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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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Best North Carolina basketball seasons
North Carolina basketball (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /

4. 1956-57 North Carolina basketball season

Final Record: 32-0 | Result: National Champions (def. Kansas, 54-53)

Full disclosure, it’s hard for me to compare teams from eras 50-plus years ago to the teams we see in the 1990s and the modern era of college basketball. For the most part, the game was almost completely different and teams and players who thrived in that era might not be able to do the same. Despite all of that, there’s no fully discrediting the 1956-57 season for the Tar Heels.

North Carolina entered the season as the No. 6 ranked team in college basketball and they only rose up the polls throughout the season. They only faced three ranked opponents during the regular season (once against No. 9 Duke and twice against Wake Forest) but rolled through those contests as they dif every game in the regular season.

The Tar Heels continued to do the same once they got into the ACC Tournament. Wake Forest was the only team that gave them trouble in the semifinals, a two-point win for UNC, but they topped both Clemson and South Carolina by 20 points to capture the conference championship heading into the NCAA Tournament.

After three comfortable wins over Yale, Canisius and Syracuse, Lennie Rosenbluth and Pete Brennan’s team continued their torrid run into the Final Four under Frank McGuire. They got past Michigan State in three overtimes but then came their crowning feat. Against a juggernaut Kansas team led by Wilt Chamberlain, the Heels again needed three overtimes but earned the victory, 54-53, to win the program’s first NCAA Tournament-based National Championship.