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    North Carolina-Gonzaga will be throwback national title game

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    Semifinal games come down to final plays

  • Gonzaga fans in Glendale react to win over S. Carolina in NCAA semifinal

    Gonzaga fans in Glendale react to win over S. Carolina in NCAA semifinal

  • Fans pack University of Phoenix Stadium lawn for Final Four

    Fans pack University of Phoenix Stadium lawn for Final Four

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    Shot Clock: Phoenix a basketball city?

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    Which seats in the Final Four house are still available?

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    Oregon on what it would mean to win a national championship

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    UNC players talk about returning to Final Four

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    South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell on his illness and feeling better

  • Gonzaga's Josh Perkins and Przemek Karnowski talk Final Four

    Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins and Przemek Karnowski talk Final Four

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    Road to the Final Four means a lot of miles traveling

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    Top players to watch in the Final Four

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    Gamecocks explain what a gamecock is

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    North Carolina on being back to the NCAA Final Four

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    Oregon on counting their blessings

  • Gonzaga on rising to the moment

    Gonzaga on rising to the moment

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    South Carolina on their confidence and underdog status

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    Downtown Phoenix gets ready for NCAA Final Four

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    North Carolina headed to Final Four with win over Kentucky

  • South Carolina makes history with Final Four berth

    South Carolina makes history with Final Four berth

  • Oregon advances to first Final Four since 1939 with win over Kansas

    Oregon advances to first Final Four since 1939 with win over Kansas

  • Gonzaga advances to program's first Final Four

    Gonzaga advances to program’s first Final Four

  • Piece by piece, the court for the NCAA Final Four tournament is put together in Glendale

    Piece by piece, the court for the NCAA Final Four tournament is put together in Glendale

  • Paola Boivin recaps Arizona's loss to Xavier

    Paola Boivin recaps Arizona’s loss to Xavier

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    Shot Clock: Arizona knocked out; Raiders moving to Vegas?

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    Kansas and Oregon set up intriguing Elite 8 matchup

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    UCLA’s Steve Alford talks about playing Kentucky

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    No. 11 Xavier upsets No. 2 Arizona to head to Elite Eight

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    A closer look at Sean Miller’s salary and bonuses

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    March Madness: Craziest faces of the NCAA tournament

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    Scoreboard installed at University of Phoenix Stadium for Final Four

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    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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