Gonzaga, their opponent on Monday night, are appearing in their first title game in school history. But the Tar Heels are facing another unseen opponent that night as well....
The sports gods.
For some strange reason the last twelve months has been the year of the underdog when it comes to winning it all in both the collegiate and professional ranks. And if the underdog had endured a long championship drought then it spelled double trouble for the prohibitive favorites in those contests.
It all started with, coincidentally enough, North Carolina who were favored to capture their sixth National Championship over Villanova.
The last time the underdog Wildcats won it all, Back to the Future and The Color Purple were still playing in theatres (1985).
The Wildcats' upset victory over North Carolina set off a chain of similar events that sent shock waves throughout all of sports.
A few months later LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers captured their first title by knocking off the heavily favored defending champion Golden State Warriors, who had just completed the best regular season record in NBA history (73-9).
Not only did LeBron and Company become the first NBA team to win it all after trailing 3-1 in the Finals, but they also ended a 52 year title drought for the city of Cleveland.
Not to be outdone, the Chicago Cubs also rallied from a 3-1 deficit to the Cleveland Indians in last year's World Series a few months later to capture their first title in over 100 years.
A century? Think about that for a second...
That alone, in theory, should have made the sports gods proud. But they were just getting started.
Ten weeks later the Clemson Tigers faced the juggernaut Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2017 College Football National Championship game.
Nick Saban's Tide were heavy favorites after knocking off the Tigers in the previous championship game, and the talk leading up to the match up was Saban's legacy after capturing yet another title.
Clemson (and the sports gods) had other plans as the Tigers staged a furious comeback to capture their first tile in 36 years.
A month later the sports gods essentially gift wrapped a Super Bowl victory to the underdog Atlanta Falcons, which would have been their first in franchise history. But an epic collapse that even divine intervention couldn't prevent led to the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history for the New England Patriots.
Unfazed by the Falcons' lack of gratitude, the sports gods then set their sights on Geno Auriemma and the UConn women's basketball program. A program seeking their sixth straight championship and 112th straight victory overall.
The Lady Huskies were stunned last Friday night by Mississippi State, a team they defeated in last year's tournament by 60 points. The two point overtime loss is the biggest upset in women's NCAA history, and arguably one of the biggest upsets in all of sports...regardless of gender.
So what does this mean to North Carolina on Monday night?
It means they have to play a near-perfect game, and it wouldn't hurt to have Tom Brady in the stands rocking a Tar Heels jersey.
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