Big Dancin' to the Golden Oldies: 'Nova v Heels
Published on 3-Apr-2016 by Alan Adamsson
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Back in the day, when shorts were short and real men didn't care, expecting a Big East-ACC coda to March Madness was the done thing.
Now, they're doing it again.
With all that's changed in the college basketball world, it's almost a sight for sore eyes ... except maybe for fans of Oregon, Syracuse, and the other 64 entrants -- and South Carolina -- whose dreams were dashed along the way.
Instead, the title game features a couple of squads who are more than accustomed to the bright lights and big stage:
Neither of these fine young outfits can be considered a surprise to be the two left standing. After all, they've got old-school pedigrees. Literally.
Seems like only the Vikings preceded North Carolina. Who knows? The founding fathers themselves could have been laying action on the Tar Heels down on Tobacco Road well before that name signified unclean habits.
Villanova didn't wait for the Big East to form, either; they were card-carrying members of the Big Five when it used to mean something.
To Oklahoma in the semi-finals, it meant the Beast of the East was back. Big time, as in biblical proportions:
Afterward, Big East defector Syracuse and its vaunted 2-3 zone wasn't a mystery to the Tar Heels on both occasions when they faced it -- home and away -- during the ACC season, with Jim Boeheim on the bench each time.
So, was this really a surprise?
All that's left to do now is to bring back truckin' ...
Or something.