Sunday’s North Carolina/Georgetown game will be played 4 days shy of the 25-year anniversary of the Heels 82 national championship win over the Hoyas. The two schools have played each other 8 times with the series split right down the middle. Carolina owns a 2-0 record against Georgetown in the post season when you add in that Sweet 16 win in 1995.

Neither of the players were born when that classic 82 game was played but they have all seen it. Tar Heel sophomore Marcus Ginyard grew up near DC and says he knows and has worked out with in infamous Fred Brown. Brown is the Hoya guard who hit the Heels James Worthy with a perfect pass to seal the title game in 1982. Patrick Ewing will be at Sunday’s game watching his son Pat Jr. battle the Heels. Former Hoya coach John Thompson is calling the game on radio just across the court from his son working the game as Georgetown’s head coach. There are so many threads of irony in this series but none of it will have a thing to do with Sunday’s outcome.

Roy Williams says basketball is simple. He wants his team to take good shots and limit his opponent’s good shots. There’s a complex mixture that goes into that. I can’t wait to see Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert bang bodies in the post. Hansbrough set a new career LOW scoring 5 points against USC. Wayne Ellington says watch out for Hansbrough tomorrow. He plays well when irked. Carolina could use a few more minutes from Reyshawn Terry. He told me today that he hopes to gain a bit more strength by the end of the day and play more than the 5 minutes he did against the Trojans…it was a productive 5 with 9 points. The Heels need Terry’s help defending Jeff Green, the Hoyas incredibly talented 6-9 forward.

Carolina is trying to add to its record by making the 17th Final 4 in school history. The last 2 times they played here in New Jersey have resulted in trips to the Final 4. The last 4 times their road to the Final 4 included a stop in North Carolina, the Heels have made the Final 4. I’m sure Roy Williams knows those factoids by heart. Are you kidding me, I can hear him now, “those things don’t mean jack diddly to tomorrow’s game.” They sure don’t coach but we like to chew them up and spit them out because some facts are just inexplicable.