UNC’s Berry plays through ankle pain
GLENDALE, Ariz. — North Carolina point guard
had declared his injured ankles 85 percent healthy before the Final Four.
The junior from Lake Highland Prep played in Monday night’s championship game against Gonzaga, fighting through the lingering injuries.
He twisted both ankles during the NCAA Tournament, hurting the right one against Texas Southern in the first round and then injuring the left one in the Elite Eight against Kentucky.
Berry appeared to be hampered during the Final Four victory against Oregon on Saturday night when he shot 2 of 14 from the field but played 35 minutes. He was held out of practice Sunday.
“I actually feel better,” he said Sunday. “I woke up and didn’t have any stiffness. That was my biggest worry. I was able to get right up out of bed and just walk normally.” NCAA president
said this week the board of governors would not consider a bid from Las Vegas to host championships when it awards sites at a meeting this month. Not yet anyway. Las Vegas will become home to the NFL’s Raiders in 2019 or 2020 and an NHL expansion team, the Golden Knights, next season.
“The [board of governors] has not changed the policy yet,” Emmert said. “And they won’t be able to do so for this round of bidding. I’ve communicated this to some of the leadership in Las Vegas. They will not be eligible for this round.
“Whether or not the board changes its mind before the next round, I can’t say. Obviously there’s a lot of collegiate athletic events going on in Nevada, both regular-season and tournament events. The board’s acutely aware of that, and they’ll be considering it. But they will not be in this current bidding round.”
The last time a team with at least five national championships competed in the NCAA final against a team with zero titles was in 2006, when Florida beat UCLA for its first of back-to-back championships.
Monday was the eighth time two No. 1 seeds faced each other for the national championship, most recently in 2015, when Duke beat Wisconsin. North Carolina had won three of the previous seven such meetings, beating Georgetown in 1982, Michigan in 1993 and Illinois in 2005.