And that surprised me.

I’m no Tar Heel fan, as you know. But I found myself almost cheering for them during their stunning NCAA run and not just because they kept me out of the office and from doing high school baseball stats and softball games for three weeks longer than anyone expected.

Actually, I was cheering not so much for the players as for coach Bill Guthridge.

It was as if Guthridge was strapped in the seat at one of those fund-raising dunking booths most of this season, while his own fans took turns throwing things at him — trying to sink him.

Carolina fans actually told me a month ago that they wanted UNC to be left out of the NCAA Tournament, just so the university would bounce Guthridge from the remaining two years of his five-year contract. Guthridge likely took as much guff from fans as any coach in history. Well, at least as much as any coach since Billy Cunningham ripped down that dummy of Dean Smith that was hung from a Chapel Hill tree 38 years ago.

But that’s the nature of Tar Heel fans, who’ve been spoiled by nearly four decades of constant success and a record 26 straight years in the NCAA Tournament.

Anyway, Guthridge took it — took it even when his players deserved the lion’s share of the heat. He never lashed out at the people who said he had brought a proud program to ruin. Never blasted the fans — even though his players did a few times. Never offered excuses, although there were plenty to be offered given the Heels’ injury situation. Never said anything except that he just hadn’t been able to push the right buttons that might have made the difference.

So it was cool when the Heels splashed some office pool brackets by beating Missouri in the first round down in Birmingham. Even cooler when they outmuscled cocky and muscle-bound Stanford two nights later to extend the school’s 20-win streak to 30 straight years.

By then, supporting the Heels was considered in good taste again. Where maybe 100 fans had greeted their practice in Birmingham, there were 10 times that number in Austin a week later.

The run should have ended in Texas, by all rights. Tennessee was a better team and had the Heels beat. But that’s when Guthridge took off his glasses and screamed at freshman Joseph Forte, spit out his ice chunks and demanded that Jason Capel look him in the eye and play.

Guthridge told his team when it was down seven late in that game that it would win. It did. Even playing without a fouled-out Brendan Haywood.

Then against Tulsa, Forte had the game of his young life (28 points) to push the Heels into the Final Four.

Almost everyone was cheering for Guthridge by then. Especially after he stoically boarded the plane to bury his 96-year-old mother immediately after the Tulsa game.

By Final Four time, Tar Heel fans were actually beginning to believe — not just hope — that their team was going to claim a national championship in a season in which it wasn’t ranked after January and was probably only the fourth best team in the ACC.

It didn’t happen, of course. Depth-shy and beaten down by foul trouble, the Tar Heels finally collapsed against Florida. The Gators were a better team, but already you hear rumblings that Guthridge should have pulled Ed Cota after his phantom fourth foul. You hear rumblings that Deano would have won with this team.

But I disagree. Guthridge did as much — maybe more — than any coach could have done.

Guthridge has won 80 games in three years, as many as any coach has ever won in his first three. That’s right — ever. No, he hasn’t won the big one yet, but sometime in his remaining two years — two years he richly earned with his sweat, dedication and inspiration over the last month — he just might.

The Heels have a splendid recruiting class coming in and if Haywood comes back — and he says he is — and the injured guys get healthy, the 2000-01 Heels are going to be as deep and strong as anyone around.

They’ll miss Cota, the only contributing senior, because while he was so-so during the regular season, he was great in the first four NCAA games.

But Guthridge will welcome back some guys who impressed me over the last three weeks. In the NCAA Tournament, you really get to know people because you talk to them so often.

Haywood showed me he’s not a stiff. He’s an intelligent, sensitive guy who’s just starting to realize he can dominate, after being told how bad he is by so many for such a long time.

I like Julius Peppers’ confidence. He’s convinced he’s all-world even when he plays 10 minutes.

Capel, I really like. Because he spoke loudest in telling people to lay off Guthridge and trash the players if they wanted to blame somebody.

Forte is merely the best UNC freshman since the Michael guy. Tar Heel fans can only hope he hangs around Chapel Hill a few years.

And Kris Lang. How does anyone not like Lang?

He was literally hurt all season — harder to put back together again than Humpty Dumpty — but he kept trying. Through mystery viruses, shin splints, muscle cramps and dislocated shoulders, he kept trying. Someone said he was a walking episode of ER, and that’s right on the money.

Lang had an ankle swollen like Donald Trump’s bank account on Saturday, but he gave what he had to give. He wasn’t good, but he tried. He tried for his teammates, tried for Heel fans and mostly tried for the coach who never blamed him for the team’s ills, even when he was banged up so badly, he was an obvious liability.

UNC carried the ACC banner well in a postseason their fans can and should be proud of. They should be proud of their school and their team. Mostly they should be proud of their coach. Many of them owe him an apology.

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