Fansided

Ranking the top 30 UNC basketball players in program history

By Cooper Watson

CHAPEL HILL, NC - MARCH 7: Michael Jordan kisses former coach Dean Smith of the North Carolina Tar Heels during a halftime ceremony honoring the 1993 national championship team during a game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at the Dean Smith Center on March 7, 2007 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - MARCH 7: Michael Jordan kisses former coach Dean Smith of the North Carolina Tar Heels during a halftime ceremony honoring the 1993 national championship team during a game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at the Dean Smith Center on March 7, 2007 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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North Carolina Tar Heels (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

11. Sean May (2002-05)

Sean May’s career averages of 15.8 PPG and 10.0 RPG are certainly impressive, but his 20.5 PPG and 10.1 RPG averages in the 2005 postseason helped form one of the most memorable stretches in the long history of UNC men’s basketball. That 2005 postseason saw Roy Williams win his first National Championship in just his second season with the team. It was also the program’s first true success in the post-Dean Smith era. May was the star player behind that success.

Over his three seasons in Chapel Hill, May was a two-time All-ACC member as well as an All-American in 2005, which also saw him win Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four.

May does not rank in North Carolina’s top 10 for career scoring or rebounding largely because he missed most of his freshman season with an injury and left for the NBA after his junior year, meaning that he had just over two full seasons to compile stats. Regardless of career totals, May’s impact over those two seasons was not only memorable but incredibly important in terms of setting up the next era of Carolina basketball greatness.