A Special Monday Night

It’s always good to be playing a college basketball game on a Monday night in April.

This feat has happened exactly three times for my Tar Heels in the 27+ years I’ve been on Earth.  Of course, it’s hard to remember the first time in 1982, as I was a bit more focused on sitting up on my own without tipping over than I was with how the Heels would attack Patrick Ewing and the mighty Georgetown Hoyas.

Tonight’s game will mark the fourth championship appearance in 27 years, and 2^nd in the last 5.  If that last point is not incredulous enough for you, consider this list of Tar Heel greats who never had the chance to play in a title game: Kenny Smith, Antawn Jamison, Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter, Jerry Stackhouse, Brad Daugherty.  These guys are legends for sure – their jerseys in the rafters speak to that – but how many on that list would gladly trade the linen hanging in the Dean Dome for a shot to win on Monday Night and enter the pantheon of Carolina Champions.

Two current Heels, Hansbrough and Lawson, are deservedly assured of a place in the rafters regardless of the outcome tonight.  Yet individual accolades are the farthest thing from everyone’s mind right now.  There’s a far bigger prize on the horizon, a collective dream that is only 40 minutes from reality.

A chance for history.  A special Monday night.

The last time the Heels played in a championship, we watched the game in Chapel Hill.  Let’s all hope there’s a celebration like this again on Franklin Street sometime around 11:30 tonight.