“I’m corny, there’s no question about it,” Williams said at his press conference Sunday. “I’m emotional. This senior class has been really, really important to me.”

North Carolina’s senior class came in after the Tar Heels won the 2005 national championship. After the title, the team was decimated by the early departures of juniors Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants, as well as freshman Marvin Williams.

Out went the reigning champions and in came Hansbrough and Green, who surprised everyone by going 23-8 to make it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“We didn’t have a lot coming back and they competed from day one,” Williams said of the group. “You know, you can’t say which child you love the best because you don’t ever think in those terms. That’s the way it is with players. The classes that I’ve recruited in 21 years, this is one of those that is special.”

UNC against the economy

The Tar Heels may be coming into tonight’s game as the undisputed heavyweight champions of college basketball, but inside Ford Field they will be considered the evil empire in front of tens of thousands of MSU fans.

A lot has been made of the Spartans trying to win the national championship for a struggling Detroit and state economy, but North Carolina has a goal as well.

“We’re playing Michigan State,” Williams said. “I do realize they have a cause. Well, we also have a cause — we want to win a national championship, period, the end. And if you would tell me that if Michigan State wins, it’s going to satisfy the nation’s economy, then I’d say, ‘Hell, let’s stay poor for a little while longer.’

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, so if all the workers of America come down and start guarding my butt on the bench, then I’ll start being concerned about it.”

Staying in the moment

With only one game left, the only thing players on both teams have to look ahead to would be the postgame celebration, complete with net-cutting and “One Shining Moment.”

But less than 36 hours before the game, Green said he hasn’t thought about his potential shining moment.

“Of course, when you’re a kid, you envision you’re playing on the biggest stages, winning the biggest games,” Green said.

“But right now I’m just so focused on playing the game and doing good to help my team that I haven’t really envisioned the celebration, because we haven’t won anything yet. We haven’t won it yet.”