Beckham, Jenkins relish in Carolina pals crowning moments
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The North Carolina players were dancing on the court around Roy Williams now, and Kris Jenkins watched the confetti fall from the sky one year after that One Shining Moment that had belonged to him and his Villanova teammates in Houston. Odell Beckham Jr. was wide-eyed with awe catching all the joy that was exploding near him in the euphoric North Carolina crowd.
“I’m just so happy for them, man,” Jenkins said. “After last year, just for them to fight and get back to this point and to win it all ... how hard work and determination and focus, what it could do for you.”
It was North Carolina 71, Gonzaga 65, because at the end, with the championship there for the taking, the Tar Heels were the tougher team, the more experienced team, and they took it.
“I’m happy my other favorite team in college came out on top,” Jenkins said.
Gonzaga wanted so badly to win its first national championship. North Carolina wanted it more. “For them to lose last year and get back here and win it, I can only imagine how they feel,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins’ brother, Nate Britt, had finally checked out of Heartbreak Hotel on Monday night. All of the Tar Heels did.
“They fought all game, withstood the storm,” Beckham told The Post. “When things seemed to not be going their way they found a way to stay calm, stay poised, and I think it’s a big salute to coach Roy [Williams] and the way that he’s raised everybody in that program, and the way he gets all of his players.”
Beckham wants to be the NFL’s Michael Jordan, of course.
“I said the only way I was gonna play college basketball is if I went to UNC to play basketball,” Beckham said. “I told coach Roy [Sunday] when I met him, ‘ You know you didn’t offer me a scholarship, but I’ll still always be a UNC fan.”
He saw little Joel Berry II, the Final Four’s most outstanding player, fighting off a bum ankle that left him 20 percent diminished, playing with the heart of a lion.
There was Kennedy Meeks rejecting Nigel Williams-Goss’ last- minute drive that led to a Berry feed to Justin Jackson that made North Carolina a true Redeem Team.
“Seeing the confetti come down, just knowing that the love and everything that you have in college for your sport, and what you put behind it and what the national championship represents to them, I know it’s an amazing feeling,” Beckham said. “I had chills all the time.”
Berry stepped down from the University of Phoenix Stadium court and came over to the Carolina celebration in the stands and Beckham hugged him.
“When I ran down here I saw Joel’s mom, she showed me the tattoo, it says ‘Believe,’ on the inside of her arm,” Beckham said. “Joel has the same tattoo and I saw him look back to his mom after they won the national championship game and point to the tattoo, so I just know that it was a very special moment. I wish I woulda caught it on video, man.”
Beckham met Berry through Meeks. Steve Serby
“He just wants to be great,” Beckham said. “I can’t lie to you, it’s like I wish I was on the court, but it’s a dream come true for sure.”
I asked Beckham what he thought of Meeks’ block, which came with 16 seconds left at a time when the score was 68-65.
“He came up big,” Beckham said.
Meeks’ mother Nakhia was nearby with a net around her neck and a smile that could have stretched back to hometown Charlotte.
“I knew he had four fouls, he had one more to go, and the game wasn’t gonna be over,” she said. “I promise you I knew that. I felt it. I knew it.”
When Williams-Goss was driving to the hoop, what were you thinking?
“Kennedy’s gotta pull a rabbit out of a hat is what I was thinking,” she said and laughed.
Her son had made such a sacrifice, losing 60 pounds for a moment like this.
“Everything was well worth it,” she said. “That’s all I can really say.”