Elite Eight Recruiting Flashback: North Carolina vs. Notre Dame

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The East Region final has turned into an extra ACC game as No. 6 Notre Dame looks to upend No. 1 North Carolina when they square off for the third time this season at 8:49 p.m. ET Sunday in Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center. The Irish and Tar Heels have split a pair of games this season with the Irish winning at home in South Bend before Carolina administered a 30-point beatdown in the ACC Tournament just over two weeks ago.

The Irish are the only team left in the tournament to have made last year's Elite Eight and they are looking to make their first Final Four since 1978. The six NCAA Tournament games they've won in their back-to-back Elite Eight runs are the most they've ever won in a two-year span. North Carolina is looking to make its first return to the Final Four since 2009 when it won its last national championship.

North Carolina will take the floor of the Wells Fargo Center with a huge size advantage. Led by All-American forward Brice Johnson, the Heels have four players 6-foot-8 or taller who play more than 20 minutes per game. Meanwhile only center Zach Auguste and wing V.J. Beachem have that kind of size and play more than 15 minutes per game for the Irish.

That point guard Demetrius Jackson will come to play is a given, but the Irish cannot afford to keep getting behind and having to fight their way back into games. North Carolina has too much firepower and is way too explosive to hope to make a fourth straight comeback. More worrisome is that both point guard Marcus Paige and wing Justin Jackson look to be getting comfortable for the Heels, who are shooting 49 percent from the field and outrebounding opponents 40-33 in the tournament.

Auguste is going to have to continue his stellar on the interior (13 points and 13 rebounds per game in the tournament) to keep up with Johnson and company. Beacham has been a standout for the Irish but the key for them may be for Steve Vasturia to break out of his 6-for-28 tournament shooting slump.

Eric Bossi on Notre Dame: Coach Mike Brey values skill and toughness but he’s also enjoyed plenty of success in recruiting highly ranked players. Not only that, he hasn’t been afraid to make a package deal happen in order to land somebody as there is little doubt that bringing in seldom-used junior Austin Torres – who had been committed to Central Michigan when the Irish pursued him – helped tremendously when it came to landing their stud floor general, Jackson. Auguste, Beachem and freshman guard Rex Pflueger were all highly recruited four-stars while their roster features another four players who were Rivals150 prospects, so their success shouldn’t be a huge surprise. Beachem was always a guy dripping with potential because of his size and shooting ability. He's got it all coming together for him at the right time while scoring 17.3 points per game and making 9-of-17 three-pointers in the NCAA Tournament. Another Rivals150 player, many thought forward Bonzie Colson was too small to play in the ACC but he's worked out nicely as well.

Bossi on North Carolina: The cloud of potential NCAA penalties hanging over the North Carolina program hurt it badly in the class of 2015. However, the six combined McDonald’s All-Americans that Roy Williams and his staff were able to land between 2012-14 allowed them to remain stocked with big-time talent. Though he wasn’t a McDonald’s All-American, the development of Johnson into an NBA first-round talent and All-American senior has allowed this Tar Heels team to reach a high level. When he came out of high school he was athletic but inconsistent and shied from contact, he's turned into a nearly unstoppable force in the NCAA Tournament. After a dip in 2015, the Heels have another top 10 class on the way from 2016. The Heels can be really good again in 2016-17 if any two of Kennedy Meeks, Isaiah Hicks and Justin Jackson can resist the temptation to turn pro.