Two Ames High alumni faced difficult draws at this year’s NCAA tournament. After tough first round games, North Carolina and Creighton met in the second round, bringing former teammates together again. Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott had been stars here in Ames, and have continued their success at the collegiate level. Both players brought something special to their respective teams, and McDermott has certainly made a name for himself. As the top scorer in the country, he has followed in his father’s footsteps as a great basketball player. The depth of North Carolina was too much for McDermott and his Blue Jays, however, and the Tar Heels won 87-73. McDermott was the leading scorer for the Jays with 20 points, and Barnes second behind Kendall Marshall with 17 points for the Tar Heels. After their win over Creighton, UNC moved on to play Ohio. With Kendall Marshall out with an injury, North Carolina players really needed to step up their games. Barnes, among others, struggled that night. Adjusting to a different point guard, the Tar Heels struggled offensively, committing 13 turnovers in the first half alone. Ohio managed to force the game into overtime, where UNC took control and pulled out a tough 73-65 victory. Moving on to the next round, the Tar Heels faced a tough Kansas team. A win was going to require each player’s best, and while they cleaned up sloppy mistakes from the previous game, they still were not at their best. "There’s no question at this time in college basketball as coach you hurt. And you hurt for your team, you hurt for these kids that for about 34, 35 minutes were a part of a fantastic basketball game," UNC head coach Roy Williams said after the disappointing 80-67 loss. "You also have to congratulate Kansas and wish them good luck…the last four or five minutes, they played much, much better than we did." The Jayhawks certainly proved that they deserved to win that game as they competed for the national championship on April 2nd. Aside from what appeared to be the start of a comeback for Kansas, Kentucky was able to dominate. The game picked up excitement at the end, but the number one seeded Wildcats were still able to come out on top, with a score of 67-59.