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UNC Basketball: Check out Kendall Marshall’s shirt signifying 2012 team

By Blake Cockrum

GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 18: (L-R) Kendall Marshall #5, John Henson #31, Reggie Bullock #35 and Harrison Barnes #40 of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrate in the second half while taking on the Creighton Bluejays during the third round of the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 18, 2012 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NC - MARCH 18: (L-R) Kendall Marshall #5, John Henson #31, Reggie Bullock #35 and Harrison Barnes #40 of the North Carolina Tar Heels celebrate in the second half while taking on the Creighton Bluejays during the third round of the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 18, 2012 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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Former UNC basketball standout Kendall Marshall is sporting one of the coolest Tar Heel-themed shirts we’ve ever seen.

Marshall, Bullock, Barnes, Henson and Zeller. Those five names signify one of the greatest starting lineups in the history of North Carolina basketball. And if you don’t remember it because they didn’t win a national championship, then shame on you. That’s the only distinction that keeps the aforementioned group of five players from being talked about with the likes of Felton, McCants, Manuel, Williams and May, or Lawson, Ellington, Green, Thompson and Hansbrough.

The nation’s best passer, a knock-down shooter and defender, an elite scorer, a volume rebounder and rim protector, and a guy so good that he made us question which Tyler was our favorite. That’s what the 2012 starting lineup was made up of, and boy were they good. And for those who have forgotten, or for those that simply want to commemorate what was, and what could have been if not for a devastating season-ending injury, there’s a T-shirt. It might just be one of the coolest T-shirts we’ve ever seen.

The aforementioned injury — one that will forever be remembered in the minds of UNC fans as the one that cost the Tar Heels a chance at the 2012 National Championship — was no more than a cheap shot to Kendall Marshall courtesy of the Creighton Blue Jays. His wrist got fractured in the Tar Heels’ round of 32 victory, causing him to miss the remainder of the NCAA Tournament, which would ultimately end prematurely without the superb play of their All-American point guard.

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Yeah, I know my fandom is showing. And yeah, I’m still a little sore about it. Whether the Tar Heels would have won the national title that season is obviously unknown, but they certainly had a shot at it. I will forever argue that there’s no way Kansas beats the Tar Heels that season with an even half-way serviceable Marshall in the lineup. Even seldon-used backup point guard Stilman White gave the Jayhawks a run for their money in the Elite 8.

The Tar Heels would no doubt have run into a Kentucky Wildcats team that boasted Anthony Davis, one that had beaten North Carolina in the teams’ only matchup of the season in early December. But the Tar Heels had gotten better over the course of the next 30 games, and they were primed for a second shot at the Wildcats. Alas, it never happened, but that season, and that team, will stand out in the annals of UNC basketball history forever.

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