University Of North Carolina

In the 1920s, the North Carolina Legislature banned the teaching of evolution in public schools. In the 1960s, state lawmakers banned Communists from speaking on state-supported campuses. Last week, a state House committee moved in to prevent the University of North Carolina from requiring incoming freshmen to read a book on the Koran--Islam's Scriptures.

What a shock: The school everyone said was No. 1 at the beginning of the season has earned the chance to prove that it's No. 1 at the end. Getting from November to now wasn't as easy as it sounds, but North Carolina Coach Roy Williams' team is one game from almost living up to its incredible hype. North Carolina used its considerable height, power and point guard Ty Lawson advantage to defeat Villanova on Saturday, 83-69, to advance to Monday night's national title game against Michigan State.

A federal appeals court on Monday tersely turned down an attempt by a conservative Christian group to halt the University of North Carolina from using a text on the Islamic holy book, the Koran, to teach new students. Without elaborating on the reasoning behind its decision, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., said lawyers for the Family Policy Network had "failed to satisfy the requirements" for halting the study program.

Blake Griffin had just made the play of the game, and perhaps this NCAA tournament, an extraterrestrial -- he reached into the heavens -- one-handed dunk of an Austin Johnson lob pass. But Ty Lawson countered in less than eight seconds, slicing through the defense for a runner in the lane. That second-half sequence was Sunday's NCAA South Regional final in a capsule: The brilliance of Oklahoma's Griffin against the precision of North Carolina's Tar Heels.

Jack Himebauch, director of recruiting services for the University of North Carolina for four years, was named recruiting director at USC, replacing Dick Laguens, Athletic Director Mike McGee announced.

Laws raising the legal drinking age to 21 went into effect in five states, triggering last-minute booze-buying sprees and a rampage by students at the University of North Carolina. Wisconsin, North Carolina, Minnesota, Iowa and Texas became the latest states to avoid the loss of federal highway funds by passing laws banning the sale of alcohol to people under age 21. The Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota laws allow people who turned 19 years old before Sept. 1 to continue drinking.

A hacker used a University of North Carolina computer system to steal personal financial information from EBay users, and at least one person lost money, the FBI said. Users of the Internet auction site complained to the FBI that they had received fraudulent e-mails that appeared to come from EBay. The e-mails told recipients their accounts were suspended until they verified some personal information -- including their credit card numbers.

An admissions department e-mail sent from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill congratulated 2,700 prospective freshmen this week on their acceptance to the school. The problem is that none of the applicants has been admitted. Applicants won't find out until March whether they've made the cut. Stephen Farmer, the school's director of undergraduate admissions, said the e-mail was intended to request midyear grades.

Roy Williams is coaching against Kansas -- anyone think that might be a story line? It took a lot of bracket work for this to play out. North Carolina, top-seeded in the East, had to work its way through Mount St. Mary's, Arkansas, Washington State and Louisville. Kansas, seeded No. 1 in the Midwest, defeated Portland State, Nevada Las Vegas, Villanova and Davidson to reach the Final Four.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Hardly anyone has forgotten the busted and bloody nose Tyler Hansbrough got against Duke last season, and he knows it. On Halloween, that gave him the idea for the perfect college student's costume -- easy to pull off, yet witty and wry. He donned one of the three protective masks he wore after Gerald Henderson's forearm broke his nose last March, then ventured out amid the throngs of revelers on Franklin Street near campus...

He is the winningest coach in NCAA women's soccer, but North Carolina's Anson Dorrance also has helped supply the sport's coaching ranks with his former players. "Part of our philosophy at N.C. is to empower the women we're coaching," Dorrance said. "And part of that empowerment is, we're trying to sell them on considering this as a potential profession. We don't really push them." Dorrance, whose Tar Heels last season brought home their 18th NCAA championship, walks the walk.

Dance on: Ethan Stiefel, former artistic director of the Irvine-based Pacific Ballet, which folded last spring, has been named dean of the school of dance at North Carolina School of the Arts, part of the University of North Carolina. The appointment was made by the school's chancellor, John Mauceri. State grant: The Old Globe theater in San Diego has been awarded a $1.

From USC finding open shooting lanes in an easy victory over Arkansas to its dominant defensive effort in a rout over Kevin Durant and Texas, Coach Tim Floyd's NBA influence of exploiting matchups has been a major force behind the Trojans' tournament success. But this game-to-game strategy will face an all-new challenge against North Carolina tonight in a NCAA tournament Sweet 16 matchup at East Rutherford, N.J.

Imagine if every summer for more than 30 years, young Trojans in the NBA -- some of them already All-Stars -- kept returning to USC's North Gym or the Sports Arena or now the Galen Center to play pickup games. And imagine if year after year, Bill Sharman, Tex Winter, Paul Westphal, Bob Boyd, Stan Morrison, George Raveling and Henry Bibby -- all of them with some connection to USC -- got together with Tim Floyd to play golf, talk basketball and hold a coaching clinic.

The estate of the first woman to win a case before the North Carolina Supreme Court nearly 80 years ago has pledged $14 million to two North Carolina law schools. Kathrine R. Everett, one of Chapel Hill's first female law graduates, made state legal history in 1920 by becoming the first woman to win a case before its highest court, said Judith Wegner, dean of UNC's law school. Everett died in 1992 at 98 after a legal career spanning seven decades.

An admissions department e-mail sent from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill congratulated 2,700 prospective freshmen this week on their acceptance to the school. The problem is that none of the applicants has been admitted. Applicants won't find out until March whether they've made the cut. Stephen Farmer, the school's director of undergraduate admissions, said the e-mail was intended to request midyear grades.

University of North Carolina student Stephen Mann has a simple definition for the attack that occurred on his campus last week: terrorism. He and other UNC students were disturbed to learn this weekend that former UNC student Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar allegedly plowed a sport utility vehicle into nine pedestrians on the busy campus square to "avenge the deaths of Muslims" around the world, according to campus officials.