North Carolina reserve Luke Maye drilled a jumper with 0.3 seconds left Sunday night in Memphis to give the Tar Heels a 75-73 win over Kentucky and a trip to the Final Four. Maye is forever a hero in Chapel Hill, just like Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Tyler Hansbrough before him.
Maye could have spent 24 hours celebrating. He could have gone right back into the gym. No one would have argued either way.
Instead, he was back at class Monday morning, making his 8 a.m. "Business 101" class (as reported by classmate Jack Sewell).
@DavidGrzyTV yes I do pic.twitter.com/qpHIM0xJM6
— Jack Sewell (@JackSewell_) March 27, 2017
The life of Luke Maye: 7 pm: hits game winning shot against Kentucky to send UNC to final four. 8am next day: Busi 101 class standing O pic.twitter.com/b1aeFGKqRE
— Jack Sewell (@JackSewell_) March 27, 2017
This is a cool story, but it is all the more notable that it happened at North Carolina. Since 2010, the university has been under investigation for academic fraud with its athletes. In 2011, the university vacated its 16 football wins in 2008 and 2009, and in 2012, the NCAA imposed a one-year postseason ban, a reduction of scholarships and a three-year probation on UNC football. In particular, certain classes in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies gained publicity for their explicit fraudulency.
Rashad McCants, a three-year Tar Heel basketball player, who starred for the 2005 national championship team, claimed that much of his coursework had been performed by tutors. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools installed one year of probation on UNC, ending in June 2016.
At the very least, Maye's showing up to class is some good academic PR for an athletic program that needs it. Maye better study up because he'll miss class on the back end of the week. North Carolina has to travel across the country to Phoenix.
Maye's done this before. UNC also reached the Final Four last season, losing to Villanova in the national championship game in Houston.
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