Memorable Villanova-North Carolina title game grander than its stage

After Saturday’s two miserably lopsided national semifinals, the NCAA Tournament was resuscitated Monday night with one of the most memorable title games ever played — punctuated by two absurd twists in the final five seconds.

With 4.7 seconds left, North Carolina completed a 10-point comeback in the final five minutes against Villanova with Marcus Paige’s double-clutching three pointer to tie the score at 71.

It was the sort of shot that would be remembered for generations if the Tar Heels then had prevailed over the stunned Wildcats.

Villanova was unfazed and worked the ball to Kris Jenkins for a counter-three half a second before the buzzer, giving the Wildcats a 77-74 victory. It was a magical moment in its own right to go with the 1985 upset of Georgetown.

Ryan Arcidiacono “made the perfect pass,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “Kris Jenkins lives for that moment.”

This was a beautiful thing for the game, for Villanova and the NCAA.

The Wildcats earned this through a thorny road that included Kansas and Oklahoma, the two best teams in what was widely perceived as the nation’s best conference entering the tournament.

North Carolina, the pre-season No. 1, was more than a formidable opponent for the championship.

Even if those Tar Heels had no connection with the lingering specter of scandal hanging over UNC about violations academic and otherwise occurring over nearly two decades — with the NCAA allegations or notice of allegations likely to be served in the near future — it would have been an awkward time to crown this program.

Instead, it was Villanova taking over a grand stage that simply keeps growing.

The game was preceded with theatrics and pyrotechnics that were reminiscent of an Olympics opening ceremony, part of the ongoing bigger-is-better emphasis of the NCAA on a night it drew the second-largest crowd (74,430) in title game history.

With so much commotion, you half expected a Queen Elizabeth imitator to parachute in like at the London Olympics.

Yet the smoke and mirrors, and even the intensity and caliber of the game, couldn’t eclipse the cavernous dome setting that now is the norm for the Final Four.

No matter how much these mega-stadiums are contoured and configured to basketball, there’s no getting past the fact that the game is being played in a football stadium and most of the crowd is sitting at such a distance that they wouldn’t even be inside an arena built for basketball.

There’s also no turning back now because there’s too much money multiplying in the process, but the buffer between the raised court and even the best seats makes the atmosphere antiseptic.

Plus, there’s something that’s still strange about seeing the coaches up on a pedestal performing.

But we digress:

Whatever else you thought of the season and the tournament, including the duds here on Saturday night and what befell your favorite team not to get to this night, it sure seems the two best teams emerged here.

Both by the eye test and in terms of whom they disposed and how along the way.

Villanova won by making 14 of 24 field goals in the second half, while Carolina hit only 12 of 35 and seemed to be off-kilter down the stretch.

Still, the Tar Heels rallied with a 7-0 run to get back in range, setting up the double-twist at the end that worked out the best way it could for the good of the game.

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 2:27 AM with the headline "Memorable Villanova-North Carolina title game grander than its stage."