The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 16

6B THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Tuesday April 6 1993 1993 FINAL FOUR A bruised Phelps celebrates carefully Heels top all-tourney Courage award goes to Yalvano wear a pad on it in later games Against Virginia in the ACC tournament in Charlotte he fell hard in a similar layup-contact situation and got a badly bruised tailbone He missed the title game against Georgia Tech and the Tar Heels lost 77-75 their only defeat in the final 18 games of the season He has played since with pads on his tailbone and lower back Before the NCAA opener against East Carolina he suffered a sprained back in practice In a Friday practice in New Orleans he jammed two fingers on his left hand Saturday against Kansas he bruised a hip again Oh and he played the last month or so with feet blisters not feeling anything right Phelps said after the title victory guess because of all the excitement and emotion just tried to do my job play good defense keep the team in line and run the offense" Considering the alternative no experienced point guard on the roster he knew he had to play for the Tar Heels to win In the finale the 6-4 Phelps matched against 6-8 Michigan star Jalen Rose and hit four of six shots scored nine got three rebounds six assists and three steals in 36 of the 40 minutes just incredible playing out there because of his said teammate Pat Sullivan keeps getting knocked down and getting back up just fearless And it rubs off on the rest of us any time we may think hurting too much to Phelps named to any of the all-tournament teams But that hardly mattered Monday night who ran North offense and played exceptional defense in a 34-4 season The black and blue list: In preseason 7-0 Eric Mon-tross fell on knee spraining it and forcing Phelps to miss the opening game At NC State he suffered a concussion At Wake Forest he dove for a loose ball and sustained a hip pointer At Duke three days later Phelps caught Grant knee under his ribs and sustained bruised ribs At Georgia Tech he twice left the game after taking blows to the head He came back each time although a little groggy At Florida State he took a hard hit from Rodney Dobard while taking a fast-break layup and got a bruised elbow forcing him to By LEONARD LAYE Sports Editor NEW ORLEANS Considering the circumstances it was the appropriate response: Just how with all his bumps bruises and blisters was Derrick Phelps going to celebrate North Carolina's championship? he said a grin splitting the face so frequently masked in a painful grimace through much of the regular season and almost all of the postseason going to have to be careful not to hurt myself out He say where would be but there were indications in the locker room after the Tar Heels' 77-71 victory over Michigan that they may have been headed to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter It would be a welcome pause for Phelps the starting point guard uperdome NEW ORLEANS North Carolina players dominated the media voting for the Final Four all-tournament team Monday night Center Eric Montross forward George Lynch and guard Donald Williams were named to the team Williams was chosen the most outstanding player Others on the team were forwards Chris Webber of Michigan and Jamal Mash-burn of Kentucky Leonard Laye Tar Heels Continued from page IB equaled the moment North Carolina shot 619 in the second half made just 10 turnovers in the game and threw a ball of confusion at the Wolverines when they spiced their normal defensive package with enough zone to play with mind The game rocked and rolled throughout as each team hit the other with alternate power bursts In an unexpected twist the Tar Heels got tired late in the game forcing Smith to use his treasured timeouts to keep North Carolina from expiring The Wolverines led 67-63 with four minutes 14 seconds remaining when Williams drilled a three-pointer from the right side his fifth trey of the game After Lynch blocked a Jimmy King shot Derrick Phelps put North Carolina back in front with a layup for a 68-67 lead Moments later Lynch hit a twisting 6-footer in the lane with 2:10 to play that gave North Carolina the scent of a title Williams then stripped Jalen Rose of the ball giving North Carolina the edge it needed tried to penetrate and it seemed like he was going up He got caught in the air and tried to pass it I was the first one to the said Williams Seconds later Eric Montross rammed a dunk and North Carolina led 72-67 in the final minute That was more than enough As Williams shot the clinching free throws Lynch cautioned his teammates not to celebrate too early remembering the wild ending to the one-point victory over North Carolina in Hawaii last December The final seconds ticked away with the Tar Heels leaping into history in an arena that has been a charmed dome away from dome By RON GREEN Jr Raleigh Bureau NEW ORLEANS Florida State coach Pat Kennedy and Dick Vitale accepted the US Basketball Writers most courageous award on behalf of former NC State coach Jim Valvano Monday Valvano who was too ill from cancer to attend the Final Four in New Orleans was honored with a video presentation comments by Kennedy and Vitale and a 1 000 donation from Coors Light and the USBWA to the Jimmy Foundation for Cancer Research a difficult time for a lot of us but a very special said Kennedy who coached with Valvano for three years at Iona has made us reflect on our lives and made this community reflect on what the college basketball world is