Champions Bracket: 2009 North Carolina vs. 2011 UConn

Another great battle between a great team and a great player. North Carolina had a tremendous all around team and some very good players in 2009 but Kemba Walker was just a dominant player who carried the Huskies to a surprise National Championship in 2011.

Walker was unstoppable leading a team that was built for tournaments. He was the quintessential floor-leader and captain of his squad. He ran the floor, moved the offense, made the tough shots and got all of his teammates involved and made them better. The Huskies ran through him and feed off his energy. He was small and it was hard to really understand how he was so good but he just got the job done.

Tyler Hansbrough – North Carolina

It wasn’t like his team was a complete one-man show. Alex Oriakhi could control the interior and his presence was what opened lanes up for Walker to drive to the basket and score. Freshman Shabazz Napier was just like Walker but a little quicker with the ball. That was their trio but led by a dominant player.

But that North Carolina team had zero holes. Tyler Hansbrough was the best player in the country and an absolutely dominant center. He too was a great team leader and the Tar Heels ran off his emotion. He was a hard-worker do-it-all type of center any college team would love to have lead their squad. He wasn’t the best athlete but he was surrounded by tremendous ones.

Ty Lawson was a quick point guard with great scoring ability and an eye for the open man. Wayne Ellington and Danny Green were terrific outside shooters who spread the floor. Those two guys could get on a roll and be lights out, hitting everything no matter where they were or how many hands were in their face. Deon Thompson was a hard-working power forward who got inside, fought for positioning, got some points and grabbed rebounds.

All five of those guys were drafted that summer by NBA teams and another player, freshman Ed Davis, ended up being selected by an NBA team.

While UConn came out of nowhere and shocked the world in 2011 as they ran through the tournament the 2009 UNC squad took nobody by surprise. They were on the cusp for a few years but finally broke through with a very experience squad that is going to be very tough to beat.

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Corey Johns

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You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.

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