Tar Heels earn rematch with UA

Top-seeded North Carolina beat sixth-seeded Louisville 97-74 yesterday to win the East Regional and give the Tar Heels their 16th-straight victory and 13th Final Four berth.

Eleven of those have been under Smith, who became college basketball's winningest coach last weekend and now has 879 career victories.

North Carolina (28-6) has been to the Final Four in each of the odd-numbered years in the '90s, with 1993 being Smith's second national championship.

The Tar Heels will play Arizona Saturday in Indianapolis.

Smith is also the winningest coach in the history of the NCAA tournament and win No. 65 seemed assured by halftime as the Tar Heels took a 54-33 lead. North Carolina shot 63 percent from the field in the first half, and held the Cardinals (26-9) without a field goal over the final five minutes, outscoring them 19-6.

But Louisville, which trailed at halftime in all four of its NCAA tournament games, had other ideas. The Cardinals started the second half with a 19-5 run and used a 3-point barrage to get within 69-66 with 8:19 to play. However, they went into another long scoring drought, and a 12-0 run over the next 4:45 increased North Carolina's lead to 81-66.

North Carolina lost its first three Atlantic Coast Conference games this season for the first time ever. The Tar Heels were being written off by many, but they haven't lost since Jan. 29.