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How many national titles has north carolina won in basketball
UNC national championship history: How many times have Tar Heels won the NCAA Tournament?
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North Carolina Tar Heels
The UNC Tar Heels have enjoyed a ton of success in school history as one of the top basketball programs in the country.
Frank McGuire led the team to its first NCAA championship in 1957. Legendary coach Dean Smith eventually took over and established the program as a perpetual powerhouse in college basketball. The Tar Heels secured two national championships under Smith and have won the national championships three times under current coach Roy Williams.
UNC is no stranger to the Big Dance.
Here's a look at the Tar Heels' NCAA Tournament history and how many national titles they've taken back to Chapel Hill.
MORE: When did your team last win a national title in college basketball?
How many national championships has UNC won in basketball?
UNC is no stranger to the Final Four and no stranger to winning the national title.
Out of its 20 Final Four appearances, the Tar Heels have won the national title six times. UNC's first title came in 1957, after three overtimes against Kansas under head coach Frank McGuire.
Three of UNC's titles were won under head coach Roy Williams, most recently in 2017 against Gonzaga. North Carolina was playing in its second consecutive title game, after losing to Villanova at the buzzer the previous year, and it was the eighth title game to be played between two No. 1 seeds.
UNC's NCAA championship game appearences
YEAR
FINAL SCORE
2017
UNC 71, Gonzaga 65
2016
Villanova 77, UNC 74
2009
UNC 89, Michigan State 72
2005
UNC 75, Illinois 70
1993
UNC 77, Michigan 71
1982
UNC 63, Georgetown 62
1981
Indiana 63, UNC 50
1977
Marquette 67, UNC 59
1968
UCLA 78, UNC 55
1957
UNC 54, Kansas 53 (3OT)
1946
Oklahoma State 43, UNC 40
MORE: Top 10 college basketball programs since 2010: Kentucky or Duke at No. 1?
UNC's NCAA Tournament record all time
UNC is 123-45 all time in NCAA Tournament games. The Tar Heels have made the Sweet 16 seven times, the Elite 8 eight times and have appeared in a record-high 20 Final Four games. UNC has taken home six national titles, three under current coach Roy Williams.
Who has more national championships: Duke or UNC?
UNC has more national championships than bitter rival Duke. Duke has appeared in 16 Final Fours and won five national championships. UNC has appeared in a record 20 Final Fours and won six national championships. Its most recent title came in 2017 by defeating Gonzaga, 71-65.
MORE: 20 winningest coaches in March Madness history
When did UNC win its first national championship?
UNC's first national championship came against Kansas on March 23, 1957, when the Tar Heels beat the Jayhawks, 54-53, in a game that went to three overtimes. North Carolina went 32-0 that season under head coach Frank McGuire. Lennie Rosenbluth led UNC with 20 points, while Wilt Chamberlain scored 23 points for Kansas.
Which school has won the most NCAA titles?
UCLA has won the most national championships. The Bruins have won 11 national titles, seven consecutively from 1967-1973. Its most recent national championship came in 1995 against Arkansas.
School
National titles
Most recent
1. UCLA
11
1995
2. Kentucky
8
2012
3. North Carolina
6
2017
4. Duke
5
2015
5. Indiana
5
1987
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USA
North Carolina Tar Heels
Basketball
Author(s)
Top 5 North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball Teams That Never Won a Championship | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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Cheyne HowellContributor IMarch 9, 2011
Top 5 North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball Teams That Never Won a Championship
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Good times at Chapel Hill
The Tar Heels have had many legendary basketball teams on the court over the past years, and many of those teams went on to win a national championship. The Heels won national championships in 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005 and most recently in 2009.
Though most programs in the country would love the idea of just one championship, the Tar Heels, in my humble opinion, should have more championship banners hanging in their rafters.
Without further ado, I give you the five teams that should have brought home the title to Franklin Street.
No. 5: 1993-1994 North Carolina Tar Heels
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Not even a senior battle tested Montross could guide the Heels to the ShipDoug Pensinger/Getty Images
28-7 Record
ACC Tournament Champions
Lost to Boston College 75-72 in Second Round of NCAA Tournament
The '94 Tar Heels had a fantastic squad with huge, powerful senior big man Eric Montross in the middle and diaper dandy freshmen Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse. The Heels also had seasoned veterans in Brian Reese, Derrick Phelps and Kevin Salvadori, as well as developing sophomore Dante Calabria.
