Chapter 429 - End of Time at the University 1 (1/2)
So the other day came the game day of the 1998 NCAA tournament final, the players were more rested and very confident for this game that would be very important for all of them.
In a final game like this, it didn't matter who was the favorite team or which team won the most games of the season, both teams would have the same chance of winning the game and the team that had the best players and that the players had the best performance would win.
The players' families would be in that game and if the Tar Heels team won they would make history not only for North Carolina University but also for the entire College basketball, after all, few teams won two NCAA tournaments in a row.
Only the Duke Blue Devils teams, Cincinnati Bearcats, UCLA Bruins, Oklahoma State Cowboys, San Francisco Dons and the Kentucky Wildcats team that would be their next opponent, this was a very important game for the players, for Coach Guthridge, for the university, and for the fans too.
The team that would be the opponent in this final was the Kentucky Wildcats team, the Kentucky Wildcats team had another great season and even if it wasn't the favorite to win, no one would be surprised if they won that game.
After all, this was the Kentucky Wildcats' third consecutive final in three years, which meant that the Kentucky Wildcats team was among the top two teams in the NCAA tournament for three seasons.
In 1996 they won the NCAA tournament and last season they lost that game to the Tar Heels team in the final, so this season they were, even more, wanting to win that game to win the NCAA tournament again and also to get the rematch against the team Tar Heels for last season.
Jake was really confident that the Tar Heels team would win that game because the Tar Heels team had more difficulty against teams that had the best saves and the Kentucky Wildcats team didn't have that good defense and so it would be an open game.
This would also be a very important game that could change history, after all before Jake went back in time the Kentucky Wildcats team had won 8 NCAA tournaments and the Tar Heels team had won 6 if the Tar Heels team won in that game the Tar Heels team would have won the fifth NCAA tournament and in the future would have won 8 NCAA tournaments and the Kentucky Wildcats team only 7.
The players of the Tar Heels team were very excited and confident that the Tar Heels team would win this game, Jake was looking into the stands to find his friends, he can find his mother easily because he knew where she was.
He found Matthew and Oliver who were sitting next to Eva too, then he found Tiffany and Clara and can also find Eric, the hardest thing was for him to find Kate because she was in disguise again.
What was a surprise to Jake was that he met David Falk and NBA Lakers general manager Jerry West, he didn't expect David to come because David hadn't said anything, but soon Jake understood that it wouldn't be weird if he came with Jerry West for an NCAA tournament final game.
Jake felt more confident seeing that there were so many people rooting for him in this game, he really wanted to give everything he could to win this game that was his last game on the Tar Heels team.
Coach Guthridge asked players on the Tar Heels team to be careful of many players on the opposing team, Jeff Sheppard who had not played last season and was one of the main players on this current team.
Nazr Mohammed, Scott Padgett, and Wayne Turner, because of Nazr Mohammed coach Guthridge decided to put N'Diaye in the game instead of Okulaja, he had to do that because he didn't want to take Williams out of that game in the final.
But if someone played badly in that game Okulaja would join the team again, everyone knew that the Kentucky Wildcats team was also a very offensive team and therefore Coach Guthridge had to bet on the attack of Team Tar Heels that was stronger than in defense.
”Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game from the final of the NCAA tournament, in this championship game the two teams meet again just as it was last season that the Tar Heels team ended up winning the NCAA tournament.”
”The Tar Heels team is the favorite to win this game because it has the best players, Jake Smith who has been doing his second season and with these seasons his name will go down in history as one of the best players in the history of college basketball.”
”Jake has an incredible average this season of 35 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 9 steals, and 1.5 blocks, this is his game's average of 38 games so far.”
”The Tar Heels team also has Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Ademola Okulaja, Makhtar N'Diaye and Ed Cota who form one of the best teams in the history of the Tar Heels team and this season achieved a record of 63 straight victories with last season.”