Blue Streak

For the seniors, the best Barnstorming stop came in Graham at Southern Alamance High School. In some ways, it was a homecoming for walk-on Jack Wooten, who played his high school ball at nearby Williams High School in Burlington. That's why the Tar Heels constantly fed their sharpshooting walk-on and gave him the green light to keep firing. By night's end, Wooten had connected on 14 3-pointers. But there were other entertaining moments as well. Like Frasor opening warm-ups by casually flicking in a half-court set shot. Or Hansbrough forgetting this was a game against high school coaches and random local players and therefore treating a weak shot attempt by Southern Alamance coach Tiffany Helton to a vicious rejection. Best of all, the entire exhibition had an upbeat hip-hop soundtrack with Chris "Chubs" May on the sidelines working the turntables for the night. Chubs - stocky and bald, charismatic and jovial - spun Jay-Z and T.I. and Flo Rida and really got the Tar Heels juiced. The players might have been the stars of the show but Chubs certainly added to the fun. At one break in the action, he cued up the start of House of Pain's "Jump Around" - better known to Carolina fans as Danny Green's dance anthem. Chubs sauntered over to Green with the song playing quietly over the sound system, just enough to tease the crowd. "Hold on. Hold on. Hold on," Chubs said. "I know what y'all want here. But hey, Danny don't dance no more. He got into the starting lineup and he couldn't do his thing like he used to." Chubs paused and looked down. "But really," he continued, "Danny just can't dance like this." At which point Chubs went all Usher on the Southern Alamance gym floor, dancing in a manner that made Green's grooving look uncoordinated. Toward the end of the night, at another break, Chubs got on the mic again. "Now Tyler," he said, pointing directly at Hansbrough. "Somebody told me what your favorite song is." Hansbrough, standing near the top of the key with his hands on his hips looked back with his wide-eyed stare and half of a smirk. "Did you know I knew what your favorite song was, Tyler?" Chubs asked. Hansbrough had no idea what to think. "Well, here it comes." And with that came the first bass-bumping notes of Juvenile's "Back That Ass Up." About 10 seconds into the song, Hansbrough was hooked. He took his hands off his hips, sauntered to mid-court and then flapped his arms begging the crowd for more noise. Of course, out of reverence, they obliged. With the roof about to come off the gym and "Back That Ass Up" blaring from the sound system, Hansbrough threw both his arms over his head and broke into a wildly energized butt-shake - sort of like Shakira hopped up on Monster. Hansbrough's hips, waist and butt cheeks gyrated violently, looking like they were all in a war with each other. The cheers and the laughter turned the night upside down. So enamored were the Tar Heels by Chubs' deejay skills, they decided to invite him to a party they were throwing three nights later. Hansbrough and Frasor along with roommates Green, Marcus Ginyard and former team manager Preston Puckett hosted the bash at 106 Carolina Avenue. They turned their basement into a pseudo-club and gave Chubs free reign. And then they extended an invitation to more than 100 guests to come join the fun. Oh, and just so the party wouldn't come off as lame, Frasor decided it had to have a unique twist. Ya know, like something more original than befriending a deejay at an exhibition game and letting him use your basement as a club. So Frasor brainstormed and came up with the perfect plan. He ordered a Moonbounce for the front yard. "All Bob's idea," Green said. "I have to give him credit. It was definitely a unique set-up." At some point or another, many of the Tar Heels took their turn climbing into the inflatable castle and bounced around. These were the new Carolina basketball legends, to be remembered forever as national champions, heroes who took on all comers, battled the highest of expectations and wound up as the last team standing. And here they were, jumping around in a Moonbounce like a bunch of little kids. "We had to sign a waiver to assure that no one over 150 pounds could be up on that thing," Frasor said. "But we didn't exactly follow that rule. Hey, we felt like we owed ourselves a little wiggle room. We just won a national championship."