UNC and Harrison Barnes Exit Tobacco Road on Detour to the Final Four

Harrison Barnes and the North Carolina Tar Heels may not have been considered a favorite to win the 2011 NCAA tournament coming into the Big Dance this year, but they are now.

After two blowout victories and a thriller against Washington, the Tar Heels find themselves in position to add another championship banner to their already heavily decorated past.

Led by their much-heralded freshman forward, Harrison Barnes, they started off with a less-than-stellar non-conference slate and ended the season on a 14-2 conference run, leading them full steam ahead towards the NCAA tournament despite a blowout loss to rival Duke in the ACC championship game.

Seems like a talk from the most famous Tar Heel of them all has lit a fire underneath them.

After squeaking out a win against Washington, Jordan gave Barnes an earful for wearing a pair of Kobe Bryant Nikes instead of a pair of Jordans.

Jordan went on to promise Barnes and the rest of the Heels that if they could make it to the Final Four this year he would get the team anything they wanted Jordan brand-wise, including each a pair of the coveted Air Jordan retro 11 cool greys.

The talk seemed to have worked, with North Carolina coming out and drubbing Marquette, 81-63.

Barnes has stepped up his game during the Heels' current tournament run. He has averaged 22 points and nine rebounds per game, up from his season average of 16 points and six rebounds per game.

Showing the college basketball world that he has matured as fast as anyone could have expected in his first year as a college baller that started out a little rocky, Barnes as lived up to all the hype that surrounded him coming out of high school.

Though Barnes has gotten most of the attention media-wise,Tyler Zeller has had an even more impressive tournament run so far. Zeller has averaged 27 points and nine rebounds per stanza in the Big Dance thus far, well up form his season averages of 16 points and seven rebounds.

Kentucky and everyone else better steer clear of Zeller, Barnes and the rest of the Heels as they're the only thing standing in the way of a national championship and a closet full of Jordan brand apparel.