University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Unbreakable Records
January 24, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
With Clemson due in Chapel Hill on Sunday evening, there's very little question about what the primary storyline will be leading up to that game.
But at some point, that streak is going to end. Some other records in the Tar Heel hoops record book, however, are going to be more difficult to break. A look at what appear to be the most unbreakable records in Carolina basketball history:
Billy Cunningham's 40 consecutive double-doubles (1962-64).
You know the next-closest mark to Cunningham? Eleven. Doug Moe did it on two separate occasions. The closest in what most people would consider the "modern" era is John Henson, who did it nine times in a row during the 2011 season.
In other words, Henson was almost a full season away from equaling Cunningham's mark. This is the most unbreakable mark in Carolina basketball and will be eclipsed around the same time that Roy Williams leads the risers in an "Overrated" chant with ten minutes left in a game against Duke.
Rusty Clark's 30 rebounds in a single game (Feb. 21, 1968).
It's not that this Clark's record for the most Tar Heel rebounds in a single ACC game has stood for 45 years without anyone breaking it. It's that it has stood for 45 years without anyone getting close to it. Since that night against the Terps, no Tar Heel has even grabbed 25 rebounds in a single ACC game-the closest was Sean May's behemoth 24 boards against Duke in 2005. Even Wanda has no chance of breaking this mark.
Tyler Hansbrough's 2,872 career points (2005-09).
Hansbrough was the perfect player in the perfect system. He scored in double figures in 133 games, an ACC record. It's possible that someone might come along who is as proficient as Hansbrough at putting the ball through the hoop. It's very unlikely, however, that that individual would immediately be the team's primary scorer as a freshman and then stay at Carolina for four years. There's no guarantee that even someone like Antawn Jamison would have caught him with a four-year career; Hansbrough outpaced Jamison by almost 900 points.
The 1957 team's 32-0 record.
Think about the dominant nature of the 2009 team. That club still lost four games. The 1982 team with James Worthy, Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins lost twice. College basketball, especially in the Atlantic Coast Conference, simply isn't an undefeated sport anymore. Teams don't have to win the league tournament (the '57 team had to survive Wake Forest just to make the NCAA Tournament, and if they'd been guaranteed an NCAA berth already, there's no way to know if they would have had the same incentive) and the media pressure on any team that got close would be extraordinary.
Kendall Marshall's 351 assists in a single season.
Raymond Felton, throwing the ball to juniors Rashad McCants and Sean May, had over 100 fewer assists than Marshall. Ed Cota, throwing the ball to juniors Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter, plus senior Shammond Williams, had almost 80 fewer assists than Marshall.
What's most incredible about this record is that Marshall actually could've played between two and four more games during the 2011-12 campaign if he hadn't been injured against Creighton, putting 400 assists as at least an outside possibility. Marshall's mark is the ACC record and the fourth-best figure in NCAA history. A sneaky part of this record's staying power is that there are always some locations where the Tar Heels play that under-report assists.
It was tempting to include Ed Cota's 1,030 career assists (it's the third-best mark in NCAA history) in this category, but it's always possible that the Hansbrough version of point guards could come along at just the right time.
Carolina's 94.1 percent field goal shooting in a half against Virginia.
The Tar Heels made 16 of 17 field goals against the Cavaliers on Jan. 7, 1978. This game is a relic of the non-shot clock era and as such might not belong with the "modern" records, but it's impossible to imagine any team shooting over 90 percent in a half today.
Adam Lucas is the editor of CAROLINA.
