2005 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship Game Higlights

Led by Raymond Felton and Sean May the UNC Tar Heels give Roy Williams his first ever National title, by beating favorite Illinois. GO HEELS

[@benallen12]

Anybody notice how quickly BOTH teams inbounded the ball after a made basket? I have never seen two teams give less of a shit about the opposing team scoring. Great championship game.

[@bull6599]

Illinois shot 40 3-pointers that game, they set a record for most attempts in championship game history. With that said I think they were fortunate to get 6 FT's.

[@GoHeels2025]

this had to been the most memorable year ive ever experienced as a tar heel fan. when they won the title after all those years i had to watch em painfully come up short it felt like for 3 months i was walkin on cloud nine! i mean it literally felt like i began to fly when the clock hit 0:00 and we had won!

[@jydaflyest]

After going 8-20 in the 2001/02 season, winning it all 4 seasons later just seemed surreal. I remember jamming to Petey Pablo's "North Carolina" the next day. When that song hit the airwaves, I promised to play it when the Tar Heels won a national championship. Oh, how sweet it is.

[@davanmani556]

Great NCAA final. One of the best.

[@tranceofdances]

What I loved most about this win for UNC, was that Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel, and Melvin Scott got to experience it. These guys suffered through one of the worst seasons in UNC B-ball history in 01,02 when they went 8-20. The last thing you see in this vid is of them with Roy in a huddle, and you know he had to have said something to them about being seniors and how happy he was for them. Those 3 guys were class acts at UNC.

[@nmullins20]

I like how they contrast Augustine's called charge vs May's no call charge.

[@agFinder2]

Hey thanks for this, and for putting the 09 game up as well. I'm a massive Tar Heel fan and enjoyed both :).

[@liketohavefun2007]

I love the Raymond Felton three, it was way beyond the arch. I loved every min. i have this record on tape. I will purchased this year Championship. I'm proud of my team.

[@Rick-wn5oh]

They had no answer for Sean May that night.

[@liketohavefun2007]

i can watch this over and over again, and if this video is some how removed, i have it on tape.

[@dreigivetimpoolmassivewedg7646]

That set for Head to try and tie it late was so nice. Weber can coach man.

[@liketohavefun2007]

yes! Excellent game. the outcome was great and it showed the better team WON. Go HEELS!

[@ABGA8]

Man this win felt good! Go heels!

[@BUSean]

This game was a lot closer than I remember it being.

[@SFFOOL76]

This was a championship game that was worthy of a great tournament in 2005.

[@jonsolomon1225]

this was such a well played game. I think this Illinois team could be the best team to not win a national title. Man, I dont know how we beat them

[@jydaflyest]

We beat them because we were better than they were.. and that's even after letting them back in the game.

[@tim55lincecum]

No LOL. That Illinois team would beat UNC about 8 times out of 10. Illinois shot 12-40 from deep, while UNC shot 9-16. It took an unlucky game from Illinois and a lucky game from UNC, and Illinois was still able to take it down to the last possession.

[@jameswoodard5547]

Steve Guilford, I think your perception of Illinois was inflated because they played in the weak Big Ten. In 2005, UNC dominated Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Illinois. I grant that Illinois was better than those other Big Ten teams, but Illinois would not have looked as good if they played in the ACC. UNC was battle-tested by ACC play, and Illinois just couldn't keep up with them.

[@moimeme6533]

esp. considering all the no calls on their moving screens...lol

[@navynugget7]

@@tim55lincecum but they didn't, so.....

[@tfarrell02]

well this would be a good year to start watchin em.. sox will be tough this year.. hate to admit it.

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

@tfarrell02-At the 4:50 mark in the 2nd half of this gm, this vid bearly misses it, Packer says, and I quote "The refs aren't calling moving screens on Illinois so they might as well keep doing them"

[@chrisuncleahmad789]

A heavyweight showdown. Other than maybe Kansas/Memphis 2008, the title game hasn't truly felt like THESE ARE THE BEST TEAMS IN THE COUNTRY since this colossal clash.

[@chiefilliniwek23459]

The reason we had no post player was because the refs literally let May do as he pleased with our players. Poor shooting night and less than 10 minutes from our post man is why Illinois lost. Great game, wish the outcome would have been different, will probably have a repeat of this game for the championship in 2010 or 2011. GO ILLINI!

