The Lady Tar Heels withstood arguably the toughest bracket in the tournament and are now rewarded with a trip to Boston. The Heels departed Chapel Hill Thursday night with the love and appreciation of this year’s fans to go along for the ride. They will face Maryland at 7pm in Sunday’s semi-final match-up. The Lady Terrapins handed the Tar Heels its only loss of the season with an overtime victory in February. The Heels avenged the loss in the ACC tournament, by capturing the crown in the title game. Now, a much bigger crown is on the line, and there’s only room for one.

The day a 22-game winning streak would cease to exist.

The day a 30 home-game winning streak was laid to rest.

For most teams, a day like this would potentially mean the end to an otherwise limitless season. But for the Lady Heels, this was the beginning of something special.

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For much of the season, a double-digit finish for Carolina forward Reyshawn Terry equaled an automatic win for the Tar Heels. This time around, the sum total of a Terry double-digit finish, in addition to double-double performances by both Hansbrough and Noel were not quite enough to edge the Heels over the Virginia Cavaliers Thursday night. The Tar Heels let a two-point halftime lead slip away, eventually succumbing to the Cavaliers, 72-68. Thursday's loss also doubled the number of conference losses this season. The Heels are now 2-2 in the ACC.

Women's basketball head coach Sylvia Hatchell added yet another accolade to an already decorated tenure. The Hall of Fame coach joined an elite club on Sunday afternoon with a 65-53 win over N.C. State. Tennessee head coach Pat Summit, Texas coach Jody Conradt, LSU's Sue Gunter, and Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer were the only D-1 coaches to reach the 700 career win mark. Now, UNC head coach Sylvia Hatchell can add her name to that list.

The conference season has officially begun and both the men and women's basketball team seem unphased by the change. An early 2-0 start has propelled both of these teams into the Atlantic Coast Conference season.

When five-year veteran Gary Tranquill announced his retirement as the Tar Heel offensive coordinator, there was reason for concern. With the defense beginning to find its stride under the leadership of newly-hired coordinator Marvin Sanders, an offensive vacancy was not the ingredient for a rejuvenated football program. But just in time, head coach John Bunting secured yet another piece in the construction of a winning program. The Heels named Frank Cignetti, who led Fresno State to back-to-back top 10 national rankings in scoring offense, as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Added to an already impressive resume, Cignetti perused the sidelines as the New Orleans Saints quarterbacks coach during the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Before joining the Saints, he served as an offensive assistant and quality control coach with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Tar Heels smothered Davidson 82-58 Tuesday night to propel them into conference play. The next match-up comes against storied rival N.C. State at the Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday. Saturday's game marks only the second time in 31 years that N.C. State (13) will come in ranked above the Tar Heels (25). As seen in both the Illinois and Kentucky game, the only numbers this squad seems to worry about are the numbers on the scoreboard when the clock runs down to zero.

Before heading home for the holidays, the Tar Heels had one last order of business to take care of. Junior guard Ivory Latta took this one for the team.

Despite a 12-point Tar Heel lead going into the half, ESPN commentator Stacy Dales-Schuman "knew" the UConn Huskies would somehow come back to claim the victory. That's pretty much been the overriding theme for both the men's and women's basketball team this year. Irregardless of the victories, critics continue to place the Tar Heels at the lower end of the totem pole. Fortunately, both teams remain unphased by the criticism. Instead, they've decided to speak through their actions. And the message is clear. Just ask UConn.....

The Tar Heel men's soccer team missed this year's Final Four with a 3-2 loss to Southern Methodist University Saturday at Fetzer Field.

The Heels overcame a two-goal second half deficit, sending the game into overtime, but were not able to seal the deal in its only overtime loss of the season.

SMU ended a 10-match unbeaten streak for the Heels. The last time Carolina made it to the quarterfinal match in 2001, we won it all.

Raymond Felton....gone

Sean May...gone

Rashad McCants..

In the aftermath of a 68-64 loss against the University of Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team, there weren't tears...

....there weren't boos

....there wasn't even disappointment

....there was this...........

5 wins + 6 losses = season over.