Virginia made history on Monday night for the second year in a row. This time, it was much sweeter.

After becoming the first-ever No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in NCAA Tournament history, they were crushed. Virginia Cavaliers star Kyle Guy had no answers about the team’s philosophy, its heart and its legitimacy. All that loss did was expose those.

“I try to use every single experience I’ve been through to help me through hard times or good times or any times,” Guy said. “I think that UMBC is the greatest life lesson I’ve ever learned.”

Virginia Wins NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game

But in it, the Cavaliers found resolve. They won their first-ever National Championship.

On Monday in Minneapolis, Virginia answered any questions its critics had. They ended this year in the final round. More importantly, they won against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, 85-77. It took an overtime performance as well as a 12-second comeback but still, it was their bus that had the custom wrapping reading “2019 National Champions” on it.

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That’s not to say that their fans ever expected it. The Cavaliers put awe into the hearts of their fans and probably caused heart attacks in a few. They averaged a 7.5-point margin of victory, the third smallest for any winner since the field expanded in 1985 and the smallest by any No. 1 seed. Three of their six games came down to the final possession in regulation as well. Braxton Key blocked a Texas Tech jumper as time expired to force overtime and a few days earlier, Guy hit three free throws in the final seconds of the Final Four.

Guy scored 24 points and grabbed 3 rebounds in the game. De’Andre Hunter was good for 27 points and 9 rebounds as well as the game-tying three-pointer with 12 seconds left. He pushed himself up a few mock draft boards with his performance. Head coach Tony Bennett proved that his slow-tempo offense, ranked 316th or lower, can win big.

Most importantly, the Cavaliers avenged the pain of last year’s tournament the best way possible, with a win this year.

North Carolina sophomore attacker Chris Cloutier became the record-holder for goals in an NCAA tournament game, and the Tar Heels became the lacrosse national champions after defeating the Maryland Terrapins 14-13 in overtime in Philadelphia on Monday.

North Carolina Defeats Maryland 14-13 In OT To Win NCAA Lacrosse Championship

The Tar Heels are now the first unseeded team to win a national title in 43 years; this was North Carolina’s first national championship in 25 years. They suffered a stinging loss to Hofstra on Feb. 20.

“Pressure is a funny thing,” head coach Joe Breschi said. “We had zero pressure. We were picked the lowest we’ve ever been picked in the eight years since I’ve been here and last in the ACC, and these guys were on a mission.”

Despite the Tar Heels’ struggles in recent years, however, Maryland’s seemed to be far worse. The Terrapins, the No. 1 seed in the NCAA lacrosse tournament, have not won a national title in 41 years and breezed their way to the championship final.

When the Tar Heels’ Luke Goldstock was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty after he and Maryland defender Mike McCarney exchanged shoves with seconds left in regulation, there seemed to be a shred of hope in the air for the Terrapins as they headed into overtime with a man advantage.

Unfortunately, the Terps missed their best opportunity after Connor Kelly’s shot from wide was stopped by North Carolina goalie Brian Balkam.

Just minutes later, McCarney, who was not penalized despite pushing Goldstock earlier, was sent to the box for a one-minute slashing penalty following a scrum in front of Maryland’s goal.

Twenty-four seconds after that, Cloutier fired his shot from the right and into the net. Cloutier, who scored the same number of goals (19) in his last four NCAA games as he did in the previous 14 games combined, momentarily appeared shocked by his goal.

“Coach Metz told me he’d have my back,” the Canadian sophomore said about UNC assistant coach Dave Metzbower, who helped push him to his full capacity. “He did. He never gave up on me, and I’ll never forget him for that.”

Later, after the trophy presentation and the chaos subsided, players dropped onto the ground and made turf angels, while others walked around shouting, almost in disbelief, “We’re the champions of the world.”

“We’re national champions,” Breschi said. “Can you believe it?”

While the Tar Heels tossed aside their shoulder pads, helmets, and sticks in celebration following Cloutier’s goal, Maryland’s players seemed to hunch over as if in pain as they witnessed yet another national title stripped from their grasp. Some Terrapins fell to the ground right at the spot where they were standing; others grieved together behind the net.

“We’ve got to take care of each other,” said Maryland coach John Tillman, himself winless in four tries as Maryland’s head coach. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are hurt, and they’re looking to me. As any parent knows, there are times you just want to make it better and you can’t. You can’t make it better.”

