The Concordian

The North Carolina Tar Heels are the 2009 Men’s College Basketball champions after easily defeating Michigan State 89-72 on Monday night. The game was never close as UNC pulled out to a 21 point lead at the half 55-34 to give the Tar Heels the biggest lead and point total for a first half in tournament history.

The win was North Carolina’s 5th in their history, and the win was a rematch from during the regular season in which UNC breezed to a 98-63 victory back on December 3rd.

The Michigan State Spartons are now 0-5 all time in the NCAA tournament versus UNC, and Wayne Ellington was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player after scoring 19 points in the win.

North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams won his 2nd title in 7 Final Four appearances.

The North Carolina Tar Heels path to the National Championship began by defeating Radford 101-58 in the first round. In the 2^nd round UNC defeated LSU 84-70. In the Sweet 16 UNC would get on by Gonzaga 98-77. In the Elite Eight UNC would defeat Oklahoma 72-60, and in the Final Four UNC would defeat Villanova 83-69 before easily defeating Michigan State 89-72 to win the National Championship.

Michigan State may have lost the National Championship but their road to the championship game was a tough one as they defeated Robert Morris in the First Round 77-62. MSU followed up that win with a 74-69 win over USC to reach the Sweet 16. In the Sweet 16 Michigan State would defeat the 2008 National Champion Kansas 67-62 to reach the Elite Eight where they would defeat Louisville 64-52. In the Final Four Michigan State would face Connecticut winning 82-73 which then led to the National Championship game where UNC would defeat MSU.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) and North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue (D) made a friendly wager on the NCAA Championship game, as the loser would have to be photographed wearing the opposing teams colors after the game and would have to eat a local delicacy from the opposing state. If Michigan State wins Perdue would have to eat Michigan sausages and cherries, and if North Carolina wins Granholm would have to eat North Carolina based Krispy Kreme doughnuts. With North Carolina winning the Michigan Governor gets to eat the Krispy Kreme doughnuts

The University of Memphis has named Assistant Coach Josh Pastner as their new Head Coach replacing John Calipari who left Memphis a week ago to become the new Head Coach at Kentucky. Sean Miller the Head Coach at Xavier has been named the new Head Coach at Arizona.

Washington State has named Ken Bone as their new Head Coach replacing Tony Bennett who left last week to become the Men’s Basketball coach at Virginia.

Leonard Hamilton has agreed to a five year extension with Florida State to keep Hamilton in Tallahassee. Hamilton led Florida State to a 5th seed in the NCAA tourney before being upset by 12th seeded Wisconsin in the first round.

In the Women’s NCAA College Basketball tournament the #1 seeded Connecticut Huskies will look to go for perfection as they 38-0 Huskies face 3rd seeded and 34-4 Louisville for the National Championship on Tuesday night. The two Big East opponents met twice during the regular season with UConn winning 93-65 at home, and winning 75-36 in the Big East Conference Championship game. Time will tell if the 3^rd time will be the charm for Louisville or will Connecticut finish the season at 39-0.

Connecticut got to the championship game after taking down Stanford 83- 64 in the Final Four, while Louisville barely squeaked on by Oklahoma for the 61-59 upset to put them into the championship game.

The 2009 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class was announced and was led by Michael Jordon. Jordon one of the best basketball players of all time won 6 NBA titles for the Chicago Bulls in a 15 year career that also included a two year stint with the Washington Wizards at the end of his career. David Robinson was also announced in the Hall of Fame class, he won two NBA titles in his 14 year career all with the San Antonio Spurs. John Stockton who is the NBA all time assists leader at 15,806 was also chosen. Stockton led the Utah Jazz to two NBA Finals falling both times to the Chicago Bulls, and Stockton would play his entire career for Utah. Utah Jazz Head Coach Jerry Sloan and Rutgers University Women’s Head Coach Vivian Stringer were the other candidates in this years Hall of Fame Class.

Dallas Mavericks PG Jason Kidd recorded his 10,142^nd career assist on Sunday passing Magic Johnson on the NBA all time list, and by next season should pass Mark Jackson for 2nd at 10,334 with John Stockton the career leader at 15,806.

The San Antonio Spurs got some bad news as they have lost Manu Ginobili for the rest of the season after injuring his right ankle, and in the process puts a damper on the Spurs championship chances.

The Detroit Pistons have lost All Star SG Allen Iverson for the rest of the season with a back injury which will hurt the Pistons chances in the Eastern Conference.

Los Angeles Clippers Forward Zach Randolph has been suspended for two games following his arrest for a DUI.

The Washington Wizards who are the last place team in the Eastern Conference finally had Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood in the lineup together for the first time all season on Thursday night and the Wizards were able to upset the best team in the NBA in the Cleveland Cavilers 109-101. The Wizards win snapped the Cavilers 13 game winning streak.

Key games in the NBA this week starts with the 49- 27 San Antonio Spurs hosting the 48-28 Portland Trail Blazers tonight at 7:00pm, the 42-35 Phoenix Suns look to get back into the playoff picture versus the 47-29 New Orleans Hornets at 8:00pm and the 47-30 Utah Jazz face the 46-31 Dallas Mavericks. Tomorrow night the 52-26 Denver Nuggets will face the Western Conference leading 61-16 Los Angeles Lakers at 10:30pm.

For any questions, comments, compliments, and complaints email me at stantonm11@concord.edu

Also for some other sports related information and updates go to twitter.com/mike_stanton

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