This was late March 1985, what turned out to be the most remarkable month of a most remarkable basketball life for Roland Vincent Massimino. His Villanova Wildcats had already stuck around the NCAA Tournament far longer than expected, they’d beaten Dayton on Dayton’s home floor, knocked off top-seeded Michigan, chased Len Bias and Maryland away in a 46-43 rock fight.

Now they were playing North Carolina, the ultimate blue blood, and it had not gone well so far at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center. The second-seeded Tar Heels had taken a 22-17 lead at the half, and everyone knew when Carolina had a second-half lead, that’s when Dean Smith would roll out the Four Corners.