III 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 110 

Congratulating the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team 

for winning the 2008–2009 NCAA men’s basketball national championship. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 22, 2009 

Mr. BURR (for himself and Mrs. HAGAN) submitted the following resolution; 

which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Congratulating the University of North Carolina Tar Heels 

basketball team for winning the 2008–2009 NCAA men’s 

basketball national championship. 

Whereas on April 6, 2009, the University of North Carolina 

defeated Michigan State University 89–72 to win the 

2008–2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association 

(NCAA) men’s basketball national championship; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina was the consensus 

preseason number 1 basketball team in the Nation; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina Tar Heels were 

saddled with a tremendous amount of pressure to get to 

the NCAA Final Four and win the national championship in 2009; 


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•SRES 110 ATS 

Whereas after the Tar Heels’ 0–2 record to start the Atlantic 

Coast Conference (ACC) regular season, the team finished with a record of 13–3 and won 13 out of their last 

14 games in conference; 

Whereas the Tar Heels were the 2008–2009 ACC regular 

season conference champions; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina’s Tyler 

Hansbrough became the ACC’s all-time leading scorer; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina’s Tyler 

Hansbrough and Ty Lawson were selected to the 2008– 

2009 All-Atlantic Coast Conference (All-ACC) first team; 

Whereas Tyler Hansbrough became the first player in league 

history to be unanimously selected 4 times to the AllACC first team; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina’s Danny Green 

was selected to the 2008–2009 All-ACC third team and 

the All-ACC defensive team; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina’s Ed Davis was selected to the All-ACC rookie team; 

Whereas entering into the 2008–2009 NCAA College Basketball Championship, President Barack Obama picked the 

Tar Heels to win the championship title; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina beat each of 

Radford University, Louisiana State University, Gonzaga 

University, and the University of Oklahoma by 12 points 

or more to win the South Division and reach the Final 

Four for the second straight year; 

Whereas Ty Lawson was named the South Division most valuable player; 


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•SRES 110 ATS 

Whereas with their victory over the University of Oklahoma, 

the Tar Heels became the first team in NCAA Tournament history to reach 100 tournament wins; 

Whereas several media outlets, including ESPN and CBS, reported that more than 60,000 fans in attendance at the 

final tournament game would be cheering for Michigan 

State University; 

Whereas the 55 points the University of North Carolina 

scored in the first half of the championship game broke 

the all-time first half scoring record for any team in the 

history of the NCAA tournament; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina’s Wayne Ellington 

and Deon Thompson played exceptionally well in the first 

half of the championship game to push the lead to 21 

points; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina withstood Michigan State University’s late surge and pushed the lead 

back to 19 points with less than 3 minutes remaining in 

the game; 

Whereas the University of North Carolina’s Wayne Ellington 

was named the Final Four most valuable player; 

Whereas Ty Lawson’s 8 steals set the record for the most 

steals in a NCAA championship game; 

Whereas the 2008–2009 championship was the University of 

North Carolina’s fifth national championship in school 

history; 

Whereas the 2008–2009 championship was Coach Roy Williams’ second national championship since taking over as 

head coach of the University of North Carolina men’s 

basketball team; and 


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•SRES 110 ATS 

Whereas with the victory over Michigan State University, the 

University of North Carolina tied the University of Kentucky for the all-time winningest program in NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball history: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) congratulates the University of North Caro3 lina for winning the 2008–2009 National Collegiate 

4 Athletic Association men’s basketball national cham5 pionship; 

6 (2) recognizes the achievement of the players, 

7 coaches, students, and staff of the University of 

8 North Carolina whose perseverance and dedication 

9 to excellence helped propel the men’s basketball 

10 team to win the championship; and 

11 (3) respectfully requests the Secretary of the 

12 Senate to transmit an enrolled copy of this resolu13 tion to— 

14 (A) the chancellor of the University of 

15 North Carolina, H. Holden Thorp; 

16 (B) the athletic director of the University 

17 of North Carolina, Dick Baddour; and 

18 (C) the head coach of the University of 

19 North Carolina men’s basketball team, Roy Wil20 liams. 

Æ 


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