Look, I get the “UNC’s playing with house money” take, and it’s probably the right one to have, but that doesn’t change the fact that none of us wanted this. It’s been not quite an entire century since the NCAA Tournament became a thing, and nearly half a century since at-large bids became a thing, and somehow, two of college basketball’s most consistently good programs in the last 50 years have never run into each other. Meanwhile, just in the last decade, UNC’s run into Kentucky, UCLA, Indiana, Kansas, Villanova, and Gonzaga, a couple of them multiple times.
A fandom agreement ahead of Saturday’s game
