NEW ORLEANS — Limping, battered, exhausted, North Carolina kept coming. The Tar Heels were down, they were up—way up—and they were down again. But they refused to submit, unkillable basketball zombies.
Until, in the end, their bodies finally gave out.
Kansas, very good and very lucky in this tournament, prevailed 72–69 to win the national title. It wasn’t over until a Caleb Love three-pointer over Christian Braun went wide left of the rim in the final seconds, hitting the backboard almost precisely where Davidson guard Jason Richards did on the last shot against the Jayhawks in the 2008 Midwest Regional final—the last time Kansas won it all.