The Power Five: North Carolina’s 5 Greatest Basketball Teams

Jan 26, 2014; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; An overall view of the Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

5. 1992-93

Record: 34-4; Defeated Michigan 77-71 to win national championship

Most Tar Heels aficionados will state correctly that the ’92-’93 version does not rank as the program’s greatest. But for many it is their favorite.

Why? Because it was a team that was hardly superstar laden and exemplified coach Dean Smith’s tireless attention to fundamentals and the team concept.

Not one player averaged 16 points a game, and only two players (George Lynch in ’93 and Eric Montross in ’94) would be NBA Draft selections, but the Tar Heels that season were a group whose sum was much greater than its parts.

Though there weren’t any high-voltage scorers throughout the regular season, they were still electric enough to average over 86 points a game, topped the 100-point mark 10 times and had an average margin of victory of 21.1 points.

The Tar Heels snagged the ACC regular-season title with a 14-2 mark, but with point guard Derrick Phelps sidelined with an injury, North Carolina fell in the ACC Tournament title game 77-75 to Georgia Tech.

UNC was awarded the East Region’s top seed and survived a 75-68 overtime tussle over Cincinnati to advance to the Final Four. There, Smith met up for the second time against his former pupil in Roy Williams and avenged a 1991 semifinal loss with a 78-68 victory over the Jayhawks.

The Tar Heels then faced off against a heavily favored and much-hyped Michigan team featuring the vaunted Fab 5 freshman class led by Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard.

The game will be remembered for the timeout that never was, when a trapped Webber in the waning seconds flashed the timeout signal but the Wolverines had none to burn. Michigan was assessed a technical foul, North Carolina was awarded a pair of free throws and the ball, and Smith’s second national title was effectively sealed.

Lost in the spotlight that glared on Webber’s gaffe was the glowing shooting display put on by Donald Williams in the Tar Heels’ final two games. The sophomore shooting guard tallied 50 points combined on 15-of-23 shooting and was tabbed the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.