[@cha53tafari]

"The shutdown man" hahahahah I will never forget that as long as I live.

[@willie2604]

As dominant as Sean May was in this game, the 3-point shot by Raymond Felton when it was 65-65 was the biggest moment in this game. Illinois looked like they were going to pull back ahead after making a great 2nd half run, but then Felton drains that 3 over Deron and Dee. It was an absolutely incredibly and timely shot the Tar Heels needed.

[@shockattack2]

I love the shot at the end of Shad and someone just puts the folded hat on his head

[@mburrell23]

Illinois had an AWESOME team that year! They were really really good, and was almost evenly matched in regards to talent. My Tar Heels had a "slight" edge with Sean May, who was a beast in the paint. But Illinois was definitely "for real". And yeah, the Illini beat UNC the following year, but not when it counted - in the NATIONAL TITLE GAME. Plus, we unloaded our top-7 scorers to the NBA and graduation. It's all good though...THE CAROLINA SHOW ROLLED ON!!!

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

Yea man. I'm a huge Jawad fan, plus he's on my fav team, CLE

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

Very true,Honestly I'd rather have my players win a national championship, than be all stars in the NBA. I care more about college hoops than pro, and so do most people

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

I'd have to say I pretty much entirely agree with u. Finally a ILL fan that actually don't cry and moan and talks sense. THANK YOU!!! LOL but yea, these were two great teams no doubt. I'm a UNC fan living in ILL

[@TripleJJJay]

You right. Can't forget about Manual. To bad he hasn't really been steady in the NBA. Same goes for Jawad, but at least he played this season.

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

@spm1021- and Illinois is the only team in championship history to get away with about 6 (if not more) moving screens that got them back into the game the second half.

[@shockattack2]

Best game I've ever been to

[@ScottTheMarine]

Illinois had a record for most uncalled moving screens ever. Even the guys calling the game were talking about it.

[@swissirish1]

This is coming from a carolina fan. I thought Illinois was the better team overall, but we outplayed them for pretty much the entire game.

[@TripleJJJay]

The man proves a point. The whole game Illinois was jacking up jumpers.

[@NothinButGame]

best tar heels team ever hands down.....

[@Shaunnyhoward]

thats possible man. I live out west, and I see gonzaga a lot, and they are very talented.

[@fluffynoses]

hey man don't forget that the Illini were supposed to have Villanueva that year but he backed out and went to UConn. I'm positive that if Villanueva was playing, things would have turned out a lot differently

[@nmullins20]

It was in the NYT the day of the game if you want to search for it yourself.

[@StretchAvo]

1:39 yes illinois committed moving screens, and weren't called. But this is ridiculous, and is what decided the game,

[@tclark502]

You mean an obvious flop?

[@stephenhi3907]

Flop are u guys crazy

[@dylanreich]

Do you play ball? Easy flop, no player just goes down like that unless it's a vastly smaller player. That's solid big-man post play.

[@nmullins20]

UI was the people's champion, but UNC won that game. We don't have to argue that, it's pretty apparent that most people would rather have a team that did what Illinois did all season win than to watch UNC get stacked teams and blow people out of the water. We Illinois fans just like to argue this because we know if we hadn't played so poorly we would have been able to win this game.

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

AMEN And Illinois got away with a ton of moving screens to set up those 3's, idk if i put it in there but at 1 point even the announcers said that!

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

@Tarheelfan55- so true. I'm sick of Illini fans bitching about it. UNC won FAIR and SQUARE

[@liketohavefun2007]

People are always jealous, their are definately good players; but it's up to the coaching staff to go out and recruit talented players. Go HEELS!

[@WheeAmaznHappn]

UNC was by far the best team in the country this year. When you look at the rotation that we had there was not enough talent on the Illini team to beat UNC. When you have Offensive players that can play D also and then you have 3 or 4 coming off the bench to play, not enough energy to come from 5 or 6 capable players to over come a 8 or 9 man rotation.

[@kufanboy15]

no, because im a kansas fan and roy was our old coach and it pissed me off that he never won us a title but 6 yrs at unc and he gets 2 titles thats all. but now im glad we have bill self so all is well.

[@badpdx]

The play at 5:33 by Warren Carter is either the worst alley oop dunk of all time or one of the best passes I've ever seen.

