RIVALS: North Carolina and Duke gear up for the Big Dance as Tyler Hansbrough (left) battles for position with Gerald Henderson. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
A win over quality opposition late in the season looks good, but the Tar Heels don’t need help getting to the Big Dance. They are the nation’s consensus No. 1 after all and will be getting an invite.
If the Montreal Canadiens and New York Yankees represent hockey and baseball’s most storied franchises, then North Carolina is college basketball’s with its four NCAA national titles, 17 Final Four appearances, and 27 regular season solo and shared ACC titles.
Early History
Established in 1789 at Chapel Hill, North Carolina—part of the Tobacco Road area which includes neighboring basketball powers the Duke Blue Devils and to a lesser extent the Wake Forest Demon Deacons—the school began its basketball journey in January 27, 1910. They established the winning tradition early, defeating Virginia Christian by a final of 42–21.North Carolina’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament came in 1941. They would earn their first tourney win five years later over NYU only to make it to the title game against Oklahoma A&M, which they lost 43–40.
While North Carolina had played in the Southern Conference since its inception, they, along with Duke, Clemson, Maryland, South Carolina, Wake Forest, and North Carolina St., split to form the Atlantic Coast Conference on May 8, 1953. The Tar Heels began play on December 12, 1953—UNC started its ACC voyage with an 82–56 win over South Carolina.
In 1957, with Frank McGuire as bench boss and All-American and National Player of the Year Lennie Rosenbluth on the court, the Tar Heels rolled through the NCAA tournament and earned their first NCAA basketball title, defeating late-NBA great Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in triple OT 54–53.
The “Dean” Takes Over
After allegations of improper recruiting, the team was placed on probation in 1960 and was not allowed to compete in the 1961 tournament. That incident was followed by a point-shaving scandal which led to acrimony with the chancellor, and coach McGuire left for the NBA.
McGuire was replaced by longtime assistant Dean Smith whose debut—an 80–46 win over Virginia—featured 12-points and eight rebounds from current Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown.
Smith’s tenure lasted from 1961 to 1997 and spawned two national titles (1982 and 1993), 11 Final Four appearances, 13 ACC tournament titles, and 17 regular season titles.
Smith was college basketball’s winningest coach with 879 wins when he retired, although Bobby Knight surpassed that two years ago. Still, Smith is one of UNC’s and college basketball’s coaching greats.
His Airness
If you thumb through North Carolina basketball’s media guide, one of the school’s many achievements is the number of alumni that have gone on to play NBA ball.
According to the 2008–09 media guide, the Tar Heels have seen 92 players selected in the NBA draft with 36 coming in the first round, including the likes of James Worthy and Vince Carter. Carter and Worthy take a backseat to UNC’s greatest hoops product, a member of Dean Smith’s 1982 championship team and considered by many to be the greatest player ever—Michael Jordan.
While at Chapel Hill, Jordan nailed the winning basket in the championship game and received ACC freshman of the year honors in 1982. He won both the Naismith and John Wooden awards in 1984.
During his three-year stint at North Carolina, Jordan averaged 17.7 points and five rebounds while shooting 54 percent from the field.
Like Jordan, senior Tyler Hansbrough won the Naismith and Wooden awards last season and will be instrumental for the Tar Heels’ success in this his final year.
Hansbrough is the latest in a fine lineage of North Carolina Tar Heels.
