ESPN’s The Undefeated has an oral history of Marcus Paige’s game tying shot and Kris Jenkins’ National Championship winning shot. It’s terrific. My favorite part:

Kris Jenkins Junior forward, Villanova

[In the future, I’ll say my] shot was Kobe Bryant-esque. Cold-blooded. But that’s 20, 30 years from now. Right now, it was just one of the many shots I shot, that I take every day. I’ve shot that shot a million times.

Justin Jackson Sophomore forward, North Carolina

You can’t get away from it. Any time they start talking about the tournament, boom, Kris’ shot is on.

Jay Wright Head coach, Villanova; 2006 Naismith College Coach of the Year

I’ve wondered what it would be like to be on the other side of that. I can’t even imagine. I don’t think about overtime. I think, What if it went the other way?

Brice Johnson Senior forward, North Carolina

Definitely the greatest ending of all time. I wish I was on the better end of it, but, it is what it is. Do I ever wonder if it went to overtime? I don’t wonder. I know what would have happened. We would have won.

Joel Berry II Sophomore guard, North Carolina

We wish we had that extra time.

Ryan ArcidiaconoSenior guard, Villanova, also known as “Arch”

It never really crossed my mind. Ever. About what if that went to overtime.

Kris Jenkins Junior forward, Villanova

I don’t think what if the game went into overtime. Because it didn’t.

Because it didn’t. I detect just the slightest bit of baller in that line. 1-2 step, Mr. Kris.

Read the full piece here— it’s very well done.

Side note: I’m actually rooting for North Carolina this year. It had to be really tough for those kids to have their souls pierced by Jenkins and then have to go to class make sure someone signed them into class just told their teachers they weren’t going to make it to class a day later. The plight of the UNC basketball player. No but for real, count me on board the Tarheels train this weekend. Choo choo.