UNC arrives in Los Angeles, where a Hollywood story lurks in the West Region
From any upper floor window in a certain corner of downtown Los Angeles, two sights catch the eye almost immediately. The first is the “Crypto.com Arena” — formerly known as the Staples Center, where no shortage of memorable Los Angeles teams and stars have performed; a white saucer of a building that’s arguably the entertainment center of the entertainment capital of the United States.
And then, in the distant haze, northwest of the arena and overlooking everything around here, is the Hollywood sign. It’s high on the side of Mount Lee, in Hollywood Hills, and the in-person sight of it is always enough to conjure a certain kind of mystique. For all the smog and the traffic and the less-than-glamorous stereotypes about L.A., there’s that sign, lording over all and almost boasting, as if to say: Yes, this is where the magic happens. Then, now and always.
Indeed, this is a place built on stories — some of them true but many more of them not. It’s a place built on tropes and plot twists and character arcs, and now four teams have arrived here in hopes of creating their own kind of magic in the NCAA Tournament West Regional. From downtown LA, that Hollywood sign looms in the distance, almost beckoning for drama. The arena, meanwhile, offers a stage for the continuation of arguably the greatest spectacle in American sport.
Come Saturday, the West will be won. North Carolina (the No. 1 seed) or Arizona (No. 2) or Alabama (No. 4) or Clemson (No. 6) will claim it. In a city of stories, here are the storylines — with a UNC focus — that are the most intriguing:
1. All you need is Love (against his old team)
Well, that was true in the case of Arizona, at least. Not so much for the Tar Heels.
But let’s just state facts here: If UNC and Arizona both win on Thursday — the Tar Heels against Alabama; Arizona against Clemson — their regional final match-up would be one of the most anticipated Elite Eight games since ... when, exactly? There’s not another one that quickly comes to mind.
And that’s not because there haven’t been a lot of highly-anticipated regional finals over the years. There certainly have been. But a UNC-Arizona final in the West would be preposterous. Even in a town with no shortage of ridiculous movie scripts sitting in drawers somewhere, never to be spoken of, let alone produced, Caleb Love going against his old team would be rich with drama and intrigue.
It’s the kind of stuff a screenwriter wouldn’t even attempt.
Too Hollywood. Too scripted. Too perfect.
Yes, all those things. But even better, given it’d be real life.
By now everyone knows the back story: Love spent his first three seasons at UNC, developing as much of a, well, love-hate relationship with fans (and perhaps teammates and coaches) as anyone in school history. He made the shot of all shots in the 2022 national semifinal against Duke, that helped end Mike Krzyzewski’s career. And then, after an erratic junior season, he left UNC and wound up at Arizona, where he earned Pac-12 Player of the Year honors.
And now, both teams are one victory away from setting up the matchup that most everybody has wanted — except, perhaps, for the UNC supporters who spent equal parts cursing Love and praising him the past few years. It hasn’t happened, yet. It might not. But if it does, what better location than here, in Hollywood, for a story that no movie could do justice.
2. It’s Showtime! (kind of)
An important distinction: The Showtime Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s were not born in the downtown arena named after the digital money. No, the Showtime Lakers played in the L.A. Forum, about 15 miles southwest of downtown. Nonetheless, Crypto.com Arena —were there no other offers for the naming rights? — has hosted plenty of Showtime, itself.
It was the home, after all, to the Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant Lakers of the late ’90s and 2000s.
Nobody will confuse even the peak of college basketball in 2024 with some of the most entertaining NBA teams of all time but, nonetheless, the West Regional is about as showtime as it gets in the college game. Of the 16 remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament, the three most up-tempo, according to kenpom.com, are all in Los Angeles this week.
Alabama ranks eighth nationally in adjusted tempo, and is the fastest team remaining in the field. Arizona is 16th in adjusted tempo, and UNC 41st. Those are the only three teams left in the tournament that average at least 70 possessions per game. (Clemson, meanwhile, is the fourth-slowest remaining team.)