[@jiggidyjam]

Shut down man on Felton.....1.5 sec later the net is on 🔥 lol

[@bubbanater07]

No one will ever understand what Jawad Williams and Jackie Manual went through as Freshmen.

[@dumbjolly]

Illinois held there own not only in this game, buh in the whole tournmant, no deny'n that

[@Tarheelfan55]

To everyone who is saying about the game getting stolen from the Illinois and that they didn't commit any moving screens.. the announcers even mentioned the moving screens.. get over it. The better team won.

[@emericaclay1]

ty will take it to them

[@pdavis642]

You guys can argue all you want, but the 2005 Championship game was awesome and you know it. The 2004-2005 Illini TEAM was awesome. If I were you, I would keep your eyes on Derron Williams. NC coach knows that... ask him. And I would not count Felton out neither.

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

@TheCrm233770- no i'm def not, i actually know ALOT about basketball, more than the average fan (but i'm not gunna go and call myself a expert or anythin lol) And yes there were illegal screens set. It is just cut out of this vid but Billy Packer at one point says, and i quote "The refs aren't calling illegal screens, so you might as well keep doing 'em". I haven't watched the gm in a few years, but if you rele want i will go back, watch the hole gm in it's entirety and count the illegal screens

[@davidwise634]

You are right ,packer did say they are not calling moving screens,that's what kept Illinois from getting blown out,they had no answer for big may down low.

[@jimvrpaze]

the tradition continues

[@mikecollins2254]

louisville basketball its up there 3 championships history , tradition !

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

@CockySumBitch- Thank you! For some reason illini fans seem to not hear Packer when he makes that comment

[@rjapplewhite]

Can't believe it's been 8 years. Go Heels!!!

[@lipstickandlipgloss]

16

[@Mylesv2]

@@lipstickandlipgloss 18

[@carsondyle6116]

As a Midwesterner in the middle of Big 10 Country, I wanted Illinois to win badly. However I got a bad feeling right from the start when I saw Illinois wearing their road orange jerseys instead of their home white ones. Illinois was the higher ranked team and should have wore their home uniforms while North Carolina wore their road blue uniforms.

[@michaelangelo9024]

If you will go back one year before this matchup you'll witness Carolina beating Illinois 88-81 in the ACC - Big 10 challenge in Greensboro. I knew Carolina would beat em again. The better team win, simple as that.

[@rdakin87]

how about jordan, james worthy, vince carter, antawn jamison how are they doing in the nba? not to mention jerry stackhouse when he was young, and rasheed wallace. how are you doing in the nba?

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

yea that is true, but Felton did win the Bob Cousy award that season and ran UNC's offence. While, I believe Dee Brown was the Orchestrator for Illinois, but I don't think u cud go wrong wit either Williams or Felton, but if it was 2005 again, I'd easily take Felton, but now tho, D-Will

[@maosaytounge49]

whatever makes you feel better

[@alpaul18]

@tarheels2005champs I agree our post were ridiculouly soft and Sean May was way too strong for them. But living by the three is what got us 37 wins that year.

[@87UNC]

everybody love raymond i cant believe he said dee brown was faster then raymond with the ball in his hands r u crazy man !!raymond was the best PG that year

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

Sean May is un-signed I belive, Rashaad McCants is a bench plyr on Minnesota, Raymond Felton is the starting PG on the Bobcats, Jawad Williams is a reserve on the Cavaliers, and the only one doing good is Marvin Williams who is a budding star on the ATL Hawks

[@SoNoTJeSuSx]

that was the problem with this game, the NCAA tournament is turning into a popularity contest, especially in "underdog" games. I know Illinois was a 1 seed but it was their first year being great.

[@Allstar25CP]

i cried after Illinois loost. :( We were so close.

[@liketohavefun2007]

This was the best team!

[@nmullins20]

A) those aren't my words, they came from another post. B) The people's champion doesn't mean people thought they were the champion, it means people favored them and wanted them to win it.

[@jarvisda]

I wouldn't say that necessarily. Sean May was more physical and NC edged them out in what was a fairly good game.

[@jimvrpaze]

indeed, if you look at the scoreline it is clear who had a more talented team and a bench. GO HEELS!!!!!!!!

