The unusual Final Four made every second spent this weekend watching the action from Phoenix well worth it with one of the most dramatic season ends in years.

The semifinal matchups on Saturday were a spectacle in themselves, with the winning number for both advancing teams being 77 and a slim win margin of 5 points combined. Gonzaga and South Carolina opened up the night, both appearing in their first ever Final Four. And they did not disappoint. It was pretty even for the first few minutes, with an 8-point margin at the half for Gonzaga, but the Zags came out full force, quickly pushing the lead to seventeen and even twenty at one point, making the nation wonder if the Gamecocks had anymore March magic left over. And it seems they did. South Carolina came roaring back as the game clock ticked under seven minutes, even regaining the lead at one point, and from there, it was all madness. Both teams went back and forth in the final minutes, with Gonzaga making just one extra play to give them a four-point victory as South Carolina’s magic ran out.

The second game of the night was no less of a nail biter, if not even more so. Oregon was in their first Final Four since 1939 while the Tarheels of North Carolina were playing in their record twentieth. It was a race to finish, a game of who could outlast the other at the last second. Three points separated green and blue at the half, and the second half was not any less entertaining as the lead went back and forth. And then in the last seventeen seconds, that was when the Tarheels most certainly gave their fanbase a heart attack. Joel Berry II went to the free throw line with a score of 77-76 in favor of his team. Berry, the leader and point guard for the Heels, had been dealing with ankle issues (both left and right) for the entire tournament, and it showed in his offensive numbers for the night, but most of his points had come free throws (84% free throw shooter). But he missed the first. And then he missed the second and somehow, miraculously, Theo Pinson got a hand on the rebound and tipped it out to a teammate, who was going to the line again with two seconds left in the game. And those bleeding blue knew two trips in a row couldn’t be empty, no way. But alas, it was. And then another miracle happened. After a career game, senior Kennedy Meeks didn’t want his last season to be over just yet and he managed to tip the rebound out once more as the clock hit zero. The match-up was set. The North Carolina Tarheels would face the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Monday night.

For Sunday and most of Monday, college basketball fans, especially Carolina ones, were zoning in on one thing: Joel Berry and his ankles. And then one ESPN report early Monday morning brought smiles to their faces as Berry reported no stiffness when he woke up for the first time. He was going to be back and this was going to be his game. As 9:20 rolled around, fans of both sides were glued to the television, decked out in gear and holding close anything that gave them superstition ease. And the ball was tipped. And Joel Berry hit his first three in the form of four-point play. He was not having another non-factor game. Not tonight. Throughout the first ten minutes, both teams went about basket for basket, but the officiating (not the greatest, and that’s putting it lightly) prevented either side from getting into a groove on offense, leaving three Zags and two Tarheels with two fouls at the half, where at which point the Tarheels were only down by three after a terrible shooting spell. Well. The Tarheels game out like fire, starting the half on an 8-0 run to regain the lead and also succeeding in one of the two big men for the Zags picking up his third foul (Zach Collins). Mark Few called a well-timed timeout at the 17:15 mark to get his team settled again as Roy Williams coached his guys as loud as he had all year. The Zags responded to Few. They roared back tying the game, and again the teams went basket for basket, with the officiating still as horrendous as it had been in the first half. The officials took time out of play to call a double foul and a flagrant, which all should just have been a play on, two officials called an out of bounds one way, but switched over to the other official’s call, and a lay-up made just before the shot clock expired (which everyone could see in real time) took five minutes to be figured out. One of the Gonzaga’s players fouled out with eight minutes, followed by Collins following out around seven-minute mark as Kennedy Meeks picked up his fourth for Carolina, matching Karnowski for the Zags. The teams went bucket for bucket once more as the clock ticked under two, and the Tarheels threw up a bad shot as the clock reached one minutes, giving the Zags a very good chance to tie the game or get within two. And everyone held their breath as one of the Zags shot-faked a three due to the many three-point shot fouls that had been called tonight (a very unusual thing), hoping not to add to the 27 foul total in the second half alone. The Heels were up by one point on a split pair at the line as the Bulldogs came back downcourt with 21 seconds to go. And then Meeks, who had been solely coached by Williams during the previous timeout and knowing he was having a rough game, cleanly blocked Williams-Goss’s lay-up and outlet-ed to Berry, who threw ahead to Justin Jackson (another Tarheel with an off night coming off a stellar semifinal game) to dunk it and put them up by 5 with the biggest smile on his face. There were 12.9 seconds left as Gonzaga inbounded, attempting to throw it half court, and it would’ve gotten there, had it not been for who else but Meeks as he sprinted fast as anything and soared to intercept the ball, quickly passing it off to Berry, who was fouled with 7.3 seconds left. He made 1-out-of-2, which would make the final margin six points as tears fell from both benches, Carolina players rushing to family, to each other, and to Roy Williams with smiles and tears on their faces. Their redemption tour was complete.

Both teams played extremely well, and it’s disappointing that the officials were not the greatest to either side, but either way, this was an extremely fitting and wonderful end to the season. Shouts from fans everywhere could be heard as the blue and white confetti fell for the Tarheels and Roy Williams passed his mentor with three national championships. Basketball is most than just a sport, and if you don’t want to take the looks and emotions of both teams after this game as proof, then take three minutes to watch the yearly One Shining Moment video. You won’t regret. Until October, we bid you farewell, college basketball. Thank you for the craziest season. The countdown is beginning and the journey to the tourney starts now.

“Sometimes to reach the highest of highs, you have to sink to the lowest of lows.” –UNC Basketball 4-3-2017