List of North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball seasons

For North Carolina's current season, see 2023–24 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team.

Five young men in American basketball uniform seated with one holding a basketball with the North Carolina insigna, and five men standing behind them, two older men in jackets with bow ties and three young men in American basketball uniform
The 1910–11 men's basketball team

The men's basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is referred to as the North Carolina Tar Heels, and they play in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Tar Heels have played their games at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina since 1986.

As of the 2009–10 season, North Carolina had the second most wins and the second highest winning percentage of any NCAA Division I men's team with a record of 2,004 wins and 720 losses over 100 seasons.[1] The Tar Heels also have the most consecutive 20-win seasons, with 31 seasons from the 1970–71 season through 2000–01 season.[2] The Tar Heels have won the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament six times, have appeared in the tournament finals eleven times, a record 21 NCAA Final Fours,[3] have made it into the NCAA tournament 47 times (tied for second-most all-time),[4] and hold the record for all-time NCAA tournament victories (102).[5] Additionally, the team has been the number one seed in the NCAA tournament 13 times, which is the most #1 seeds of all-time, and has been ranked in the top 25 AP Poll 703 times (1st all-time),[6] has beaten #1 teams a record 12 times,[6] has the most consecutive 20-win seasons, with 31,[7] North Carolina has also won the National Invitation Tournament, appeared in two NIT Semifinals, and has made five appearances in the NIT Tournament. North Carolina has had a top twenty-five final ranking among Division I schools 42 times as ranked by the Associated Press and 44 times as ranked by the Coaches Poll. In five instances the Tar Heels have ended the season with a number one ranking in the Associated Press, and the Tar Heels have also been ranked number one five times at the end of the season by the Coaches' Poll.

The Tar Heels played their first basketball game against Virginia Christian, on January 27, 1910, a 42–21 win for North Carolina.[6] In 1921 North Carolina joined the Southern Conference.[8] In the Southern Conference, the Tar Heels quickly found success. The 1923–24 Tar Heels squad went 26-0 and was retroactively awarded the national championship by the Helms Athletic Foundation in 1936.[9] Overall, the Tar Heels played 32 seasons in the Southern Conference from 1921 to 1953. During that period they won 304 games and lost 111 for a winning percentage of 73.3%. The Tar Heels were winners of the regular season for nine times and won the Southern Conference championships 8 times.

In 1953, North Carolina split off from the Southern Conference and became a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.[10] Again, the Tar Heels quickly found success in their new conference. The Tar Heels won their first NCAA Championship under coach Frank McGuire in 1957, which was led by Lennie Rosenbluth and several other transplants from the New York City area. McGuire was forced to resign in 1961 after an NCAA violation regarding "improper recruiting entertainment"[11] and was replaced by one of his assistants, Dean Smith.

Smith coached the Tar Heels from 1961 to 1997 and brought an unprecedented level of success to the team. When Smith retired in 1997, he had the most wins ever of any NCAA Division I men's basketball coach with 879 wins, and the 9th highest winning percentage with 77.6% wins.[12][13] During Smith's time as head coach, North Carolina won the ACC regular season championship 17 times, won the ACC tournament 13 times, won the NIT in 1971, went to the NCAA tournament 27 times, appeared in 11 final fours, and won two NCAA national tournament titles, in 1982 and 1993.[14] The 1982 National Championship team was led by James Worthy, Sam Perkins, and a young Michael Jordan. The 1993 National Championship team starred Donald Williams, George Lynch and Eric Montross. While at North Carolina, Smith helped promote desegregation by recruiting the university's first African American scholarship basketball player Charlie Scott.[15]

Smith retired in 1997 and the head coaching position went to his assistant Bill Guthridge. In his three seasons as head coach Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the NCAA final Four twice, in the 1998 tournament and again in the 2000 tournament.

