Phoenix ready for Final Four
PHOENIX, Arizona (WTVD) -- The countdown to the Final Four is on and so are the last-minute preparations in Phoenix as the city rolls out the red carpet for more than 100,000 visitors this weekend.
UNC Chapel Hill alumni Victoria Jackson has been eagerly waiting to welcome her Tar Heels to the state she now calls home.
"It's great for us to be the institutional hosts, and to have my alma mater competing is kind of like the stars aligned," she said.
The champion track start turned sports historian at Arizona State University said she owes her success to Carolina.
"That experience as a Tar Heel has absolutely influenced my career as a historian and a teacher," she said.
Jackson met her husband, Mike Cvelbar, at UNC where the pair were student athletes.
Cvelbar became an All-American decathlete and ACC champion runner.
The pair are now raising a little Tar Heel fan and plan to root for the Tar Heels Saturday.
"His name is Carter and yes, he wears his Carolina blue, very proudly. He's not a Tar Heel born, but he's certainly a Tar Heel bred," said Jackson.
Quinton Sawyer knows what it is like to grow up a Tar Heel fan.
"I think if you look up at the Carolina blue sky, you realize that God loves us, and I do think there's something special about a Tar Heel fan," he smiled.
The Camden, North Carolina native and UNC grad works as an assistant trainer for the Phoenix Suns.
But his blood still runs blue.
As a graduate assistant for UNC's men's basketball team, he was part of the 2005 national championship run.
Sawyer is pulling for another Tar Heel victory this weekend.
"TarHeels are going to win the national championship. I'm one of blind faith," he laughed.
Sawyer will be traveling with the Suns out of state Saturday, but his mind will be on Carolina.
"My wife does a really good job of texting me updates so I can check them on my smart watch while I'm on the bench," he said.
