Rashad McCants climbed the ladder, ready to cut down his sliver of nylon – a typical right of passage for Final Four-bound teams. He reached the top, then paused. He couldn’t decide which strand of the net to snip.

‘Eenie, meenie, minie, mo,’ McCants thought. ‘Which one do I pick?’

Finally, he settled on his little sliver, then put his earthworm-sized piece over his right ear. He’d earned it, and he was going to show it off.

The North Carolina Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four with an 88-82 victory over Wisconsin in the Elite 8 on Sunday at the Carrier Dome in front of 30,132 fans. UNC will play Michigan State on Saturday in St. Louis.

North Carolina will appear in its 16th Final Four, an NCAA record. UNC’s last trip to the Final Four was in 2000.

‘We’re ecstatic,’ said UNC head coach Roy Williams. ‘One of the greatest feelings as a coach is the look on your guys’ faces when they accomplish something.’

Nearly half an hour after the Tar Heels defeated the Badgers, McCants wore almost the entire net proudly around his neck. The celebration was just considering none of the Tar Heels have made it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament, losing to Texas last year in the round of 32. This year’s seniors suffered through an 8-20 season in 2002 and an NIT appearance in 2003.

The Final Four drought made for a boisterous postgame celebration. May, a 6-foot-9, 260-pound behemoth, bear hugged freshman Marvin Williams. The UNC players ran around the court sporting Final Four hats and t-shirts, looking for teammates with whom to share the moment.

For a team that has been to 15 Final Fours, it may have seemed a tad excessive. But considering what the group had been through, the UNC players were in agreement: The win was one to be savored.

‘From 8-20 to 31-4,’ May said, ‘that’s a huge turnaround. For a program to be what it was and now be at the top again, that shows a lot about the players and the work that we put in.’

North Carolina used a 16-9 run in the final seven minutes to pull out the win, but not without being tested by a scrappy Wisconsin team, which attempted to run with the ultra-athletic Tar Heels. Surpassingly enough, the Badgers were successful. At times they departed from their prodding swing offense and turned up the tempo, converting on numerous one-on-one opportunities.

They shot 49 percent from the field, and nearly 46 percent from the 3-point line. But the Tar Heels were better, hitting 53 percent of their shots.

Wisconsin went on an 11-0 run to close the first half, tying the game at 44 heading into halftime. While the late push gave the Badgers (25-9) a huge lift going to the locker room, Williams said he lashed into his players at halftime.

They responded. The Tar Heels challenged Wisconsin’s 16-point run, which stretched into the second half, with an 14-0 run of their own. When the destruction ended, UNC (31-4) had reeled off 11 points in less than three minutes and took a 58-49 advantage.

‘When they went on their runs,’ McCants said, ‘we went on ours. We’re a very good offensive team so it is very hard to stop us from scoring when we have threats on the court.’

But North Carolina could never entirely pull away. Wisconsin had four possessions to take the lead with almost six minutes to go in the game, trailing by one point each time. But the Badgers failed on each opportunity.

Wisconsin still stuck with the Tar Heels on the shooting of sophomore guard Kammron Taylor. He scored seven points in the final minute to pull Wisconsin as close as three points. But UNC answered from the foul line, hitting 9 of 10 free throws in that same span.

After the final horn sounded, Felton latched onto the basketball, jumped up and down, and flailed his body with excitement. The Tar Heels will play on Saturday, and acknowledged that a national championship is their ultimate goal. But that didn’t temper their celebration on the Carrier Dome court.

‘The emotions are indescribable,’ May said. ‘You have to experience it for yourself, but it’s an unbelievable feeling.’

Box score

1 2 F

UW 44 38 82

UNC 44 44 88

Badgers (25-9, 11-5 Big Ten)

P R A

Tucker 25 2 2

Taylor 18 3 1

Hanson 15 2 1

Wilkinson 11 7 5

Chambliss 9 3 4

Nixon 2 1 0

Stiemsma 2 0 0

Morley 0 3 3

Helmigk 0 1 1

Flowers 0 2 0

Butch 0 1 0

Tar Heels (31-4, 14-2 ACC)

P R A

May 29 12 2

McCants 21 4 4

Felton 17 5 7

J. Williams 6 2 1

M. Williams 6 3 1

Manuel 4 2 1

Scott 3 0 1

Noel 2 3 1

Thomas 0 0 1

Published on March 27, 2005 at 12:00 pm