UNC Basketball’s NCAA win over Duke now on YouTube

In the age where you can have just about any piece of video that you want when you want, one thing has been conspicuously absent for the last three weeks:

The full version of the UNC NCAA win over Duke.

The reasons this has been unavailable are unknown to us. It could be because of media rights, or it could be that the partnership of CBS sports and Turner wanted to hold onto the footage for a certain amount of time so they could replay it on their various networks and goose up their ratings numbers.

Now, the folks with the NCAA did make sure that all of the action after the last TV timeout was available. I can tell you at my apartment we made sure to watch that before the national title game so that we could re-live the good feeling for as long as possible, but those final few minutes don’t give you important things: the ebb and flow of the full game, the Bacot injury and the “F*** it” that Bacot gave when he came back in later, the full Caleb Love experience that led to his iconic three pointer.

Now, though, you can watch the whole game in all its glory.

This game had it all and should be savored. It’s like a fine wine or a 21-year-old scotch that you get to take out and enjoy when you just need to treat yourself.

If you’re like me and don’t record these games for superstitious reasons, this will also be your first chance to watch this game on your schedule, stress=free knowing how it will turn out. It should get you through the rest of the spring and summer until we get to the opening of fall practice.

By the way, while you can grumble about how long it took the NCAA/CBS/Turner to do this, it’s still better than what ESPN will do. If you have an ESPN account you can dig back and find the full video somewhere, but likely ESPN is going to hold onto that one to make the rare appearance before the next UNC/Duke contests. The most you can get of this one on YouTube...from ESPN...is this:

You get the best moments, sure, but it’s nothing like being able to watch the whole thing.

So when you’re having a bad day, pull up that video on your favorite device and take the time to enjoy Carolina ending Coach K’s career once and for all. Also make sure to have that ready to send to your favorite Duke fan in case they are still tweeting through their feelings about the loss(es).

Postscript: it took some digging but ESPN does have the win in Cameron available, but it would appear you have to have an ESPN+ account to view it. That said, if you have it, it’s probably worth checking in sometimes to watch