When Nate Britt walked into his house, went down the hallway and opened the door, he did a double take.

There was the framed picture of The Shot, the one that wound up costing Britt and his North Carolina teammates the national championship. Next to it was the national title hat Villanova forward Kris Jenkins received, and there was also a watch given to the champions.

"I opened the door and I see all of this Villanova national championship memorabilia," the Tar Heels guard said. "I'm sick."

Then Britt walked a few feet down the hallway and opened the door to his room.

"They made some additions to my room," Britt said. "I got some Final Four stuff, pictures, also."

The story of Britt and Jenkins was told ad nauseam leading up to last April's national title game. They're not blood brothers, but Britt's family had taken in Jenkins, and the two considered themselves brothers.

There was trash-talking between the duo leading up to the contest, which ended with Jenkins sinking one of the most memorable shots in championship game history, a buzzer-beater that gave Villanova the title.

But there has been none since.

The two talked immediately after the game, via text and also through FaceTime. While Jenkins went through the victory tour, with a trip to the White House included in the festivities, Britt and his teammates were trying to come to grips with falling short of a championship after coming so close.

"That play, you know, basically stole the championship away from us. 'Cause we all know if it went into overtime we're winning that game," Britt said. "He knows that."

First, it was a fog for Britt and the rest of the UNC players. Surreal. When they returned to Chapel Hill, other students didn't know what to say to them, so most didn't say anything at all. Britt said classrooms were nearly vacant.

Eventually, a sense of normalcy returned -- until the group text that came early in the summer from Britt asking his teammates how they felt about a certain Wildcat coming down to play pickup this summer.

"My initial response was that I didn't have any hard feelings, obviously it hurt he hit the shot, but for me he had been down a couple times before," North Carolina forward Justin Jackson said. "I didn't really have hard feelings towards him, but a lot of the guys were like, 'I don't know if I can do that yet.' "

Britt had run the idea past Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, who has known Jenkins for years since he had been recruiting Britt.

"He had known Kris and my relationship," Britt said. "All of our unofficial visits we came together, so Coach has known Kris since he was recruiting me. Kris has been here every year. Coach was fine with it, he understood."

"I said, 'You tell him I'm so mad at him it's unbelievable,' " Williams said. "And yes, he can come."

Jenkins had done it before, walked into the Smith Center in Chapel Hill and played pickup with Britt and his North Carolina teammates. But it was different now after Jenkins sank The Shot.

"It was weird, definitely weird," Jackson said.

"There's still a little tension in there," Britt said of when his brother walked onto the court. "It was a little more awkward, but after the first 10 minutes it was like normal."

Except for one thing.

"He played terrible,” Britt said with a laugh. "I don't think he made a shot in the first two games we played."

Said Jackson: "He didn't make any shots. Of course."