Barring something unforeseen, there will be one very big difference between Friday’s regional semifinal matching Carolina and Indiana in Philadelphia and the national championship game 35 years earlier in the same city: in the hours leading up to the game, both sides will be certain the game is going to be played.
That wasn’t the case in 1981, when the Tar Heels and Hoosiers were slated to meet for the national title on March 30. It was supposed to be a marquee matchup. Carolina was ranked second in the country and led by sophomore standout James Worthy and senior star Al Wood, who was coming off a 39-point, 10-rebound performance against top-ranked Virginia in the national semifinals.