The Heels swept Duke that year and won the ACC Tournament, beating Wake Forest in OT and then Virginia. The Heels were upset in the second round by Boston College.
No. 4: 1976-1977 North Carolina Tar Heels
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Phil Ford
28-5 Record
ACC Regular Season Champions
ACC Tournament Champions
Lost 67-59 to Marquette in the national championship
The 1976 and '77 Tar Heels were led by a silky All-American guard by the name of Phil Ford and a imposing center by the name of Tommy LaGarde. The Heels swept Duke and won the regular season and tournament championships of the ACC. The Heels were heavily favored in the championship game against Marquette but were upset 67-59.
No. 3: 1994-95 North Carolina Tar Heels
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Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace
28-6 Record
ACC Regular Season Champions
Lost 75-68 to Arkansas in the Final Four
This team had the best starting five in the country. They had national player of the year Jerry Stackhouse and fellow All-American Rasheed Wallace at forward with center Serge Zwikker. The backcourt was also not too shabby with guards Dante Calabria and Jeff McInnis.
The Heels were extremely talented and should have won the ACC tournament, but Randolph Childress had one of the greatest performances in ACC tournament history, beating the Heels in OT 82-80.
The Heels were taken out in the Final Four by Arkansas.
No. 2: 1997-98 North Carolina Tar Heels
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The high flying Vince CarterCraig Jones/Getty Images
34-4 Record
ACC Regular Season Champions
Lost 65-59 to Utah in the Final Four
This Heels squad is probably my favorite team of all time. They had Vince Carter and national player of the year Antawn Jamison at forward. They had a pass first guard in Ed Cota. They had a sweet shooter in Shammond Williams, and they had amazing frontcourt depth in Makhtar Ndiaye and Ademola Okulaja. The Heels were also returning an almost completely intact squad from their Final Four run the year before.
The Heels won their first 17 games before losing in overtime to Maryland in the regular season and beat Duke in the ACC championship by 15 points en route to the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. This team should have annihilated the competition on route to the championship but was upset by Utah in the Final Four.
One thing that needs to be mentioned is that Shammond Williams, I think, singlehandedly lost the Final Four games in '97 and '98. The kid just kept shooting the rock with abysmal results, and he killed his teams two years in a row.
No. 1: 1983-84 North Carolina Tar Heels
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The great one Michael Jordan
28-3 Record
ACC Regular Season Champs
Lost 72-66 to Indiana in the Sweet 16
Oh, what should have been. This Heels team is one of the best teams ever, period. The Heels had the greatest player in the country in Michael Jordan and had five future first-round picks in Jordan, Sam Perkins, Brad Daugherty, Kenny Smith and Joe Wolf.
The three games they lost during the whole season, including the ACC and NCAA tournament, were by a combined total of seven points. They demolished the competition in the regular season, only losing on the road to Arkansas by one. They were undefeated in ACC regular season play. It took a miracle on Duke's part to upset them in the ACC tournament.
The Heels lost in the round of 16 to Indiana, 72-68.
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90,000 77 thousand spectators at student basketball. How is this even possible?
The NCAA Collegiate League Championship in any sport outranks the professional leagues in popularity. It's simple: there are only 30 NBA teams in basketball, and hundreds of universities across the country. More than half of the states have no major league world at all. And college basketball is everywhere.
The NCAA is a huge three-division machine. In the first division, 351 teams competed for the 2016/17 championship title. The student championship is penetrating into backwaters where there will never be an NBA. Professional basketball is a business that sells tickets and merchandise, lure spectators into the stands with entertainment and the opportunity to make $95,000 in a single throw.
Athletes are not paid salaries in university teams - this is prohibited by law. The best of these guys have multi-million dollar contracts in the future, but for now they have the opportunity to play free and sincere basketball. This is also why the student championship is closer to every American. Not millionaires participate in it, but ordinary guys - the same as you. And if they are also from your university, or at least from your city, it is simply impossible not to root for them.
Ordinary student games can easily gather 10-20 thousand spectators, the only question is the capacity of the hall. But the playoffs are a different story. The NCAA Basketball Championship knockout games even have their own proprietary name: March Madness. From mid-March, a terrible felling begins without the right to make a mistake, in which only four out of 68 teams remain by the end of the month.