all about you sit with Jimmy the joy and laughter he brings is so special Everyone develops a unique appreciation of what an incredibly special person he is" Tar Heels celebrate North Carolina welcomes the NCAA champion Tar Heels home with a 5 pm celebration in Kenan Stadium on campus today The Tar Heels defeated Michigan 77-71 Monday night for the title Future Olympians all pros? Kentucky athletic director Newton who also oversees USA Basketball said there are no plans to include college players on future Olympic teams When the Olympic team was opened to NBA players in 1992 Christian Laettner was the only college player on the squad are committed totally to coming up with the best basketball Newton said rule out college players being eligible or making the team but that will probably be few and far The dome factor Duke athletic director Tom Butters chairman of the NCAA tournament committee said the group will begin evaluating potential sites for Final Fours in the near future The event is booked through 1997 but Butters said the committee will begin an active process to identify sites for the Final Four in 1998 1999 and 2000 Five domed sites are being considered Butters said Included are the Georgia Dome in Atlanta the Alamo Dome in San Antonio the Suncoast Dome in St Petersburg Fla the Metro-dome in Minneapolis and the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis Fogler wants respect In the end Eddie Fogler said his decision to leave Vanderbilt for South Carolina came down to respect rather than money the last four weeks it went from a financial issue to principle to me what is fair what is equitable what is Fogler said in a farewell news conference at Vanderbilt "It got past the financial issue what started the issue two years ago to principle to me and another great option came Fogler said he asked two years ago for a pay raise "It was a financial issue I deny that My financial situation was not the equal of my peers in the Southeastern Conference I felt that should be looked at very nicely I demand I asked for that to be Fogler said Vanderbilt Chancellor Joe Wyatt respond to his request that they talk before he made a decision and that several people reported him to be out of town phones in about every state been he said Wyatt responded in a state- ment that he offered last Thursday through athletic director Paul Hoolahan to speak with Fogler by telephone or to meet with him But Wyatt added conversations would not have altered the financial parameters under which Mr Hoolahan and the athletic department must Westhead goes east Paul Westhead took over as coach at George Mason and served notice on scoreboard operators to get ready plan is to bring a whole new kind of basketball to George Mason" said Westhead who has coached LaSalle Loyola-Mary-mount and three NBA teams "This is the start of the speed game going to play so fast that you're not even going to be able to see our shadows" The Associated Press contributed to this article Totals North Carolina Michigan 30-62 6-7 33 17 18 71 35 77 35 71 Three-point goals North Carolina 5-1 1 (Williams 5-7 Rodl 0-2 Phelps 0-1 Reese 0-1) Michigan 5-15 (Rose 2-6 Pelmka 2-3 King Webber 0-1) Turnovers North Carolina 10 Michigan 14 Team rebounds North Carolina 0 Michigan 2 Technical fouls Michigan bench (excessive timeout) Officials Hightower Harrington Stupin Att 64151 (at New Orleans) 42 36 Tar Heels Williams steals the ball from final minute of the Tar 77-71 victory over the Wolverines was named the Final Four's MVP voodoo won this championship for Stolen: North Donald Michigan's Chris Webber in the Smith not There better not fie any asterisks in front of this one No what-ifs if-onlvs or this-might-have-haj)-peneds no anything that takes the least little bit away from what Dean Smith has now accomplished Twice He did not bounce throw shoot or so much as touch a basketball all of Monday night But he won this national championship for North Carolina as surely as he won the first one 1 1 years ago in this town where strange happenings are no stranger and voodoo is almost an art form BOB LEVERONEStaff Williams scored 25 points and national championship for the Tar Heels Monday night Williams is the afterthought in the North Carolina lineup often overlooked in the glow of the other starters And yet when there was a championship to he won it was the slender sophomore from Garner who made the difference We wanted to keep the ball in George Lynch said our best foul It turned out to be the soundest strategy of all one that delivered a national championship Hal Bock Associated Press Eleven years ago Fred Brown threw a pass to the wrong player Monday night in the same building Chris Webber called a timeout at the wrong moment The result was the same: a national chamjiionship for North Carolina David Teel Newport News Dally Press I But buy into any of it can call it fortunate or you can call it lucky" Smith said after the Tar Heels handed their coach another trojihy to fill the case being readied for him at the Hall of Fame it still says NCAA championship on it" Jim Litke Associated Press Surrounded ty two of college basketball's greatest recruiting classes Donald Williams the only sophomore on the North Carolina roster delivered the A Skejitics will note Smith had Michael Jordan and James Worthy on his side then and that he had Donald Williams and Eric Montross this night They will remind us Georgetown's Fred Brown was the youthful mistake waiting to hajijien back then as Chris Webber surely unfortunately will be regarded now I.