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USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken previews the NCAA championship game, which will be a frontcourt-heavy battle between UNC and Gonzaga.
USA TODAY Sports
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USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken recaps the two Final Four semifinal games, won in nail-biters by Gonzaga and North Carolina.
USA TODAY Sports
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FINAL FOUR: Fans react as Gonzaga survives late S. Carolina rally, advances to championship 77-73. (Alden Woods/azcentral)
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Fans arrive early for the festivities before the Final Four games Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium. (Patrick Breen/azcentral)
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Will Phoenix become a basketball city? Dan Bickley discusses the Final Four in Arizona, NBA stars resting and more in the latest Shot Clock.
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Would you spend $7,500 for three games of the best college basketball? How about $275? Reporter Perry Vandell breaks down the action on the tickets before the big games. Patrick Breen/azcentral.com
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Oregon’s Tyler Dorsey and Dillon Brooks discuss what it would mean to win a national championship, at University of Phoenix Stadium on Friday, March 31. David Wallace/azcentral sports
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University of North Carolina talks nerves and expectations before Saturday’s game.
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South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell talks about missing Thursday’s practice because of illness and feeling better for Friday’s practice at University of Phoenix Stadium. David Wallace/azcentral sports
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Perkins and Karnowski talk injury, nerves and expectations before practice on Friday.
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A look at the paths taken by the remaining teams in this year’s mens NCAA basketball tournament.
By Jim Sergent and Ramon Padilla, USA TODAY.
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USA TODAY Sports’ Nicole Auerbach thinks you’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t keep an eye on these players in the Final Four.
USA TODAY Sports
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South Carolina players answer the question that’s on the minds of so many college basketball fans: what the heck is a Gamecock?
USA TODAY Sports
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North Carolina’s Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II discuss being back to the NCAA Final Four and trying to win it all, in the locker room at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 30, 2017. (David Wallace/azcentral sports)
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Oregon’s Dillon Brooks, Dylan Ennis and Casey Benson, discuss counting their blessings, meeting Kobe Bryant and playing a Final Four in their home state, respectively, in the locker room on March 30, 2017. (David Wallace/azcentral sports)
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Gonzaga’s Przemek Karnowski, Jordan Mathews and Nigel Williams-Goss talk about rising to the moment of the NCAA Final Four in the locker room at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 30, 2017. (David Wallace/azcentral sports)
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South Carolina’s PJ Dozier and Duane Notice talk about their confidence and under dog status for the NCAA Final Four in the locker room at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 30, 2017. (David Wallace/azcentral sports)
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Downtown Phoenix gets ready to host the NCAA Final Four Fan Fest and house the teams as they play in nearby Glendale for the NCAA Final Four games. David Wallace/azcentral.com
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Luke Maye connected on a last-second jump shot to defeat the Kentucky Wildcats and send North Carolina to the Final Four.
Time_Sports
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USA TODAY Sports’ Nicole Auerbach goes behind the scenes of South Carolina’s win over Florida, which sends the Gamecocks to their first Final Four.
USA TODAY Sports
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The Oregon Ducks have reached the Final Four for the first time since 1939 after a 74-60 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the Elite Eight.
Time_Sports
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USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken breaks down Gonzaga’s Elite Eight victory over Xavier.
USA TODAY Sports
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The court for the NCAA Final Four tournament is put together at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral
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azcentral’s Paola Boivin breaks down Arizona’s loss to Xavier in the Sweet 16. Video: Michael Chow/azcentral.com
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The Arizona Wildcats, who many had in the Final Four, are bounced from the NCAA Tournament. Plus, the Oakland Raiders may soon be the Las Vegas Raiders. Will that actually happen? Video: azcentral sports
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USA TODAY Sports’ George Schroeder looks at how the Jayhawks and Ducks prevailed to set up their upcoming matchup in the Midwest region of the NCAA tournament.
USA TODAY Sports
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ULCA head coach Steve Alford acknowledges the game against the two ‘bluebloods’ of NCAA basketball with the most championships between them.
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Considered all but done after losing their star point guard and dropping six straight games in February, Xavier has improbably made a run to the Elite Eight after defeating No. 2 Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen.
Time_Sports
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Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller is the third highest-paid head coach in the NCAA Tournament and can earn close to $1 million in bonuses for winning the national title.
Wochit
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Take a look at some at the faces of celebration and dejection from the tourney.
USA TODAY Sports
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The massive scoreboard known as “Colussus TV” is installed at University of Phoenix Stadium for the upcoming NCAA Final Four games. David Wallace/azentral.com
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Being on network TV means this years NCAA tourney should easily overtake last year’s viewership. Richard Deitsch explains how to watch the Madness.
Time
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North Carolina-Gonzaga will be throwback national title game
Semifinal games come down to final plays
Gonzaga fans in Glendale react to win over S. Carolina in NCAA semifinal
Fans pack University of Phoenix Stadium lawn for Final Four
Shot Clock: Phoenix a basketball city?
Which seats in the Final Four house are still available?