So what’s this mean, for UNC? It means, for one thing, that it won’t have any difficulty playing its preferred style on Thursday, against Alabama. Both the Tar Heels and Crimson Tide like to get out and go. And unlike Alabama, which ranks 101st in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to kenpom, the Tar Heels can defend. They’re ranked sixth nationally in that metric.
If UNC and Arizona both win on Thursday, the regional final on Saturday would have all the makings of a classic. Not only would there be the obvious storyline, about Love, but both the Tar Heels and Wildcats waste no time on offense. Given Love’s trademark streakiness, such a game could go very well for the Tar Heels — or very poorly, if Love’s perimeter shots are falling.
3. What could’ve been, with Jarin
A year ago at this time, Jarin Stevenson had just finished his junior season at Seaforth High, a still-new 2-A public high school near Pittsboro and Chapel Hill. And now, after graduating high school a year early, here Stevenson is, playing against the school that recruited him, for years.
Stevenson’s journey to Alabama was the focus of a series of stories The News & Observer published in 2022 and 2023, about how a high-level prospect navigated an ever-changing landscape. Indeed, the options were numerous. Stevenson was recruited heavily by UNC and Virginia, among others.
He could’ve pursued opportunities to play with Overtime Elite or the NBA’s G-League Ignite. Eventually, he reclassified and decided to play for coach Nate Oats at Alabama, where has been an important reserve this season for the Crimson Tide — and one who’ll undoubtedly get his chance to make a difference Thursday night.
What makes this especially compelling is that UNC recruited Stevenson for years. Hubert Davis, the Tar Heels head coach, offered Stevenson a scholarship near the beginning of his sophomore year at Seaforth. Stevenson’s mom, Nicole, played women’s basketball at UNC, and for a while he was assumed to be something of a lock to wind up in Chapel Hill.
Stevenson, though, valued the chance to play early — something he questioned, right or wrong, that he’d be able to do at UNC. Both Stevenson and people around UNC might find themselves wondering on Thursday night what might’ve been had he made a different decision. For UNC, especially, it’s rare to miss out on an in-state prospect of Stevenson’s caliber — and one who lived about 15 minutes from campus, no less.
4. Redemption? Go (through the) West, young men
With respect to the 2017 Tar Heels, the 2024 version could author a much more redemptive story. In 2017, UNC won the national championship a year after the heartbreak of 2016, and the loss against Villanova at the buzzer. It was a great story, certainly.
Thing is, though, there wasn’t ever really any shame in how UNC lost in 2016. Kris Jenkins made one of the great shots in NCAA Tournament history — after Marcus Paige made what’s probably now the greatest shot no one remembers, to tie that game in the final seconds of regulation. As great as the heartbreak was, UNC was still right there. It lost on an all-time shot.
Sometimes it happens that way.
The current Tar Heels, and especially Armando Bacot and RJ Davis, have much more to redeem. UNC started the 2022-23 season ranked No. 1 and then missed the NCAA Tournament. No other team has ever done that, since the tournament expanded in 1985. Last season was, with little question, the most disappointing season in UNC’s storied basketball history.
There were a lot of reasons for all that went wrong and plenty of blame to go around. Hubert Davis, fair or not, caught the majority of it from disgruntled fans accustomed to little other than having things their way for, well, just about forever. UNC entered this season with a lot of pressure — Davis (both Hubert and RJ), especially.
And now look: the Tar Heels, a No. 1 seed, are two wins away from the Final Four. And Davis and Davis, meanwhile, earned ACC honors for coach and player of the year. This is a group that, collectively, has already achieved a measure of redemption. But getting back to the Final Four, after last year? That’d be the stuff of storybooks.
This story was originally published March 26, 2024 at 6:59 PM with the headline "UNC arrives in Los Angeles, where a Hollywood story lurks in the West Region."