One defeat means the end of the season, and the strongest do not always survive in this test of character and nerves. This year, for example, one of the favorites, the University of Kansas, stopped one step away from the Final Four. The same one, in which in 2008 Alexander Kaun became the first Russian NCAA champion.
"I bought textbooks two years ago to become a coach. " NBA champion Alexander Kaun retired
The Final Four itself is madness squared. As a rule, it is held at an indoor football stadium in order to accommodate more people. The semi-finals and final of the March Madness 2017 were held in the suburbs of Phoenix at the arena of the University of Arizona. Yes, that's right: the incredible arena that hosted the Super Bowl two years ago belongs to the university. Do you still have doubts that the NCAA is serious?
In a basketball configuration, the arena accommodates even more due to the size of the court. And the main games of college basketball this season were watched by 77,612 people. How many of them actually saw something is unknown. This is the view from the cheapest seats. Photo caption: "Oh, is that a basketball court down there?"
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSUMQfNFZy6/
There were slightly fewer spectators at the final - 74,340. This is easy to explain: some of the South Carolina and Oregon fans who lost in the semifinals simply did not go for the final. Ticket prices are also a solid March (or rather, already April) madness. A few days before the title match, tickets from online resellers were sold at prices ranging from 400 to 11 thousand dollars.
The championship eventually went to the University of North Carolina (UNC), which raised Michael Jordan and Vince Carter. Current head coach Roy Williams served as an assistant when the future best basketball player in history became an NCAA champion.
"Chicago" by Michael Jordan. What Happened to the Best Team in Basketball History
And now, for the third time in 13 years, Williams has become a champion as a team leader. Cutting off the championship grid is a sacred rite that came to Europe precisely from the student league.
The NCAA Finals is the only sporting event for which even the NBA championship is interrupted for one day. Almost all of today's superstars were once students. LeBron James wasn't there, but of course he also watched the finale. And along with other NBA players, he criticized refereeing.
According to LeBron, referees stopped the game too often due to minor contact. Because of this, the ending was not so dynamic. James at some point could not stand it and tweeted: “Let the guys decide for themselves who is stronger!” But it is high time for NBA players to get used to the strange refereeing.
North Carolina won the championship for the sixth time in history. In the last minutes, Tar Heels (translated as “tarred heels”) scored eight points in a row and turned “-2” into “+6”. Strangely, one very famous professional club and its limit of bad luck, which was finally exhausted in the Berlin Final Four of the Euroleague, immediately came to mind.
Salvation of the year. The history of the most important shot in Russian basketball
UNC, like CSKA, lost its final with a shot in the last seconds. This was only a year ago.
Watch on YouTube
But just like the super-professionals from Moscow, the ordinary guys from North Carolina waited for their happiness. And remember this name: Joel Berry. In the final, the 22-year-old UNC point guard hit all four of his team's three-pointers, and in the last seconds won the decisive rebound and sent Justin Jackson to score the main goal of his life.
Watch on YouTube
For one day, the Heels can afford not to dream about the NBA and just enjoy the moment. For some, this will be the peak of their career. Collegiate basketball and the NBA are parallel worlds, and the journey between them isn't for everyone. The main star of the past championship line-up "Tar Heels" Tyler Hansbrough in 2009-m climbed to the top of the NCAA, after turning professional he gave one good season for Indiana, and now plays in the D-League.
Not all of them will shine in the NBA in a few years, not all of them will get space contracts and drive cool cars. But to become a champion without getting a single cent of money for it - isn't it priceless?
90,000 He won the NCAA title by defeating Houston with Olajuwon and Drexler in the final. But became a legend thanks to the great speech about the fight against cancer - Don't play basketball - Blogs
Meet Jim Valvano.
The final round of the NCAA Collegiate Basketball Tournament is in full swing. The second stage of the March Madness starts today, and the decisive match of the season will take place in just two weeks.
Youth competitions are full of surprises: favorites regularly fail, and upstarts gain universal respect and often find a place in university folklore. But there are those whose stories extend beyond not only the gyms of educational institutions, but also basketball in general.
Great coach Jim Valvano managed to emerge victorious from two battles in which no one perceived him as a favorite.