Guthridge retired in 2000 and North Carolina turned to the 38-year-old Matt Doherty to lead the Tar Heels.[16] Doherty had mixed success while at Carolina. In his first season, the Heels shot to the #1 ranking in the polls in the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule and finished with an impressive 26–7 record. But Doherty's second season was the worst in recent history as the Tar Heels finished the season with a record of 8-20, missing postseason play entirely for the first time since the 1965–66 season (including a record 26 straight NCAA Tournament appearances) and finishing with a losing record for the first time since 1962 (Dean Smith's first year as coach). They also finished 4–12 in the ACC—only the program's second losing ACC record ever. The 12 losses were six more than the Tar Heels had ever suffered in a single season of ACC play, and placed them in a tie for 7th place—the program's first finish below fourth place ever. The season also saw the end of UNC's run of 31 straight 20-win seasons and 35 straight seasons of finishing third or higher in the ACC. After bringing in one of the top 5 incoming classes for the 2002–03 season, the Tar Heels started the season by knocking off a top 5 Kansas team and going on to win the Preseason NIT and returning to the AP top 25. Carolina went on to finish the season with a 17–15 record, barely missing the NCAA tournament. Matt Doherty led the Tar Heels to the third round of the NIT where they ended their season with a loss to Georgetown. Despite the turnaround from the year before and the late season playoff run, at the end of the season Matt Doherty was replaced as head coach by Roy Williams.

Roy Williams' first season was a moderate success with North Carolina finished 19-11 and the team was knocked out in the second round of the NCAA tournament by Texas. Williams was able to gain more success in his second season and coached North Carolina to a national championship in 2005.[17] After winning the championship, Williams had to deal with the departure of the team's top seven scorers. Most thought that 2005–06 would be a down season for Williams, but the Tar Heels proved to be surprisingly successful in part due to the help of the freshman Tyler Hansbrough. Williams was named Coach of the Year for his ability to turn around such a new team to such a high level of success. Since 2005 the Tar Heels have once again become a leader in the ACC, winning both the regular season and the conference tournament in 2006–07 and 2007–08. In the 2008–09 season, North Carolina was chosen as consensus pre-season #1 and managed to fulfill the predictions of a national championship by beating Michigan State in the 2009 National Championship. However, the 2009-10 season ended up being a down season for the Tar Heels. The loss of players such as Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough, along with numerous injuries to key players, proved too much to overcome and resulted in the Tar Heels missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2002–03 season. The Tar Heels returned to the NCAA tournament in the ensuring years losing to Kentucky and Kansas in the Elite 8 during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons respectively. In the 2015-16 season, Williams returned the Tar Heels to the NCAA Championship game where he sought his third national championship against Villanova. Marcus Paige hit an off-balance three-point shot to tie the game with 4.7 seconds left. However, Villanova's Kris Jenkins hit a buzzer-beating three pointer to defeat the Tar Heels 77–74. The Tar Heels returned to the 2017 National Championship game the following year where they defeated Gonzaga 71–65 to win their sixth NCAA title in program history.

  1. ^ "Division I All-Time Winningest Teams (through 2008-09 season)" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
  2. ^ "UNC versus NC State game notes". February 3, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  3. ^ "UNC Outlasts Oklahoma, 72-60". Tarheelblue.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  4. ^ "Tar Heels Earn No. 1 Seed In NCAA Tournament South Regional". Tarheelblue.com. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
  5. ^ "North Carolina vs. Oklahoma Post Game Notes". Tarheelblue.com. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c North Carolina Tar Heels Media Guide
  7. ^ Peeler, Tim (November 2, 2001). "Once again, Duke leads the way". CNNSI.com. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  8. ^ Southern Conference Fan Guide
  9. ^ The Helms Foundation named its own national college basketball champion for each year from 1936 through 1982. The foundation also retroactively awarded championships from 1901 through 1935. While the 1924 team was undefeated, they did not play a single opponent from north of the Mason–Dixon line; indeed, intersectional play would not start on a regular basis for another decade. However, the 1924 Tar Heels did beat the Kentucky Wildcats that season in a battle of what most considered the two best teams in the nation.
  10. ^ Official ACC Web Site Archived 2007-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "LSDBi". Goomer.ncaa.org. Retrieved September 25, 2008.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ This record for the most wins would later be surpassed by Bob Knight in 2007.
  13. ^ "NCAA stats". NCAA. NCAA. Archived from the original on October 8, 2006. Retrieved February 1, 2007.
  14. ^ "Dean Smith Biography". Hall of Famers. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Inc. Archived from the original on May 5, 2007. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  15. ^ "ACC 50th Anniversary Team". NBA.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2009. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  16. ^ ESPN article on Doherty's acceptance of head coach at North Carolina
  17. ^ "SI.com — 2005 Sportsman of the Year — My Sportsman Choice: Roy Williams — Monday November 28, 2005 1:10PM". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. November 28, 2005. Retrieved September 25, 2008.