Hobbled Berry plays through pain for UNC in Final Four win

“If I, Roy Williams could only pick one thing, I would always pick rebounding as the most significant factor in determining who wins the game”.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs (37-1) or the North Carolina Tar Heels (32-7), both of whom survived bruising Final Four semifinal battles Saturday night?

Meeks matched his career high with 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, the last to preserve the victory after the last of North Carolina’s four missed free throws in the final 6 seconds.

Nine players average at least 14 minutes per game for the Tar Heels, and four players score at least 12 points a game.

The Tar Heels’ loss to Villanova set the course for the 2016-17 season.

Gonzaga head coach Mark Few reacts during the second half in the semifinals of the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament against South Carolina, Saturday, April 1, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz.

The 7-foot big man had 14 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocks in 23 minutes off the bench and made a huge three-pointer down the stretch to put the Bulldogs ahead for good late in the second half.

“I’m coaching a new group of kids”, Williams said.

The national championship game will be played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Monday at 9 p.m ET.

“He told me before the game, he said, ‘Look, I wouldn’t want to be playing against me today, ‘” Williams-Goss said.

Redemption is rare in college basketball. They watched movies together. Duke had been to four Final Fours in a span of five years, and some were beginning to wonder if Mike Krzyzewski was a coach that couldn’t win the big one.

And now they have one.

And 6-10 freshman Tony Bradley Jr. made just one basket.

Jackson and Berry hurt like the rest of their teammates who left Houston without a ring.

No one knew whether the Zags would continue to shoot lights out – 19 of 33 from the floor in the first half – but one thing was certain at the break: They could run if they had to. “I thought he was just sensational”.

But they also had to know when to disconnect and act like young people on a vibrant college campus should.

Williams shook that label in his second season at North Carolina, winning it all in 2004-05 and then came back with another title in 2008-09.

North Carolina’s Kennedy Meeks drives between Oregon’s Dylan Ennis (31) and Dillon Brooks during the first half in the semifinals of the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 1, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz. “Well, that still makes it even more fantastic kind of thing”. Regardless of whether or not we get a contest played at the level of last year’s classic, it’s a near certainty that the story spawned by the result is going to outweigh whatever takes place during the game itself.

“I feel blessed, blessed to be part of something so special”, he said. The Wildcats won in ’96, lost the final in ’97 then made it back to win it all in ’98. It was just hurting and I’m just fighting through it.

Take Saturday’s UNC-Oregon game, for example.

It seemed like every time the Gamecocks attempted to seize momentum, someone from Gonzaga would hit a big shot or grab a key rebound.

That’s the simple answer.

OR guard Tyler Dorsey (5) drives to the basket past North Carolina forward Kennedy Meeks (3) during the second half in the semifinals of the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 1, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz.

The Ducks were able to advance to the Final Four without their talented 7-footer, but they severely missed Boucher’s presence against the size of North Carolina.

Gonzaga absorbed the blows, counterpunched and has just the national championship game left.

The Tar Heels are a team with the right balance to digest the difficulties of the final seconds and secure a pair of must-have offensive rebounds in the national semifinals.

“It would never have happened without them”.

“We’re relieved”, Williams said after the game. Maybe they were lucky to survive a very, very odd game. But they’ve only lost one game this year. Coach always says we can’t just talk the talk, we had to walk the walk. “I think that’s been a topic of speculation, because we haven’t really had many close games”.