North Carolina crushed Michigan State 89-72 in the Championship Game of the 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament.  UNC rushed out to an early 40-20 lead and led by an incredible 21 points by halftime – 55-34.  Although MSU cut the lead to 13 on a few occasions in the 2nd half, the game was never close.

UNC’s Roy Williams won his 2nd National Championship Title in 5 years at his alma mater.  IN 2005, UNC defeated Illinois for Williams’ 1st National Championship title as a head coach.

UNC had an explosive balanced attack on Monday night.  Ty Lawson led the way with 21 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.  Lawson also set a Final Four record by recording 8 steals in the Championship Game – he had 7 steals in the 1st half alone before Coach Williams called off the dogs.  Tyler Hansborough, who returned to Chapel Hill for his senior year to win the NCAA title that eluded his team during their 2008 Final Four run, poured in 18 points and 7 rebounds.  Wayne Ellington emerged on the Final Four scene with an impressive 19 point effort to go along with 4 rebounds.  Ed David also had a solid night off the bench – 11 points and 8 rebounds in only 14 minutes.

Goran Suton led the way for MSU in defeat – 17 points and 11 rebounds.  Point Guard Kalin Lucas scored 14 points and dished out 7 assists, but also committed 6 costly turnovers.  MSU’s best player – Raymar Morgan – was invisible all night long.  Morgan fouled out after scoring just 4 points and grabbing only 1 offensive rebound.  Morgan only took a total of 2 shots from the field.

Kudos to Coach Williams and his Tarheels.  There was a lot of pressure on North Caraolina to get the win over the “home-town underdog” Spartans, and they didn’t disappoint.  Williams has now added his name to the elite list of college coaches who have won multiple NCAA Basketball Championships – Mike Kryzewski, Jim Calhoun and Billy Donovan are the only other active coaches to lay claim to multiple championships. And he should be credited with rejuvenating the Tarhell program which should once again be a national powerhouse for years to come…

Gotta love NCAA tourney action – especially in the early rounds on Thursday and Friday.  Pitt almost made history – fending off East Tennessee State 72-62 late to avoid becoming the 1st #1 seed to ever lose to a #16 seed.  There were other exciting games this morning/afternoon:

Oklahoma State (8) knocked off Tennessee (9) 77-75.

11 seed Dayton pulled of a flying shocker with a 68-60 upset of 6 seed West Virginia.

Arizona State avoided the 6-11 upset by pulling away late to hold off Temple 66-57.

And in the best game of the early sessions, 6 seed Marquette topped 11 seed Utah State 58-57.  Marquette was up big early and then trailed late in the 2nd half before pulling off the dramatic win.

Gotta love these first 2 rounds of tourney action.