Monday nights to remember… and forget.

Since tonight would have been the national championship game in Atlanta, I’ll venture into the world of nostalgia this week that is choking us right now, as the present and future remain on hold.

Carolina played in four NCAA title games held on Monday night under Dean Smith and newly nominated Hall of Famer Bill Guthridge and missed five more chances by losing in the Saturday semifinals. They all provided bittersweet memories galore.

To this day, the most heartbreaking had to be in Atlanta’s old Omni against Marquette in 1977, a year the banged-up Tar Heels somehow made it to the Final Four and final game. Before Tom LaGarde tore up his knee in February, no one was playing better than Carolina. Then an uncanny rash of more injuries hit the team.

In the in ACC tournament in Greensboro, All-American Walter Davis broke a finger by slamming his hand against the backboard in the semifinals against N.C. State. A yelping Sweet D had the blood drained from his swollen finger before the ACC finals against Virginia, with his mates crying as they felt Walter’s pain. He actually tried to play and, while not scoring, Davis inspired the team to a dramatic comeback win fueled by Phil Ford and John Kuester.

Then in the Regional final against Kentucky in College Park, Kuester ran Four Corners in the second half after Ford hyperextended his elbow in the Sweet 16 win over Notre Dame.

Ford came back to play great in the national semifinals against fourth-ranked UNLV, when freshman Mike O’Koren scored 31 points, many on backdoor passes from the magical Ford. But in the championship game, after the Heels rallied from a double-digit deficit against Marquette, Four Corners failed them as the Warriors held on to win in Al McGuire’s last game as a college coach.

Tears filled the Omni for a team that seemed destined to strip the nets after all the adversity it had suffered. Smith had to wait for his first NCAA championship. Tomorrow, Indiana in Philadelphia.

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