By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

It is that special time of the year again. It is March Madness, and my buddies are going to think I have gone quite mad because I am picking North Carolina to win the National Championship. Folks who know me well know I don’t care much for Carolina Basketball and never much have.

One thing for sure is North Carolina is one of the blue bloods of the sport. While the seeding committee made Carolina the number one seed in the South region they also put Kentucky as the number two seed in the incredibly tough South region.

The South Region presents the toughest path to the final four. North Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA, and Butler are the top four seeds. Then you have the always dangerous 5/12 game where #5 Minnesota plays a very dangerous #12 seed in Middle Tennessee. A sleeper in #6 Cincinnati and the always tough Wichita State team with a #10 seed.

North Carolina must navigate the Arkansas/Seton Hall winner is second round which will get the Heels ready for Butler. Carolina is the best rebounding team in the nation and that will get them past Butler into the dream regional final in Memphis against the Kentucky Wildcats.

This is the dream matchup for the committee. A Heels/Cats matchup might be the best game of the entire tournament.

Back on December 17^th these two played in a classic where Kentucky won 103-100. But Carolina plays in the battle tested ACC which is the best basketball conference in America and we can argue that point until the cows come home. Carolina enters March Madness with a 27-7 record and despite losing to Duke in the ACC Tourney this team enters this year’s field of 64 with a chip on its shoulder.

North Carolina has won over 2,200 games in its storied history dating back to 1910. This program has won March Madness 5 times 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, and 2009. 19 trips to the final four, 27 times in the Elite 8, and 32 times to the sweet sixteen. Haters like me can hate, but the numbers never lie.

Remember the title game last year when Villanova beat the Heels lose on a buzzer beater? Guess how many times this edition has watched that over and over for the past 12 months?

Roy Williams is closing in on 400 wins in Chapel Hill after arriving in 2003. This current team does not have really any superstars, but plays tough defense and can rebound. In tough tourney games if you can rebound and get stops you can keep moving on.

Kennedy Meeks, Justin Jackson, and Joel Berry will lead this team to the promised land of the 6^th National Championship in school history.

This is a good basketball team who may not be the most talented in the land but after the heartbreak of 2016 this team will be the most mentally prepared and that timely loss to Duke last week will light a fire under this bunch and when it is all said and done North Carolina cuts down the nets this year, and the ACC will be known as the best football conference this year with Clemson and North Carolina in Basketball.

Can you believe an SEC guy like me is actually writing this? Not as crazy as Lonzo Ball’s dad LaVar saying he could beat Michael Jordan in a game of one on one which might be the most insane sports trash talk I have ever heard.