- [Narrator] It's April 4th, 2016.
We're in Houston, Texas, in the final seconds
of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
between North Carolina and Villanova.
The Wildcats are hustling up the floor
for one last chance to break a tie.
Before this final play,
we have to talk about what came first.
The recent history of these two teams,
the intertwined stories of their players,
and, also, the absurdity that just happened.
We really need to rewind.
This game has been a lot of fun,
but before we get into it,
let's remember how these teams got here.
North Carolina has one of the most successful,
most renowned men's basketball programs ever.
This guy in the crowd is one reason why.
This guy is another.
Roy Williams is a Carolina kid and a former Tar Heel player.
He was an assistant coach for Dean Smith
when Jordan and company won it all in 1982.
But, starting in the late 80's,
Williams built his national reputation
as the head coach at Kansas.
Though his Jayhawks won a lot,
they always fell short of a championship,
including a heart breaking loss to Carmelo Anthony
in Syracuse in the 2003 NCAA Final.
After that defeat, the Tar Heels offered Williams
his dream job.
UNC was still reeling from its only losing season
in over a half century, and,
unconvinced by coach Matt Doherty's kinda bounce back year.
Doherty resigned and Williams took over,
swiftly restoring Tar Heel glory.
In Williams' second season, he oversaw a squad
still lead by holdover Doherty recruits
and relatively unburdened by school work, it would seem.
They outlasted a similarly stacked Illinois squad
to win the 2005 NCAA title.
Williams continued to draw top recruits,
players continued to stick around for multiple seasons,
and the Tar Heels won it all again in 2009.
Relatively speaking, the years since constitute
a bit of a valley.
There was an NIT visit, the aforementioned academic scandal,
and, most recently, some teams
that just didn't make much noise in March Madness.
But, those players are still here.
This is an experienced team, with a big,
powerful, rim attacking offense.
The Tar Heels steamrolled the regular season schedule,
took the ACC Championship, and beat every opponent
in this tournament easily.
And if you think that's a super hot run to the tournament,
let me introduce you to the Villanova Wildcats.
Nova is not the historical tournament stalwart UNC is,
though, they did win it all as an eight seed in 1985,
upsetting Georgetown with one of the most
flawless offensive performances ever.
That team was coached by Rollie Massimino,
who's here tonight.
This team is coached by one of Massimino's proteges,
Jay Wright, who's been at Nova since 2001.
The Wildcats have made some deep runs under Wright,
but not all the way.
The only time Wright took Villanova to the Final Four
was in 2009, and UNC stomped them
en route to their title.
This is their first time in the finals since 85,
and they arrived here on an absolute tear.
Villanova was a very good regular season team,
winning a school record, 35 games.
They're driven, not by one star,
but by a whole lineup,
perhaps even deeper and more balanced than UNC's.
In this tournament, they've hit a whole new level.
Nova's top notch defense froze opponents
and they shot frighteningly well, too.
In the last three rounds they've imitated the 85 Wildcats
by beating a three seed, a one seed, and a two seed.
Only one of those games was even remotely close.
They crushed Oklahoma in the Final Four
by a score of 95 to 51, holding the best scorer
in the nation, Buddy Hield, to just nine points.
So, this is buzzsaw verse buzzsaw.
It's no surprise to see two teams,
with this much electricity, locked in a tie.
But they didn't get to this point in the usual ways.
UNC typically does its scoring inside,
and they did do a nice job puncturing Wildcat traps,
like this play to find Brice Johnson at the rim.
But this weak shooting Tar Heel lineup,
which only hit five or six threes per game
during the regular season, remarkably hit that threshold
with Joel Berry's bucket, midway through the first half.
Justin Jackson's trey toward the end of that half,
punctuated a 12-3 run for their biggest lead of the game.
These are not numbers you expect from this team.
UNC hasn't exactly cooled off since,
but Villanova's clearly undone the damage,
even for a deep balanced team, the leader of that comeback
was not who you'd expect.
Phil Booth is a bench guard who's been pressed
into extra action because of foul trouble
and maybe just because starting guard, Jalen Brunson,
is a freshman.
Booth leads the Wildcats in scoring.
He followed Josh Hart's big block at the end
of the first half with a tough turnaround
to cut some of that UNC momentum.
And in the second half, he's got bucket,
after bucket, after bucket.
He gave Nova a 10 point lead with free throws
just over five minutes ago.
Clearly, that lead didn't hold either.
For that, you can thank Marcus Paige,
who may have just cemented his place
in college basketball lore.
He completely took over the last couple minutes.
Paige found Berry for another big three.
Paige made a huge three of his own.
Paige missed inside and simply requisitioned
the rebound to correct his error.