The first was the 1983 NCAA Finals, when a Jimmy Vee-led team from North Carolina State University beat the championship leaders from the University of Houston with Clyde Drexler and then Akeem Olajuwon.
The second is a tragic confrontation with metastatic cancer that has spread throughout the coach's body. Valvano died less than a year after the discovery of the disease, but left behind a great legacy. The legacy of an incredibly passionate personality who inspired many people to continue the fight against the disease under any circumstances.
The Wolfpack were average but beat Jordan, Sampson, Drexler and Olajuwon in one year
Before the 1982/83 season, analysts ranked the Wolfpack only sixteenth on the list of contenders for the NCAA title. Jim managed the team for the third year, but still could not make significant progress with it compared to previous seasons.
“More trees will learn to tap dance, elephants will run the Indianapolis 500, and Orson Welles will miss breakfast, lunch, and dinner, than North Carolina State University will win the NCAA championship,” the coach recalled a favorite quote about his team.
Wolfpack won 10 victories in 17 matches and got the opportunity to compete for the Atlantic Coast Conference title, which gives the right to participate in the main collegiate tournament. To the surprise of many, Valvano's team beat Michael Jordan's Tar Heels and then the second-best national seed, the University of Virginia team with Ralph Sampson.
Despite the success in the local conference, few believed in the future prospects of the University of North Carolina in the NCAA elimination games. But Jim was dreaming of victory:
« We had a training session where we didn't handle the ball or do exercises. The only thing we practiced was how to cut the mesh from the ring like a champion. I had golden scissors, we climbed on each other's shoulders and cut the net with them.
There were no great basketball players on his team (only four players would make it to the NBA, Turl Bailey had the best career), but Valvano believed the boys could do the impossible.
There were five games left before the finals, in one of them a victory was again won over the team from Virginia. Ahead of them was waiting for the main match of the year against the first seeded tournament - "Cougars" from Houston.
Despite the presence of future members of the Basketball Hall of Fame in the rivals, Wolfpack did not concede to them during the meeting and even occasionally took the lead. Drexler picked up four fouls quickly and had to defend more carefully, Olajuwon was having stamina problems due to the game being played at 1,550 meters above sea level.
The outcome of the meeting was decided in the final seconds. With a tie in the last attack, the players of the University of North Carolina tried to keep the ball and were reluctant to pass on someone else's half of the court. Three seconds before the end of the game, Derek Wittenburg had to perform an unprepared long-range shot. The defender received an uncomfortable pass and launched a draft. But suddenly center Lorenzo Charles appeared under the ring of the Houstonians. He jumped out in front of Olajuwon, intercepted a non-flying ball and drove it from above under the siren.
The Wolfpack became NCAA champions against many predictions and were dubbed "Team of Doom". And Valvano for the first time was able to put into practice his main life motto: "Survive and move forward."
Years later, Jim explained to the fans the significance of what had happened:
“Team 83 means so much to me, not because of the championship banner under the roof of the arena. She is special because she taught me three things: to hope, to dream and to love.
Taught me to be a motivated person with a dream, a goal and an understanding of how to achieve it. Live with hope and a strong idea: never quit what you started, never give up!
Was fired after accusations of violating NCAA rules, but remembered for his great speech
Valvano had a hard time ahead of him. He served seven more years as the coach of the North Carolina State University team, but in 1989 he was one of those accused of violating the rules of collegiate sports.
The coach's men were among the worst academically performing athletes in the country, and they also traded the shoes they were given and tickets to the games. The case was considered by six departments, but none of them could find evidence of more serious violations (such as fraud with estimates). As a result of the investigation, almost all charges against Jim were dropped, but the reputational blow was too impressive: first he was removed from administrative positions, and then fired from the team. April 19At 90, Valvano announced his retirement from coaching and later took a job as a sportswriter for ESPN and ABC Sports.
In June 1992, the former coach was diagnosed with metastatic adrenal adenocarcinoma . The disease spread to the spine and began to affect the bones of the body. Such a late stage actually meant a death sentence.
But Jim did not despair. He co-founded The V Foundation for Cancer Research with ESPN. Since its founding at 19In 1993, the foundation received more than $260 million and to this day conducts research aimed at studying cancer.
