Lucas: March 23 flashback

By Adam Lucas

There were other games on March 23, but you simply can't find one with more long-term resonance than the 1957 championship game. By now, the story is well-known, as Lennie Rosenbluth and the Tar Heels capped an undefeated 32-0 season with a triple-overtime victory over Wilt Chamberlain's Kansas team.

The victory—in the Jayhawks' backyard of Kansas City—was Carolina's first national championship. It forever cemented Joe Quigg's two free throws in the third overtime as some of the biggest shots in program history (he swished two free throws that took the Tar Heels from down one point to up one point with six seconds remaining).

But the game's most long-lasting impact might have come back at home on Tobacco Road, when virtually everyone who was alive in 1957 can tell you where they were and what they were doing when Frank McGuire's team won the championship. Both Final Four games were broadcast on television back in the Triangle, a novelty at that time, and families gathered for one of the first examples of event television.

In Kansas City, it seemed like little more than a normal basketball game to the members of the team, as the Tar Heels had trouble finding a restaurant open for their postgame meal. Some players didn't even bother to call their parents, not wanting to disturb them late at night.

The first inkling of what they'd done came when the team flight arrived back at Raleigh-Durham airport. Nearly 15,000 fans had gathered to welcome them home, a crowd more than double the capacity of Woollen Gym, where the Tar Heels had played their home games during the championship season (only eight of Carolina's 32 victories that year were played at Woollen; they recorded seven wins at NC State's Reynolds Coliseum).

You can still catch Rosenbluth in the stands at the Smith Center for many home games, and point guard Tom Kearns celebrated the impact of being a Tar Heel on his life with a significant recent donation to the Rams Club.

Also on March 23

1995: Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse and Allen Iverson on the court together in an NCAA Tournament regional semifinal? Sounds like an instant classic, but Carolina's 74-64 win over Georgetown is often overlooked. Wallace scored 22 points and Donald Williams had 20 as the second-seeded Tar Heels dispatched the sixth-seeded Hoyas.

1997: Louisville went on a furious second-half rally that cut a twenty point Carolina lead to three. In a timeout, Dean Smith told his team, "Well, they might catch up and win, but we've had a great season." The reverse psychology inspired his team, with Ademola Okulaja vocally disagreeing and leading the Tar Heels back onto the court, where they won, 97-74. It sent Carolina to the Final Four and was Smith's 879^th and last victory.

2007: An underrated Tar Heel NCAA comeback, as Carolina was down 16 points in the second half to Southern Cal, but came back to win with an 18-0 run. The fifth-seeded Trojans were up 49-33 with 17:42 left in the game but Carolina won, 74-64. Brandan Wright had 21 points and nine rebounds. The postgame column from that day was about the comeback, of course, and about how everyone (including Woody Durham) contributed.

2008: One of the peak examples of how good this team could be, as the Tar Heels utterly dismantled ninth-seeded Arkansas with a 108-77 win. Wayne Ellington led the way with 20 points and Ty Lawson had 19 points and seven assists. The lead was 51-26 at halftime. Here's the postgame column from that day in Raleigh, on Marcus Ginyard's defense against Sonny Weems.

2012: In the first game without Kendall Marshall, the powerful 2012 Tar Heels needed overtime to subdue Ohio. The postgame column was about Reggie Bullock's key contributions.

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