University Of North Carolina

Two students horsing around in a college dormitory in Chapel Hill crashed through a third-floor window and fell onto the concrete below, school officials said. One was killed, and the other was hospitalized. Investigators do not believe drugs or alcohol were involved, University of North Carolina spokeswoman Lisa Katz said. The two young men were "just running, horsing around, playing," and went through a window at the end of a hallway, she said.

After the national championship would come the fall. At least that's what North Carolina Tar Heel haters hoped. The Tar Heels lost all five starters from last season's national championship team. They lost their top seven scorers, 91% of their scoring and three-point shooting, and 88% of their rebounding. Gone are Jackie Manuel, Melvin Scott, Jawad Williams, Raymond Felton, Sean May, Rashad McCants and Marvin Williams.

Even as North Carolina's Raymond Felton stepped to the line and turned a three-point lead into five, the Illinois players still believed. "Ten seconds on the clock and they were shooting free throws, and we still thought we could make plays at the end to win the game," guard Luther Head said. "It was tough. I mean, we never gave up." The Illini were down by 15 early in the second half. No problem, they thought. They had been down 15 with four minutes left against Arizona and won.

It's Raymond Felton's heart that North Carolina Coach Roy Williams loves. And the attitude. It's that mouthy, cocky belief that whatever play he runs, whatever shot he takes, it's the right-thing-to-do belief in himself that point guard Felton has and Williams adores. Felton is only 6 feet 1 and he can't hit 200 pounds on the scale even when he eats cheeseburgers and pizza, but in his mind, Felton thinks he can do anything, anytime. "He's a tough little rascal," Williams said.

It's over. Unfortunately. I'm as happy as anyone else that North Carolina Coach Roy Williams' reign as the best coach never to win a national championship is over. I just hated to see this game end. I hated to see this tournament end. I hated to see this once-in-a-lifetime-ride end this way for Illinois. You hate to see a team that won as many games as any team in NCAA history, a group that played with so much heart branded a loser.

No timetable was set for Coach Roy Williams' rebuilding project at North Carolina, because trying to restore a tradition-rich program can be difficult. Of course, everyone's pace differs. Williams preferred to complete the job quickly, putting the finishing touches on a rapid turnaround Monday night when North Carolina outlasted Illinois, 75-70, to give him his first national championship in front of 47,262 at the Edward Jones Dome.

In 100 years of playing basketball, Illinois has never won a national championship, never even played in the title game. But history isn't something to preoccupy any of the mighty 2005 Illini. "I haven't played all those 100 years," guard Luther Head said. "History doesn't mean anything to me." In 17 years of coaching and molding nationally ranked and admired teams and building a Hall of Fame resume, North Carolina Coach Roy Williams has never won a national championship.

North Carolina is considered the nation's most talented team, and it might have three players selected in the first round of June's NBA draft. Freshman forward Marvin Williams -- the Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year -- would be a top-three pick if he left Chapel Hill, talent evaluators said, and All-American junior guards Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants also are among the NBA's highest-rated college players.

For a moment, take your eyes off the coaching carousel set in motion by Roy Williams that led to Illinois' hiring Bruce Weber and follow the lottery balls of recruiting that linked point guards Raymond Felton and Deron Williams. The short story: Deron Williams is at Illinois because Felton chose North Carolina. "I actually wanted to go to North Carolina all my life," Williams said. "That was where I wanted to go, but it didn't happen.