Villanova’s NCAA National Championship Buzzer-Beater Win Has Social Media ‘Crying Jordan’

Sports

Fans take to Twitter in a frenzy as Kris Jenkins hits a three-pointer to beat North Carolina 77-74, closing March Madness with a thrilling finish

Villanova Wins NCAA National Championship Game
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NBA icon and former Tar Heels basketball player Michael Jordan was in the crowd on Monday night for a thrilling NCAA National Championship showdown between North Carolina and Villanova.

He was also all over Twitter in the form of the infamous “crying Jordan” meme after his college team was beaten by the Wildcats 77-74 in the game played at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, and airing on TBS.

Kris Jenkins hit a three-point shot to give Villanova their first championship in 31 years — and the NCAA its first buzzer-beater win since Lorenzo Charles and N.C. State in 1983. It was also number-one seed UNC’s first loss in a title game since 1981, having previously won four straight.

After battling neck-and-neck most of night, the Villanova-UNC matchup was already being touted as the best NCAA Championship game in history before the fans — some celebrating and others devastated — had left the stadium.

“I was just shocked,” Villanova coach Jay Wright marveled. “They did it.”

Before Jenkins did his magic, North Carolina’s Marcus Paige hit a miraculous game-tying shot with 4.7 seconds remaining on the clock that would have been the play of the night … if not for what happened next.

But back to Twitter, which obviously went as wild at the sell-out crowd when the championship-winning shot swooshed through the hoop.

“Crying Jordan” dominated the Twitterverse — with former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck even tweeting about it — the tearful Villanova piccolo player from last year also made an appearance, along with countless expressions of sheer jubilance, utter heartbreak or just plain shock at the brilliance of the game.

Justin Timberlake, who is a very vocal Memphis basketball fan, simply wrote: “That game… WOW.”

Olympic athlete Lolo Jones pointed out that this was “the only time the crying Michael Jordan face meme has been appropriate in the last year.”

Perhaps the most interesting celebrity Twitter reaction came from Geraldo Rivera, who said: “#CarolinaPanthers didn’t lose #NationalChampionship #Villanova won it.”

Although technically he was right, we’re pretty sure Rivera meant the North Carolina Tar Heels — rather than the NFL team led by Cam Newton who recently lost the Super Bowl.

https://twitter.com/GeraldoRivera/status/717197359910940673

As for the real Jordan, the former Chicago Bulls legend can been seen nodding his approval in a sign of respect when Jenkins dropped the game winner off a beautiful pass from Final Four Most Outstanding Player Ryan Arcidiacono to seal the victory.

See highlights from the tweet frenzy below.

https://twitter.com/DylanTheMan37/status/717199139235356673

https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/717198838302265344

https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/717198838302265344

https://twitter.com/PrinceMJofDSU/status/717189516411420672

https://twitter.com/six15eleven/status/717204404508745730

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/717179648405278721

http://twitter.com/hashtag/NationalChampionship?src=tren

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