[@jimvrpaze]

i love your endless rationalizations for being outclassed.. almost comical. good luck getting back to the sweet sixteen in the next decade. LOL

[@nmullins20]

Ya, I think they also got free cars, there are a lot of perks to it.

[@eddirty101730]

Bottomline, the game featured many future NBA and professional basketball players. Illinois lacked size; however, their guards were better. The best player to come out of the game was Deron Williams. North Carolina has no one even close to his talent today. Goes to show that basketball is a team game.

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

Brown was with the Jazz for a few years, but I no this past year he was in Europe, and I think he's still there

[@stevenabitante8750]

UNC TARHEELS BABY!!!!!!!#23 & Marvin Williams get the Job Done!!!!!!!

[@coreymongiat3101]

I think Illinois was more of a versatile team then Carolina, mainly because there big's could shoot threes.. Other than that Carolina was more relaxed and played there game. I was rooting for Illinois though. I've always like Bruce Weber's coaching style.

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

@down1plus2- I didn't mean Felton, i ment May didn't amount to anyting. I looked at how i wrote it and yea it sounded like that. But i ment May was drafted to the Bobcats with Felton, and MAY didn't amount to anything in the NBA lol. I know Felton is good, he cudda been an All Star this year and is puttin up decent #s still for DEN

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

THANK U!!! Same here

[@monsoon231]

Illinois's lack of post talent finally showed that night. People can argue otherwise, but it's the truth. You're probably right about the guards, although Felton and McCants was no laughing matter. They were still pretty close.

[@NothinButGame]

no this team. im not talking about individual players im talking overall team...jordan best player ever but this is the best TEAM feel me....

[@ChainGangSoulja266]

@dlstewart1- Much respect for being in Iraq!! And May was drafted by the Bobcats with Felton but was hurt pretty much evry year and rele didn't amount to anything, the last time i remember seeing him on a NBA bench was like 2009, idk where he is now. Marvin Williams has actually become a vry solid plyr for Atlanta, and Jawad Williams has been a reserve and bench plyr for the Cleveland Cavaliers for the last two yrs. Idk bout anybody else though

[@rdakin87]

this is bill self's team, he would have done this at illinois if he didnt leave, unfortunately they are stuck with bruce wber now.

[@Dodlapai]

illinois was beast that year

[@jimvrpaze]

that was a great game.

[@bubbanater07]

To Illinois fans there was no BS calls if I recall we had one of the best officiating crews that year. Get over it.

[@LouDubzENT]

@Akronsfinest21 It's Cuz he was an NBA prospect in high school but he decided to go to college for a year

[@itsabird]

i mean first of all it doesn't matter how they're doing this isn't the nba. plus felton's doing pretty good.. 12 pts and 5 assists as a starting PG. may's not doing much but that's jsut cause he needs to get his a** in shape.

[@huskerfan50]

@threezy350 They did make it to the acc tourney they lost in the first found to Ga tech

[@jasoncheung818]

pretty line up there for unc... marvin williams raymon felton sean may... i like marvin wiliams the best personally out of those 3

[@sportsfranchisestories]

also luther head was actually the leading scorer on illinois

[@kufanboy15]

could not agree with you more

[@ncbeach22]

And people wanted UNC to win as well. Is there some official poll that said that Illinois was the people's champion?

[@fluffynoses]

let me be clear, where was I comparing Illini ball players to UNC ball players? I simply was telling jimvrpaze not to be a jerk and discredit U of I based on the failures of one player (Dee Brown) and to see that there have been good players who came out of U of I (Harper, Anderson, Gill)

[@LeonPhelpss]

this was my fav unc team, too bad alot of their NBA careers are mediocre

[@TripleJJJay]

and they started Manual sometimes at SG instead of Scott.

[@waynegilyard4743]

The ceiling is the roof.go.tarheels.

[@rap7x]

wat was the starting lineup? was it, Sean May, Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Tlyer Hansbrough, and Rashaed MCcant

[@down1plus2]

@ChainGangSoulja266 Felton didn't amount to anything? Before he was traded to Denver Felton was playing at an All-star level for the Knicks.

[@fluffynoses]

the only thing that gives me solace about the illini loss years later is that deron williams is an nba all-star. mccants, sean may they all flamed out of the nba...even felton isn't anything more than a decent point guard. nevertheless, no point in being bitter. illinois lost to the better team that day