North Carolina basketball: All-time starting 5 – From Michael Jordan to Psycho T

PG – Phil Ford

Phil Ford is another North Carolina born and bred player who went on to star for the Tar Heels. Coming out of Rocky Mount, Ford needed only two years to become the headliner in Chapel Hill. The summer after his sophomore year in UNC he would go on to help the U.S. Men’s National Team win a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics.

Ford’s uptempo style of play and ability to take complete control of games from the point guard position set the template for the style that has become synonymous with UNC basketball. By the time his career was finished with the Tar Heels, he was the only player in the history of the ACC to score 2,000 points and hand out 600 assists for their career — Travis Best and Greivis Vasquez hit that mark in their careers later on. Ford never averaged less than five assists per game in any of his four seasons.

He also left Chapel Hill as the school’s all-time leading scorer (2,290 total points). Ford paved the way for the likes of Ed Cota, Ty Lawson, Kendall Marshall, Raymond Felton, and other great point guards who have followed in his footsteps. The way that guards and primary ball handlers play today looks a lot like what Ford was doing for UNC in the late 1970s.

Ford stockpiled trophies during his time at the university. He would win the Wooden Award, be named a three-time consensus All-American and All-ACC selection and he was named the ACC Player of the Year as a senior.

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