North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams is headed to his 21st-straight NCAA Tournament, and he's bringing of the most storied college basketball programs in history and its fans along with him.
To celebrate yet another trip to the Big Dance for UNC, we thought we'd take you down memory lane with The 3 Most Memorable Moments In North Carolina NCAA Tournament History.
1. Dean Smith wins his first national title (1982)
https://youtu.be/WG9DHsOXjDc
The 1981-82 North Carolina Tar Heels were a virtual who's who of basketball history, led on the court by the legendary trio of Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, and James Worthy. MJ's last-minute jumper against Georgetown in the final sealed the deal for UNC, handing the iconic Dean Smith the first of two national championships with the program.
2. Smith passes Adolph Rupp (1997)
https://youtu.be/5HbbmyEb3yk
Back on March 15, 1997, Smith's Tar Heels downed the Colorado Buffaloes 73-56 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the 1997 NCAA Tournament. The victory gave Smith is 877th win, vaulting him past Adolph Rupp as Division I basketball's all-time winningest coach. Smith's record would later be surpassed by Bobby Knight and Coach K, but the fact that he took just 36 years to pass Rupp (five years less than Rupp's 41-year, 876-win career) is still mind-bogglingly awesome.
3. Roy Williams does it again (2009)
https://youtu.be/4RELP_NRB8Q
Williams led the Tar Heels to a national title in his second year with UNC (2004), but it's the dominance of North Carolina's run to the 2009 title that stands out as his signature moment with the program. The Tar Heels beat all six of their tourney opponents by at least 12 points, averaging a 20.2-point margin of victory during one of the most dominant Big Dance runs of all time. Their 89-72 championship game victory over Michigan State was a sight to behold, and cemented Roy Williams' place among the elite coaches in college basketball history.
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