Former North Carolina guard Wayne Ellington played a vital role in the Tar Heels winning the 2009 National Championships and reaching back-to-back Final Fours.
Ellington developed into one of the best shooters in the country, averaging 16.6 points per game in his sophomore season and then 15.8 in his junior season. This also included shooting over 40 percent from the three-point line in both of those years.
The former five-star recruit out of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania picked the Tar Heels over four other programs including in-state Villanova. So beating the Wildcats in the 2009 Final Four was a big deal to him. And now we know exactly why.
During an appearance on Tyler Hansbrough’s SleepHawk Worldwide podcast, Ellington revealed
“But you don’t know why it was so big for me, Tyler,” Ellington said. “Bro, I told Jay Wright who I love, who I love dearly, who is like one of the best coaches and best people that I’ve been around in the game. I told him the reason why I’m not coming to Villanova is because I want to go win a championship.”
That quote drew a few ‘wows’ from Hansbrough as he heard that come out of Ellington’s mouth. That’s indeed a ‘wow’ moment as Wright and Villanova were a very respected program at the time as well.
Ellington goes on to say that he would have been sick if they lost that game and had to watch Villanova go play for the national championship instead.
UNC is sure glad Ellington chose the right school.
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Story originally appeared on Tarheels Wire
