Hoops4theSoul

Oct

6

On This Day in Basketball History — 1975

Filed Under On This Day . . ., Loose Balls

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Remembering the 1997-1998 North Carolina Tar Heels

Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and the 1998 North Carolina Tar Heels Would Lose Again in the Final Four

After losing to the eventual champion Arizona Wildcats in the 1997 Final Four, the North Carolina Tar Heels were heavy favorites in the 1998 NCAA Tournament. While legendary coach Dean Smith had retired, the Tar Heels returned its stud duo of Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter along with three-point specialist Shammond Williams, point guard Ed Cota and solid German player Ademola Okaluja.

Spurning an opportunity to enter the 1997 NBA Draft following their sophomore seasons, Jamison and Carter specifically came back to Chapel Hill for their junior year with the sole purpose of not only reaching the Final Four but winning the tournament. North Carolina would ultimately get to the Final Four but fall short of its goal; however, returning back to college basketball’s holy land would not be without theatrics, to say the least.

North Carolina would get a scare in the second round of the tournament against UNC-Charlotte and its star seniors, point guard Shaun Colston and power forward DeMarco Johnson, who is 32 years old today.

DeMarco Johnson Nearly Led UNC-Charlotte to an Upset of North Carolina in the 1998 NCAA Tournament

No longer playing in the shadows of its more popular, in-state brother, the eighth-seeded 49ers would push the Tar Heels to overtime. Sparked by the steady Colston, fantastic Johnson, athletic swingman Galen Young and three-point specialist Diego Guevara, who memorably would blow kisses to his wife in the stands after hitting a three-pointer, UNC-Charlotte would give Carolina a much-needed scare. The Tar Heels would naturally pull away in overtime and then go on to steadily beat the next two NCAA champions, Michigan State (2000) in the Sweet Sixteen and Connecticut (1999) in the Elite Eight.

However, like the previous year, the Tar Heels would be upset in the National Semifinals, this time against a surprising Utah team with Andre Miller and Michael Doleac. In simple terms, the Tar Heels were dominated from the onset of that game, as the hot Utes jumped out to a big lead and never looked back.

Utah’s magical run a year removed from the graduation of Keith Van Horn included an Elite Eight upset against defending champion Arizona, which returned all five starters including Miles Simon, Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson, and the shocker over North Carolina. The Utes would lose in the championship game to long-time nemesis Kentucky, which had knocked Utah out in the Elite Eight of the 1997 NCAA Tournament.

Had it not been for its overtime loss to Arizona in the 1997 NCAA Championship Game, Kentucky would have won three straight titles following its 1998 triumph. The Wildcats had beaten Syracuse in 1996 and would capture the title in 1998 after Rick Pitino would leave for the Boston Celtics following the loss to Arizona in 1997.

One of the more underrated players in college basketball while he played, the birthday-boy Johnson would get drafted by the New York Knicks in the second round of the 1998 NBA Draft and play in a handful of games. Johnson is still playing overseas.

As for UNC-Charlotte, it is now simply referred to as Charlotte.

by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com

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