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North Carolina basketball: 5 best seasons in UNC Tar Heels history, ranked

By Cody Williams

9 FEB 1993: AN ANIMATED NORTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH DEAN SMITH COMPLAINS FROM THE SIDELINE DURING THE TARHEELS ACC GAME AGAINST THE MARYLAND TERRAPINS AT COLLEG PARK, MARYLAND. Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger/ALLSPORT
9 FEB 1993: AN ANIMATED NORTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH DEAN SMITH COMPLAINS FROM THE SIDELINE DURING THE TARHEELS ACC GAME AGAINST THE MARYLAND TERRAPINS AT COLLEG PARK, MARYLAND. Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger/ALLSPORT /
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North Carolina basketball, UNC Tar Heels
Roy Williams and Danny Green #14 of the North Carolina Tar Heels. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

Ranking the five best seasons in North Carolina basketball history.

You can list one accolade after another when it comes to what North Carolina basketball has accomplished over the history of the program. The Tar Heels have the third-most NCAA Tournament championships (6) in college basketball history, have the second-highest all-time winning percentage and have won 32 ACC Regular Season championships.

Whether it’s been Dean Smith in years past or Roy Williams in the current era, winning is a tradition bathed in Carolina blue. However, when the program has enjoyed this much success, it’s worth wondering what the best teams and single seasons in North Carolina basketball history are. And given that they have six National Championships, the question then becomes which five were the best.

Determining that is the task at hand as we rank the five best North Carolina basketball seasons in the history of the Tar Heels.

5. 1992-93 North Carolina basketball season

Final Record: 34-4 | Result: National Champions (def. Michigan, 77-71)

After Dean Smith and the Tar Heels went just 23-10 in the 1991-92 season, they entered the 1992-93 season with big-time expectations. North Carolina came into the year as the No. 7-ranked team in the country and started out the year looking primed to live up to that behind a core of George Lynch, Eric Montross and Brian Reese, among others.

The Tar Heels’ first loss of the season came against Michigan’s Fab Five in a one-point buzzer-beater loss. They then suffered to ACC losses to Wake Forest and Duke but won the rest of their regular-season games to capture the crown in the conference. However, with point guard Derrick Phelps injured for the conference tournament, the Heels fell to Georgia Tech and were unable to capture the crown in the ACC.

Even still, at 28-4, UNC earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and started to reel off easy victories. Smith’s club handled East Carolina easily before dismantling Rhode Island, 112-67. They then notched single-digit victories over Arkansas and Cincinnati, which was enough to earn them a trip to the Final Four.

After beating Kansas, they were set up with a rematch against the Fab Five Michigan team that beat them earlier in the season. Though it was a back-and-forth matchup between the Tar Heels and Wolverines, in one of the biggest college basketball blunders, the Heels benefitted from Chris Webber getting slapped with a technical foul in the final minute for calling a timeout when the team had none remaining.

Yes, this iteration of the Heels “needed” Webber’s mistake to secure the title. However, they were able to be in that game and went 34-4 overall. How is that not a top-five team in program history?