Victorious Tar Heels greet UNC fans

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., April 7 (UPI) -- The NCAA champion University of North Carolina basketball team returned home to Chapel Hill Tuesday, greeted by thousands of fans at the Dean Smith Center.

The team, which defeated Michigan State Monday to claim the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball championship, were dressed in coats and ties as they waved to a throng of cheering, blue-clad faithful fans, the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer reported.

The team's public address announcer, Woody Durham, got the crowd in the mood by rattling off the Tar Heels' accomplishments this year before their entrance, eliciting an especially loud cheer by noting that the seniors on this championship squad won 101 games and lost 14 in their UNC careers.

Street celebrations in Chapel Hill Monday night resulted in 10 people being hospitalized and 16 injured as about 30,000 people poured onto the city's Franklin Street after the Tar Heels' win, officials said.

The News & Observer said two people were arrested, one charged with property damage and the other on a count of assaulting a government official and being intoxicated and disruptive.