Nothing Could Be Finer for the Dean of Carolina

Serge Zwikker went after the ball like a 7-foot-3 center possessed. It was his best move of the day, by far, picking the ball clean from Colorado’s Rick Brownstein at midcourt amid the chaos.

The game? The game was over. This was about posterity.

A female arena worker then tried to con the ball from Zwikker, who didn’t just fall off a turnip steamer from Maassluis, Netherlands.

“She wanted that ball pretty bad,” Zwikker later recounted. “She said, ‘We’re going to give it to him later.’ I said, ‘That’s all right, we’re going to give it to him right now.’ ”

Zwikker took his gift directly to the new king.

“Coach, here’s the ball,” Zwikker said.

Dean Smith accepted the orb.

“This ball represents a lot of history,” he would reply.

And it was over. The record Smith said he never wanted to break was broken.

As several of his former players watched from the stands, Smith’s current North Carolina incarnation made sure the overtaking of Adolph Rupp’s record of 876 victories would be done Saturday, on a national stage, in North Carolina.

After playing a nervous first half, the Tar Heels came screaming from the locker room to turn a one-point halftime deficit into a 73-56 rout of Colorado before 14,368 at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum.

The team’s 14th consecutive victory put North Carolina in the Sweet 16 and Smith in the record books with Sweet 877.

If Smith was overtaken with emotion, he did not reveal it publicly. That would be difficult given the way he has downplayed the event.

Smith was typically deferential, thanking the university for sticking with him after his likeness was burned in effigy on campus after a 1965 loss to Wake Forest.

“I’ve been fortunate to have had some great players, some good players who became better, and some that helped the team and didn’t play a lot,” Smith said. “They all share in this moment, if there is such a thing as this moment.”

Eighteen of Smith’s former players were in the stands, having scrounged for tickets to an event sold out months ago. George Karl, Sam Perkins, Bobby Jones, Mitch Kupchak were among the Tar Heels paying homage.

“I didn’t dream they were all coming back,” Smith said. “I don’t know how they got tickets.”

Smith said the whole thing reminded him of the teacher who is visited by his former pupils.

It was as close as Smith got to sentiment.

Tar Heel players, however, long under a no-Rupp-talk gag order from Smith, at last were able to breathe a collective sigh.

“We’re part of history now,” said sophomore forward Antawn Jamison, who personally made sure of it by finishing with 19 points and 16 rebounds. “Every guy on this team will cherish it the rest of his life.”

Zwikker said he was especially nervous during the game, perhaps a reason why he made only two of his 14 shots.

“I’m proud to be on this team,” Zwikker said. “I’m happy to be on this team. But I’m glad it’s over. Now we can concentrate on regular basketball.”

It’s hardly regular these days as North Carolina continues its sizzling pace.

The Tar Heels (26-6) streaked toward history with a series of second-half scoring bursts ignited by freshman point guard Ed Cota, thrust into a second-half start after Vince Carter suffered a pulled groin in the first half.

In the game’s defining moments, the Tar Heels scored 10 points on three possessions to build a six-point lead to 14 in less than two minutes.

Cota started the run with a three-pointer on the first possession, then fed Zwikker for a basket and foul shot on the next. Forward Ademola Okulaja completed the run when he was fouled while making a baseline three-pointer. Okulaja made the free throw with 11:47 left to put the Tar Heels ahead, 55-41.

Cota finished with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.

A 12-3 North Carolina run later in the half finished off the Buffaloes (22-10), who did not savor their place in history.

“We didn’t come into this game to help Dean Smith get his record,” Colorado forward Martice Moore said.

The Buffaloes were helpless to stop it. No one was more thrilled than Bill Guthridge, a Tar Heel assistant under Smith for 30 years. Guthridge decided in 1978 he wanted to coach under Smith for the rest of his life, or as long as Smith would have him.

For all of the Tar Heels who sat perched next to Smith, or played for him, Saturday belongs to the ages.

“It means a lot to us to be a small part of an unbelievable accomplishment,” Guthridge said.

Guthridge figured being an assistant at North Carolina the last 30 years is better than 300 head coaching jobs in America.

What’s so good about North Carolina?

“You can always say, ‘I worked for Dean Smith,’ ” Guthridge said.

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Winners’ Circle

The winningest coaches at NCAA Div. I schools (years in parentheses):

* 877 (36): Dean Smith, North Carolina, 1962-present

* 876 (41): Adolph Rupp, Kentucky, 1931-52, 1954-72

* 767 (41): Henry Iba, Northwest Missouri State, 1930-33; Colorado, 1934; Oklahoma State, 1935-70

* 759 (42): Ed Diddle, Western Kentucky, 1923-64

* 746 (48): Phog Allen, Baker, 1906-08; Kansas 1908-09; Haskell, 1909; Central Missouri State, 1913-19; Kansas 1920-56.