Breschi can certainly relate to that feeling of helplessness. Just last year, the third-seeded Tar Heels lost to Maryland in the quarterfinals. And yet, Breschi has been through far worse. In 2004, when Breschi was head coach at Ohio State, his 3-year-old son, Michael, was killed in the parking lot of his daycare center. Last weekend, the Tar Heels played their quarterfinal games in Columbus, the players dedicating the games to Michael Breschi. Coach Breschi also has four daughters.

The players said then and reiterated on Monday that their coach has been their inspiration, but the coach has received just as much as he’s given.

Breschi said that up until Saturday night, he was struggling to come up with inspiration for his pre-game speech. Having been born and raised in Baltimore, the coach is a die-hard Ravens fan, so he ultimately chose that.

“They kicked the door down in the Super Bowl,” Breschi told his team, “and I said, ‘That’s going to be you today.'”

The message appears to have worked, giving the Tar Heels just the motivation they needed for a crucial game.

PHOTO: PHILADELPHIA, PA – MAY 30: The North Carolina Tar Heels celebrate after defeating the Maryland Terrapins in overtime in the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship at Lincoln Financial Field on May 30, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Tar Heels defeated the Terrapins 14-13. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Gf0hoTIXA

In everyone’s favorite sketch “Mean Tweets” from Jimmy Kimmel Live, the famous late show host decided to honor Monday’s national championship by doing a college football edition. And he got the who’s who of famous broadcasters and coaches.

Probably the best highlights of the video were Tim Tebow and former Michigan coach Brady Hoke’s reactions: with each delivering emotion on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Tebow appears to laugh it off and be in on the joke, while Hoke actually is perturbed by the comment: is he just facing the reality of how bad his tenure at Michigan really was?

Either way, just sit back and enjoy the latest edition of “Mean Tweets.”

Just how big was this national championship for Ohio State? Well, they defeated a very strong Ducks team 42-20. The Oregon Ducks who averaged 45.2 points and 547 yards a game were the nation’s number one total offense: and the Buckeyes held them to 465 total yards and their season worst third down percentage and points total.

Best of all, the Ducks were held to the aforementioned season worst 20 points despite four turnovers by Ohio State. And lets not forget the fact that the Oregon defense, which gave up 23.6 points per game, was tarnished: giving up another season worst 42 points in last night’s championship.

In retrospect, this is a great win for Ohio State, who slimly made the college playoffs and would not have even been in the former BCS Championship: showing the flawed nature of the BCS system. At the same time, while Oregon almost came back in the third quarter — even closing the Buckeye’s lead to one point, 21-20 — they proceeded to shutout the Ducks in the fourth: a team that just destroyed the three seed Florida State 59-20 eleven days earlier.

First and foremost, the win is great for the struggling Big Ten, who minus Ohio State went 4-5 in this year’s bowl games: however, even with this record, there were some great conference victories over Auburn, Baylor and Boston College. Meanwhile, many assumed after Michigan State’s loss to Oregon and Ohio State’s loss to Virginia Tech that the Big Ten conference had no chance to actually be in the college playoffs, let alone win the national championship.

And it is only the fourth Big Ten football team in the last 43 years to win the national championship: with the last win coming in 2002 by the Buckeyes. Needless to say, this is not the biggest national championship drought for a conference, but in regards to the power five, the Big Ten really needed this: especially since before 2014, the SEC took the highest honors seven out of the last eight seasons. Is this the end of the SEC dominance: probably not, but it was great for Ohio and their conference to beat one before destroying Oregon.

Now, what does this mean for Urban Meyer’s legacy: well he has now matched Saban as being one of only two college coaches to ever win national championships at two different schools. Now, Saban still has four titles to his name — one with LSU and three with Alabama — but this third win for Meyer certainly puts his name in the conversation of greatest current coaches.

As for overall legacy, there is still Bear Bryant who had five with Alabama and Frank Leahy with four and a whole array of coaches with three — Bernie Bierman, John McKay, Barry Switzer and Bud Wilkinson. But Meyer has now turned around two ailing franchises: with Florida being in a rut before and after his tenure and Ohio State receiving sanctions prior to Urban taking the job.

And despite bowl ineligibility and losing scholarships, he obviously still built a championship caliber team: even posting three consecutive twelve win seasons in his short time with Ohio State. This brings his all time record to 141-26 (.844), putting him ninth on the highest winning percentage of all time list. And many people say this could just be the beginning: with many believing that this fairly young Buckeyes team has the ability to become a dynasty.

And if they do win, there will be no arguing about the greatest college football coach of all time: Urban Meyer will jump right to the top of the list. But that will only happen if he wins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ56h4zjq6k