North Carolina jumped to a big lead, then in overtime held off the reigning champion Bears, who became the first No. 1 seed to be bounced from this tournament.
The University of North Carolina’s men’s basketball team spent part of December being crushed by Kentucky. January brought humiliations at Miami and Wake Forest. February included being embarrassed on its home court by Duke and Pittsburgh and requiring overtime to beat a woeful Syracuse. Then came March. The Tar Heels went over to Duke and spoiled Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 5. Then, in overtime on Saturday in Fort Worth, they upset Baylor, the No.1 seed in the East region and the reigning national champion, to advance to the round of 16 in the N.C.A.A. tournament. Each of those signature victories are of the stripe that can redeem any misbegotten season. But both? As Roy Williams, who retired as North Carolina’s coach last year but was in the stands on Saturday, might say: “Daggum.” The eighth-seeded Tar Heels will meet either St. Mary’s or U.C.L.A. on Friday in Philadelphia. They — and any other team remaining in this year’s men’s tournament — might be hard-pressed, though, to author a greater work of suspense than their 93-68 downing of Baylor, the first No.1 seed to lose this year. Yes, Baylor won the tipoff, and with Kendall Brown’s dunk off a fast break, built a 4-0 lead in all of 68 seconds. Then U.N.C. seized it and did not even allow the game to be tied until there were 15.8 seconds remaining and Baylor had improbably erased a performance by the Tar Heels that had seemed more likely to wind up in the record books than in overtime. In the first half — after which the Tar Heels led by 13 — U.
