After fifty-three fouls, thirty-two turnovers and nearly three hours of real time, the first No. 1 seed finally went down: there will be no title defense for the Baylor Bears. In the end, maybe that wasn’t all that surprising: they’d led the game for just two minutes and 34 seconds and at one point had trailed North Carolina by 25, but here they were in overtime anyway, having clawed all the way back through a cavalcade of physical play, Tar Heels user error and inconsistent officiating.
It was No. 8 seed Carolina that ultimately sealed a memorable 93–86 win, doing its best to topple Baylor with hot shooting early before pivoting directly into disarray.