Delirium Tournamens: UNC Sweet 16 Edition
Now things are getting good. UNC has made the sweet 16 a whopping 34 times in their history, second only to Kentucky’s 44 sweet 16 appearances. This obviously skews to recent games with highlights on YouTube, but there’s no shortage of memorable sweet 16 moments.
2017 vs Butler
Outside of a first round romp against Texas Southern, North Carolina’s sweet sixteen victory over Butler was the least dramatic matchup of their 2017 title run. While Butler threatened to make things interesting a couple times late, the Tar Heels were able to keep the Bulldogs at arm’s length en route to a 92–80 victory. The story of Carolina’s championship run was finding a way to win games that weren’t always beautiful, but the sweet 16 vs Butler was the one chance to watch a talented Tar Heel squad fire on all cylinders.
2016 vs Indiana
Speaking of offensive explosions, Indiana was a trendy upset pick over the Tar Heels after knocking off Kentucky in the round of 32. The game was played at an uptempo pace with Marcus Paige setting the tone by hitting his first four three point attempts of the game to spring Carolina to an early lead. Every member of the UNC starting lineup scored in double figures en route to a 101–86 victory.
2015 vs Wisconsin
Roy Williams’ first sweet 16 loss at North Carolina came in 2015 came to a #1 seed Wisconsin team that would go on to end the juggernaut 2015 Kentucky team’s bid for a perfect season before falling in the championship to Duke. Carolina didn’t go down easy. The Tar Heels held a 7 point lead at the under 12 timeout before Sam Dekker led Wisconsin on a run. A late pair of Marcus Paige 3’s drew UNC within 1 point with just under a minute remaining but a poorly timed foul and missed free throws by Isaiah Hicks sealed the victory for the Badgers.
2012 vs Ohio
This might have been the most painful tournament game start to finish I’ve ever watched as a Carolina fan. If you needed a reminder how crucial the point guard position is to Roy Williams’ system — you likely don’t after this past season — this is it. A roster still loaded with NBA draft picks looked utterly lost without Kendall Marshall at the helm and the result was a near defeat to double digit seed Ohio. Tyler Zeller would ultimately carry Carolina to victory, but this game erased any doubt that the 2012 team’s title hopes had died when Kendall Marshall fractured his wrist vs Creighton.
2011 vs Marquette
A night after Derrick Williams and Arizona eliminated top seeded Duke, North Carolina came out and laid a beatdown against Marquette. The Golden Eagles roster featured future NBA stalwarts Jimmy Butler and Jae Crowder, but it didn’t matter against UNC’s front line of Barnes, Henson, and Zeller who combined to score 61 points against the Golden Eagles.
2009 vs Gonzaga
Perhaps you’re sensing a theme by now. Top seeded UNC enters the sweet sixteen as a popular pick to get upset. Talking heads spend all week saying “look out for X team vs North Carolina” or outright picking the Tar Heels to lose. Carolina comes out and unleashes an offensive barrage against said trendy upset pick. So it went in 2009 vs Gonzaga as well.
2008 vs Washington State
Tony Bennett’s pack line succeeded in frustrating National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough for a half and held the Tar Heels well under their usual offensive output. It didn’t prevent Carolina from decisively defeating Washington State and moving on, however. This isn’t the most fun game to watch, but if recent matchups against UVA have left you frustrated it’s somewhat therapeutic to watch Carolina pull away from a Tony Bennett squad.
2007 vs USC
You’d think I’d have a more vivid memory of this game as it was my freshman year at Carolina. Alas all I remember is it was close and Taj Gibson gave Tyler Hansbrough fits. Turns out the Spartans led by 16 in the second half before Carolina closed strong behind the play of Brandan Wright to advance.
2005 vs Villanova
Did Allan Ray travel? Perhaps not. But I won’t shed a tear for Villanova losing in the final moments to UNC.
2000 vs Tennessee
I wrote about the 2000 Final Four run in my second round post. The Sweet Sixteen win featured a late comeback by the Tar Heels, another strong performance by Joe Forte, and key reserve minutes from Julius Peppers.
It also is fascinating to watch from a basketball fashion perspective. The infamous interlocking NC uniforms, the baggy shorts, and Tennessee’s Ron Slay wearing what I swear is just a plain t-shirt with the sleeves cut off under his jersey in the pre-Dri Fit performance clothing era.
1997 vs California
It feels appropriate to follow up a game featuring one of the all time greatest NFL defensive ends with a game featuring one of the NFL’s all time greatest tight ends. It took a second half comeback for Carter, Jamison and UNC to take Tony Gonzalez and the California Golden Bears.
1995 vs Georgetown
Rasheed Wallace. Allen Iverson. Jerry Stackhouse.
Enough said.
1993 vs Arkansas
Carolina has a somewhat sneaky great tournament history with Arkansas, with some of the most memorable matchups coming in the 90s. Carolina got the better of the Razorbacks in 93 behind 23 points from George Lynch and 22 points from Donald Williams.
1989 vs Michigan
Carolina played Michigan in 3 consecutive NCAA tournaments in the late 80s, coming out the victor in ‘87 and ‘88. The Wolverines got revenge in ’89 behind Glen Rice’s 34 points and would go on to win the national championship.
1987 vs Notre Dame
This was obviously before my time and part of an era that modern day Tar Heel fans know comparatively less about. The late 70s was Phil Ford, the early 80’s were Jordan and Worthy, but the late 80s are a bit of a blind spot for myself (and I suspect most Tar Heel fans under 40). JR Reid feels like one of the more under appreciated UNC greats and his 31 points led Carolina to victory in this one.
1984 vs Indiana
Depending on whether or not you’re Dan Dakich this is either the game where Dan Dakich singlehandedly locked down Michael Jordan all on his own or the game Dean Smith sat Michael Jordan for the majority of the first half when he picked up an early second foul, thus handicapping one of the all time most talented UNC squads.
1983 vs Ohio State
I know nothing about this game but it felt fundamentally wrong to end this blog on the note of a game UNC lost to end Michael Jordan’s Tar Heel career. So here’s a game featuring Michael Jordan that the Tar Heels won.
