Lucas: Validated

SPOKANE, Wash.—I wish you could have seen that game.

Well, let me clarify that. Not as much the parts of the game that took place on the basketball court. You saw those. And maybe there will be time between now and Saturday to discuss some of the outcomes, including the continued solid play of Jeremiah Francis, a workmanlike effort from Garrison Brooks and maybe—just maybe—a slight thawing over the icy shield that has covered the Tar Heel basket for most of this season.

But I wish you could have seen the game environment. The buzz in downtown Spokane throughout the week, the way every person greeted your Carolina blue shirt with, "Ya here for the game?"

Of course you were. Everyone was. It was…