University of North Carolina Athletics
Jacobs: Numbers To Savor
March 15, 2011 | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2011
by Barry Jacobs, TarHeelBlue.com
Some coaches divide a basketball season into four segments. Nonconference competition comprises the first. The second, logically, is conference play. Then comes the league's postseason tournament and, if a team is good enough, the NCAA tournament.
The completion of each phase provides an opportunity to survey what's been accomplished and what lies ahead. So, while straddling segments -- done with ACC competition but not yet embarked on an NCAA run -- let's savor a few postseason numbers related to North Carolina men's basketball:
1. The 2011 ACC Tournament was the 23rd in which North Carolina was the top seed. That's just shy of 40 percent of the time, and six more than any other ACC school.
1. North Carolina has been a No. 1 seed in 13 different NCAA tournaments since seeding began in 1979. That's better than once every three years and more than any other school in the country. Since the Tar Heels missed making the field in three of those 33 seasons, it's actually 13 top seeds in 30 opportunities, 43 percent.
1. Since first-year players became eligible for varsity competition in 1973, a single freshman led his team in scoring in all games in an ACC Tournament (minimum two appearances). Harrison Barnes paced North Carolina in scoring three times, leading the Heels to the 2011 ACC title game. Barnes scored 74 points, including 40 in the semifinals, a record for that round by any player.
2. The 2011 Tar Heels are seeded second in the NCAA tournament, the eighth time that's happened, matching the most by any ACC member.
3. There were nine double-doubles recorded in 11 ACC Tournament games last weekend. Three were achieved by Carolina forward John Henson, more than any other player. Henson also had nine blocked shots, tying four players, including former Tar Heel Brendan Haywood, for seventh all-time in the event. The 6-10 Floridian had seven offensive rebounds in the final, tied for second-best with four others, one short of the record set by UNC's Eric Montross in 1993.
4. Of six players who scored at least 40 points in an ACC Tournament contest, four played for UNC - Lennie Rosenbluth (tops to date with 45 in 1957), Charles Scott (41 in 1970 and 40 in 1969), and Barnes.
4. Four of five freshmen voted the Everett Case Award as the ACC Tournament's most valuable player were Tar Heels - Ford, Sam Perkins (1981), Jerry Stackhouse (1994), and Brandan Wright (2007). Each led his team to the tournament title. Of course it's rare the MVP does not come from the ACC Tournament winner. In fact, it's happened only twice: Maryland's Albert King was honored in 1980 after scoring 81 points in three days as Duke captured the title and Wake Forest's Dickie Hemric won the award in 1954 although his squad lost in overtime to N.C. State in the championship game.
5. Carolina has won five NCAA titles (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, and 2009), more than any program in history except UCLA (10), Kentucky (7), and Indiana (5).
6. The Tar Heels finished atop the Associated Press poll six times (1957, 1982, 1984, 1994, 1998, and 2008). Two-thirds of those squads reached the Final Four, with the first two emerging as national champions.
8. UNC was the eighth seed in two NCAA tournaments, in 1990 and 2000, its lowest placements of the modern era. The `00 group nevertheless reached the Final Four under head coach Bill Guthridge.
13. Dean Smith led the Heels to victory in 13 ACC Tournaments. It took Duke's Mike Krzyzewski until this past weekend to catch Smith.
15. This was the 15th straight season in which Carolina and/or Duke reached the ACC Tournament championship game, an unprecedented run of dominance by two teams.
17. North Carolina has won 17 ACC Tournament titles, which stands second. That's especially impressive given that, since the days of Frank McGuire, UNC coaches have been, shall we say, outspoken to varying degrees in their lack of affection for the event.
18. Carolina has 18 Final Four appearances to its credit, more than any program in history.
23. Kendall Marshall's 2011 passing performance was among the most productive in ACC Tournament history, even if he was schooled by a senior in the ACC title game. The freshman had 23 assists in three outings (9 vs. Miami, 10 vs. Clemson, and 4 vs. Duke), tying three others for seventh place in tournament history. His output matched that of a quintessential Tar Heel point guard, Derrick Phelps, in a run that ended with a loss to Duke in the '92 finals. The all-time ACC Tournament leader is another pass-first UNC playmaker, Ed Cota, who had 29 assists in 1999, when the Heels likewise fell to the Blue Devils in the championship game.
26. Carolina has been seeded among the top four teams in the NCAA field in 26 of 30 appearances. That's 86.7 percent of the time.
28. UNC now has 28 first-place regular-season finishes to its credit, easily more than any other ACC program. That's testament both to consistent excellence and to the emphasis historically placed by Carolina coaches on the regular season. This was a particularly persuasive goal in the years when round-robin play provided equal opportunity in conference competition.
30. The 2011 Heels reached the ACC Tournament finals for the 30th time. Duke likewise made it that far 30 times, meaning the pair have accounted for the majority of championship game berths (60 of 116, 52 percent) since the league began 58 seasons ago.
33. North Carolina finished the season ranked in the AP top 10 for the 33rd time, including No. 7 this year.
42. UNC is in the NCAA tournament for the 42nd time, more than all but one school.
We tend to remember most vividly how a season ends, defining an odyssey by its ultimate result. But phase four does not constitute the entire journey, a truth that's easiest to embrace when we pause to appreciate the milestones along the way in this or most any Tar Heel basketball season.
