated the emotion of a strange night.
UNC star big man Armando Bacot sat in the first seat behind the charter bus driver, his hobbled right ankle in a boot. UNC coach Hubert Davis stared ahead in silence, chomping on his gum and rubbing his forehead in seeming disbelief.
UNC had just squandered a 16-point lead in the NCAA championship game, falling to Kansas 72-69 amid a spiral of cascading calamities for the biggest blown lead in tournament final history.