The highlight of the coach's post-champion career was his speech at the annual ESPY ceremony on March 4, 1993. Valvano is the first recipient of the Arthur Ashe Award, recognizing for his coverage of cancer (Kevin Love won in 2020 for bringing attention to mental health issues). Jim's speech was parsed into quotes, many of which later became legendary.
How to live the day well:
“Time is very valuable to me. I don't know how long I have left to live, but I have something to say. I hope that by the end of the speech I will be able to convey something important.
But nothing can be done. I fight cancer, everyone knows about it. People constantly ask me about how I live now, how my day goes. But nothing has changed for me. I am a very emotional and passionate person. That's what it means to be the son of Rocco and Angelina Valvano. This is family. We hug, we kiss, we love.
I believe that there are three things that we should do every day of our lives:
The first is to laugh. You must laugh every day.
The second is to think. You should spend some time thinking.
Third, let your emotions drive you to tears. Tears of happiness and joy.
Think about it. If you laughed, thought and cried, then you spent a full day. Damn all day. Once you start living seven of these days a week, something special will happen in your life.”
About the importance of feeling the moment:
« It is always important to think about how you started, where you are now and where you plan to go . I try to think about it daily. I tried to imagine going on stage and giving a speech. And so I remembered the very first speech in my life. It was my first coaching job at Rutgers University.
Vince Lombardi was my idol, I even read his book Commitment to Excellence. In it, Lombardi talks about the first time he spoke before the game with his team, the Green Bay Packers, a team of real losers. He wanted to make the conversation emotional and brief. Usually the coach enters the locker room 25-30 minutes before the start of the match. But Vince was in no hurry, he was waiting. The whole team was worried: where is the coach?
Ten minutes before the game, he is still missing. Three minutes - Lombardi knocks down the door, breaks into the locker room and starts pacing back and forth. Just walk.
And then he says: “Everyone is looking at me. Gentlemen, we can succeed this year if you can focus on just three things. Those three things are your family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers.
It was cool. I decided that I would do the same.
It's three minutes before my first match as coach of Rutgers University. I'm 21, I'm going to bust the door like Lombardi.
Boom! But it doesn't open. I almost broke my arm. And now the players are already helping me in.
Okay, now, like Lombardi, I start pacing back and forth and say to these 19-year-old boys, “Everyone is looking at me. Gentlemen, we can succeed this year if you can focus on just three things. Those three things are your family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers.
That's what I told them. I remember it.
It is important to know where you are. I understand where I am now. But how do you get from where you are now to where you want to be in the future? I think you should be emotionally uplifted from life. Have a dream, a goal. Be prepared to work hard to achieve it.”
About fighting cancer:
“We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research.
1?
Lennie Rosenbluth led UNC with 20 points, while Wilt Chamberlain scored 23 points for Kansas. 
The Heels won national championships in 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005 and most recently in 2009.
They had national player of the year Jerry Stackhouse and fellow All-American Rasheed Wallace at forward with center Serge Zwikker. The backcourt was also not too shabby with guards Dante Calabria and Jeff McInnis.
The Heels were also returning an almost completely intact squad from their Final Four run the year before.
The Heels had the greatest player in the country in Michael Jordan and had five future first-round picks in Jordan, Sam Perkins, Brad Daugherty, Kenny Smith and Joe Wolf.
And it's not the NBA Finals. 
This is also why the student championship is closer to every American. Not millionaires participate in it, but ordinary guys - the same as you. And if they are also from your university, or at least from your city, it is simply impossible not to root for them. 
" NBA champion Alexander Kaun retired 
Ticket prices are also a solid March (or rather, already April) madness. A few days before the title match, tickets from online resellers were sold at prices ranging from 400 to 11 thousand dollars. 
LeBron James wasn't there, but of course he also watched the finale. And along with other NBA players, he criticized refereeing. 
This was only a year ago. 
But to become a champion without getting a single cent of money for it - isn't it priceless? 
I had golden scissors, we climbed on each other's shoulders and cut the net with them. 
I don't know how long I have left to live, but I have something to say. I hope that by the end of the speech I will be able to convey something important. 
I try to think about it daily. I tried to imagine going on stage and giving a speech. And so I remembered the very first speech in my life. It was my first coaching job at Rutgers University. 