Oregon on what it would mean to win a national championship
UNC players talk about returning to Final Four
South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell on his illness and feeling better
Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins and Przemek Karnowski talk Final Four
Road to the Final Four means a lot of miles traveling
Top players to watch in the Final Four
Gamecocks explain what a gamecock is
North Carolina on being back to the NCAA Final Four
Oregon on counting their blessings
Gonzaga on rising to the moment
South Carolina on their confidence and underdog status
Downtown Phoenix gets ready for NCAA Final Four
North Carolina headed to Final Four with win over Kentucky
South Carolina makes history with Final Four berth
Oregon advances to first Final Four since 1939 with win over Kansas
Gonzaga advances to program’s first Final Four
Piece by piece, the court for the NCAA Final Four tournament is put together in Glendale
Paola Boivin recaps Arizona’s loss to Xavier
Shot Clock: Arizona knocked out; Raiders moving to Vegas?
Kansas and Oregon set up intriguing Elite 8 matchup
UCLA’s Steve Alford talks about playing Kentucky
No. 11 Xavier upsets No. 2 Arizona to head to Elite Eight
A closer look at Sean Miller’s salary and bonuses
March Madness: Craziest faces of the NCAA tournament
Scoreboard installed at University of Phoenix Stadium for Final Four
Media circus: A guide to March Madness
Jordan Bell sat at his locker at University of Phoenix Stadium and spoke in a whisper, tears streaming down his cheeks. Minutes earlier, his Oregon teammates had told him that this wasn’t his fault, that he was a big reason the Ducks were in position to win Saturday night.
He didn’t want to hear it.
“People can tell me that all they want,” Bell said. “I lost this game for us.”
This is the harsh side of sports. The flip side of “One Shining Moment.” Trailing the entire second half, Oregon battled back in the national semifinals, cutting North Carolina’s lead to one with 7 seconds left.
The Ducks fouled Kennedy Meeks with 5 seconds left. Even if Meeks had made both, Oregon still would’ve had a chance to tie with a 3-point shot. In fact, the Ducks, out of timeouts, already had the play in mind.
RELATED: North Carolina survives Oregon to return to NCAA final
Point guard Payton Pritchard was to race the length of the court as quickly as possible and then flip it back to Tyler Dorsey for the 3, a play similar to the one Villanova used against North Carolina last season to win the national championship.
But Meeks, a 63.9 percent free-throw shooter, missed. Not once, but twice. After the second, Bell, positioned on the left side of the lane, went to grab the rebound, but he failed to box out. North Carolina forward Theo Pinson jumped over the 6-foot-9 Bell and tipped the ball out. North Carolina regained possession. Oregon had to foul.
“I was talking to my point guard, telling him, how if he was going to miss, I was going to outlet it to him,” Bell said.
Next it was Joel Berry II on the foul line. Four seconds left. The North Carolina point guard was an 80 percent foul shooter, but he, too, missed. Twice. And once again, Bell failed to secure the rebound, Meeks outmuscling him for the ball, giving the Tar Heels another possession and, ultimately, a 77-76 win.
“I thought I had the second one, but he just took it from me,” Bell said. “I hit him and I went for (the ball) instead of hitting him and holding him. We talk about that all the time.”
In Final Four history, this wasn’t Georgetown’s Fred Brown throwing the ball to North Carolina’s James Worthy in the final seconds of the 1982 national championship. Nor was it Chris Webber calling a timeout Michigan didn’t have in the 1993 title game. But it was significant, and it will be all anyone will talk about the rest of the weekend, maybe longer.
Look at it this way: Bell grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds against perhaps the best rebounding team in the country, and on this stage, in front of the second-largest crowd in Final Four history, he will be remembered for the two he didn’t get. That’s cruel.
“This is going to hurt forever, man,” Bell said.
Give North Carolina credit. The Tar Heels risked an over-the-back foul during those final seconds. Even with the lead, they went after the ball anyway. As the teams lined up for the foul shots, Meeks said he looked at coach Roy Williams, “and he kind of gave me the motion that – hit the offensive glass.”
Minutes after the game, ESPN analyst Fran Franschilla tweeted that this was no accident: “UNC has been practicing the FT Tip-out play for 40 years.”
MORE: Gonzaga advances to national title game
“It’s something that we do stress,” Williams said. “We just don’t line up there and turn around and go back. We do try to rebound those free throws.”
Assistant coach Tony Stubblefield recruited Jordan Bell. Over his seven years at Oregon, he said he has not coached a better rebounder. In last week’s regional final win over Kansas, Bell had been fantastic, collecting 11 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and eight blocked shots.
“We wouldn’t be in this situation without Jordan,” Stubblefield said in Oregon’s locker room. “The young man had a double-double tonight. Four blocked shots. He laid it all on the line for us all year. I hate to see him beating himself up. We wouldn’t be in this situation without him. It’s not on Jordan.”
With the loss still fresh, Bell didn’t want to hear that Saturday night. Not at that moment. Maybe not for anytime soon.
“You play your ass off all year and this was the moment that mattered,’’ he said, “and I didn’t do my job.”
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