For 40 minutes, it was two of the most storied basketball programs in college basketball going at it like heavyweights with multiple titles on the line.
Kentucky, the all-time winningest program with 2,205 wins, and North Carolina, the third winningest with 2,173 wins, are new school vs. old school.
Coach John Calipari and Kentucky, like Mike Krzyzewski and Duke, are known as programs where one-and-dones go for one year before pursuing NBA millions.
The Tar Heels, like most programs, are where kids go to get an education, grow under the tutelage of the head coach into grown men and play on a successful basketball team.
In the end Sunday, experience and size were the difference in why the Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four -- not the officiating.
Kentucky was called for 19 fouls, North Carolina for 18. The Tar Heels did shoot 26 free throws to 19 for the Wildcats, but it was because the Tar Heels were usually fouled in the act of shooting.
Size allowed Carolina to outrebound Kentucky 44-34.
But in the end, it was a sophomore who was the hero and not one of the heralded freshmen from Kentucky, who started three freshmen along with a sophomore and senior.
Freshman Malik Monk (Lepanto, Bentonville High School) tried to lift the Wildcats with two three-pointers in 30 seconds that tied the game 73-73 with seven seconds to play, but North Carolina had an answer.
The veteran Tar Heels -- who have three starters back from last year's NCAA Tournament championship game, where they lost to Villanova on a buzzer-beating three-pointer 77-74 -- never panicked.
The ball was not inbounded to point guard Joel Berry, who was heavily guarded, but instead to Theo Pinson, who played 12 minutes off the bench in last year's championship game. He pushed the ball up court as most of his teammates fell heavy on the right side, just like Coach Roy Williams had instructed them. That allowed sophomore Luke Maye to drift out open to the left, where he drilled the game winner with 0.3 seconds on the clock for a 75-73 lead.
That left the Wildcats with nothing to do but try a magical tip-in, which failed when the ball sailed out of bounds on the inbounds pass.
Maye didn't play in that championship game last season, but he played in Smith's system in 33 games as a freshman, and he played in 33 more games again this season, averaging almost 15 minutes per game. With the game on the line, he hit the shot like it was a summer pick-up game.
When he walked into his first class Monday morning, the son of Mark and Aimee Maye got a standing ovation. Just a sidenote, Maye signed early with the Tar Heels, where his dad was a quarterback from 1984-1987.
Take absolutely nothing away from Kentucky: The Wildcats played very well, and the game turned into a nail biter. The NCAA can only hope this Monday's championship game is as good.
When the sun set Sunday, it was an East-West All-Star Final Four. Gonzaga and Oregon from the Pacific time zone and South Carolina and North Carolina from the Eastern time zone.
The Gamecocks are a story within a story within a story.
Before March Madness, they had lost six of their last nine games, including their first one in the SEC Tournament. The tournament selection committee was widely criticized for making them a No. 7 seed, especially since Arkansas was a No. 8 and beat the Gamecocks 83-76 in Columbia, S.C.
All they've done since is knock off Marquette, Duke, Baylor and Florida, but don't dare call the Gamecocks Cinderella. If you do, they'll spank you, take your lunch money and send you home crying.
Sports on 03/28/2017