PHILADELPHIA — It was always a part of the plan.
It had to be.
Houston or bust. Houston or it was a failure. Houston or it was a collegiate legacy left unfulfilled by this class of seniors.
It was a mountain of pressure, heaping higher and higher as the season went on, often keeping coach Roy Williams up at nights
Entering the senior seasons of Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson, North Carolina had nothing to show for the last four years. Not an ACC Championship, National Championship or a Final Four.
Their individual names would be in the record books, but that wasn’t enough.
No, for the Tar Heels to feel accomplished, there needed to be a physical reminder of the team’s legacy, one that would hang in the rafters of the Smith Center alongside mementos of other unforgettable teams.
The Tar Heels got one banner in Washington, D.C. But that ACC Tournament Championship wasn’t enough. They wanted more — and they needed more — to validate the careers of Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige and to heal their coach and program from the cuts and the black eyes that have defined the last four years.
“I’ve never wanted anything in my life for someone else as much as I wanted to get this bunch to the Final Four,” said Williams. “I’m corny, I’m old-fashioned. I’m anything you want to say, but fortunately for me I was very lucky I’ve had some big-time players.”
And with a 88-74 win against No. 6 seed Notre Dame (24-12) in the East Regional Final, Williams and his players are bound for the Houston-hosted Final Four for the first time since 2009 and 19th time in program history.
“It’s been a tough four years in Chapel Hill,” said Paige, wearing his black and gold Final Four hat on his head and freshly cut net around his neck. “But to come out on top, and with this group, you know how much scrutiny we’ve gotten, even as a 1 seed how many people have doubted us to either not make it out of the first weekend and not being tough enough to win the ACC. A lot of people didn’t even have us in the Final Four, a lot of the experts.
“So to do that with this group, we love Coach and Coach loves us. And we don’t want it ever to stop. So I think it’s been a special ride.”
With 34 seconds left in the game, leading by 16, Paige gathered his teammates on the court before Johnson, named the East Regional Most Outstanding Player with 84 points and 39 rebounds in four games, stepped up to the free throw line.
Thanks to a whopping 61.5 percent shooting percentage — the most by UNC in all 26 regional finals — in 34 seconds UNC (32-6) would be on its way to Texas.
It was almost too much for the senior, and he struggled to keep his composure on the floor. But as the team’s leader and heartbeat for four years, Paige calmed himself and his teammates.
“With about 30 seconds left, I started feeling it,” said Paige, who scored 13 points Sunday and was named to the All-Regional team. “I got emotional. Just starting to think back on how long these four years have been, how much we’ve been through good and bad. All of the times, this is what makes it all worth it. You go through all this, every player dreams of being in the Final Four and now here we are. I don’t even know if it’s hit me yet.”
When the postseason started, only one Tar Heel on the team — Stilman White — had ever played in an NCAA regional final. To achieve their ultimate goal of reaching the Final Four, the Tar Heels had to first surpass the milestones of the past four years and make it to the Elite Eight.
Obviously reaching Philadelphia was a crucial step, but it wasn’t the goal. Not by a long shot. It’s merely a stop in the road to the ultimate goal, the ultimate validation needed around a program and a university so marred by the actions of the past.
“It wasn’t about Philadelphia,” Williams said. “It was about moving on.”
And that’s just what the Tar Heels are doing. With losses by Kansas, Oregon and Virginia, UNC is the lone one seed standing in a field of No. 2 seeds Villanova and Oklahoma and No. 10 seed Syracuse.
But even as UNC reaches one goal, there’s still more up ahead.
“It’s almost a storybook,” Paige said. “It’s getting there. We’ve got a little bit of work left, but the book is filling up. We’ve just got to write the last couple of chapters.”