And, with a three point deficit and time winding down,
Paige hit one of the wildest shots we've ever seen.
Villanova's pressure defense did not relent,
switched onto Page, big man, Daniel Ochefu,
laid out for a steal but missed.
Page immediately pulled up, but Ryan Arcidiacono
closed out perfectly, forcing a double clutch.
The Wildcats did their job, it didn't matter.
An incredibly difficult double clutch shot
found the bottom of the net, tying the game.
That is one of the most improbable clutch plays
in the history of this tournament.
But Villanova has enough time left to eclipse it.
Let's check out what they're doing and who's doing it.
Daniel Ochefu is setting screen near half court.
If you were paying attention, you might have predicted that.
Rewind a bit.
Remember Ochefu diving to the floor before that Page shot?
Well, that left a big wet spot,
and if you fast forward to just moments ago,
you'll see Ochefu borrowing a child's mop
to make absolutely certain that spot wasn't slick.
And if the set that calls for this Ochefu screen
looks familiar, you've probably been watching
Jay Wright's team for a while.
Let's return to March Madness 2009,
when the Wildcats upset Pittsburgh.
Here's the winning play.
Reggie Redding wanted to inbound the ball
to Scottie Reynolds, but met heavy pit pressure.
So, he skipped it over to Dante Cunningham,
who delivered the ball to Reynolds,
who dribbled into traffic with Redding open as a trail man.
Instead of kicking out, Reynolds attacked
and had himself a moment.
Coach Wright calls this full court set Nova,
a nice simple name for a pretty simple play,
that the Wildcats still use, even though Reynolds
kinda spilled the beans after his bigshot in 09.
- It's something that we do every day in practice,
at the end, end of the game situations.
They face guarded me, and when that happens,
Dante makes a flash to the middle of the floor
and I make a second cut away from him
going towards the basket.
We have a stagger going on the opposite side,
- [Jay] Alright, alright, that's....
- [Narrator] Yes, that was coach Wright
telling Reynolds to shush.
And, seven years later, we can see why.
What you're looking at right now is the same basic set.
UNC didn't pressure the inbound like Pit did,
seven years ago, so the player in the Reynolds roll,
Ryan Arcidiacono, got the ball cleanly,
then received a screen, rather than a hand off from Ochefu.
And as the ball crosses mid court with three seconds to go,
it looks like Arcidiacono might attack
the way Reynolds did.
And, who better for the job?
Arcidiacono is not just this team's senior leader,
he is the son of two Villanova alumni
and he recently surpassed this guy, Dante Cunningham,
to become the program's all time leader in games played.
This final game Arcidiacono's 144th, as a Wildcat.
He is Mister Villanova.
This could be a storybook ending.
But, wait a second.
Unlike Reynolds in 09, Arcidiacono sees the help coming,
and pitches back to the trailing inbounder.
This, is Kris Jenkins, and this could be
an even more more storybook ending.
If Jenkins makes something happen here,
he'll be beating family.
UNC's Nate Britt, is his brother.
Kris's mother, Felicia, is here tonight.
Felicia coached basketball and raised Kris on the game,
which is how he became close with Nate and the Britt family.
But Felicia's life became hectic.
A separation, a move, a new job and travel schedule,
then the tragic death of Kris's infant sister.
Kris was struggling in school and behaving in ways
that alarmed his mother.
So, Felicia made a difficult choice.
She asked if the Britt's would legally adopt Kris.
They did, and the teammates became brothers.
They had excellent high school careers
that got them D1 offers.
After each committed to his school, Nate and Kris
watched a 2013 UNC/Villanova tournament game
together as rivals, then they went off to school.
Now, amazingly, they've reunited as rivals.
So far, Felicia, the Britt's,
and even the players themselves have scrambled to catch
both the UNC and Villanova games in this tournament.
Tonight, they're in one place.
Nate played nine quiet minutes off the bench.
Kris got into some early foul trouble,
but came alive with this gorgeous baseline jumper
and a contested three during Nova's big second half run.
And now he's getting the ball.
He's getting it from a Villanova lifer.
Freed a screen from a foresightful mopper,
as part of a play call that's helped coach Jay Wright
before in his quest to recreate the glory of 85.
That glory is much more distant than that of the Tar Heels,
a perineal powerhouse on a tear, unmatched by, well,
anyone but Villanova.
This is an incredible game between two extremely hot teams
and it just saw one of the greatest shots
in tournament history.
The only thing that can eclipse that dagger, is another one.
Let's see if Kris Jenkins has it.
Welcome to a moment in history.
- [Announcer] Arcidiacono off to Jenkins for the win!
National Championship for Villanova!