You heard all the talk on Selection Sunday.

The Syracuse region is the best ever.

North Carolina is the most talented team in the country. Connecticut is the surging defending national champ. Kansas is the sleeping giant. Florida and Villanova are playing as well as anyone.

You didn’t hear any talk about Bucknell, N.C. State or Big Ten bronze medallist Wisconsin.

And then, since talk isn’t really that exciting, the student-athletes went and did something crazy. They played the games.

And “the best region ever” suddenly transformed into just another upset-filled, impossible-to-predict dash to the Final Four.

Those pesky Bucknell Bison stampeded Kansas in the first round and spoiled a possible North Carolina-Kansas matchup in the Elite Eight.

Bill Self couldn’t get a team loaded with talent to come together and embrace the one-and-done mindset that’s necessary to succeed in the tournament. He did, however, design an excellent play at the end of regulation to get a good look for Wayne Simien to try to win it at the buzzer. But Simien’s shot fell just short and the Jayhawks’ preseason No. 1 ranking was lost in translation.

At that point, there was still hope we would all get to see a North Carolina-Connecticut matchup in the Elite Eight. But N.C. State spoiled that party in the second round when Julius Hodge and Company gutted out a 65-62 win over Jim Calhoun’s Huskies. A late Charlie Villanueva put-back appeared to tip the scale in Connecticut’s favor, but in the end the defending champs had no answer for Hodge’s late-game heroics.

North Carolina upheld its end of the deal by steamrolling its way to the regional final. The Tar Heels walked the talk past play-in game winner Oakland and Big XII wannabe-Cinderella Iowa State. In the Sweet Sixteen, North Carolina ran into a scary Villanova squad but squeaked past the Wildcats 67-66 thanks to a huge second half from the erratic Rashad McCants.

So who would North Carolina play in the Elite Eight now that the supposed dream matchups fell victim to March Madness? The Wisconsin Badgers – a team that nobody outside of Madison expected to advance that far. Led by Alando Tucker and farmboy Mike Wilkinson, the Badgers took down three double-digit seeded teams (Northern Iowa, Bucknell and N.C. State) before running into the powder-blue juggernaut that is North Carolina.

The regional final turned out to be a good battle, though it lacked the crazy comebacks of Saturday’s games. Wisconsin tried to counter the inside dominance of Sean May by firing three-pointers. But the Tar Heels had too many weapons for the Badgers to contain for 40 minutes. Not even the “Go Big Red” chants by Wilkinson’s deep-voiced girlfriend could trump the talent of Roy Williams’ guys.

When the dust settled, it was North Carolina – the best team in “the best region ever” that earned its way to St. Louis.

And even though we didn’t get to see the Tar Heels play Kansas or Connecticut, there’s still a chance we’ll get to see them duke it out in that other matchup that people have been anticipating and craving all year – Illinois-North Carolina.

But don’t tell that to Louisville or Michigan State.

Josh Purse is a senior in communications. He can be reached at [email protected].