Keeping It Heel
Fansided

UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ toughest moments of the past 20 years

By Blake Cockrum

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 01: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts during the second half of their game against the Boston College Eagles at the Dean Smith Center on February 01, 2020 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Boston College won 71-70. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 01: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts during the second half of their game against the Boston College Eagles at the Dean Smith Center on February 01, 2020 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Boston College won 71-70. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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CHAPEL HILL, NC – DECEMBER 19: Rashad McCants #32 of the UNC Tar Heels looks out on the court during the game against the Vermont Catamounts at Dean E. Smith Center on December 19, 2002 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Tar Heels won 80-54. (Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images) /

Outside the Lines

Rashad McCants, the second-leading scorer on the Tar Heels’ 2005 national championship team, told ESPN’s Outside the Lines in 2014 that he rarely went to class for a large portion of his time at North Carolina, and that he benefitted from tutors writing his term papers. Not only that, but McCants also alleged that the school had specific classes geared toward athletes so that they could remain academically eligible, something that McCants says he would have struggled with during his three years at UNC had it not been for what he called “bogus classes.”

Those allegations led to what would become a years-long investigation into the North Carolina basketball program, the entire athletic department and even the university as a whole. It caused a tremendous amount of embarrassment and negative exposure for all of the aforementioned, none more so than the basketball program, which was directly impacted by the backlash of McCants’ accusations through negative recruiting from other coaches and rumors that UNC would be on probation following the completion of the investigation.

Although the basketball program was cleared of any direct wrongdoing — it was found that the university as a whole was at fault, and that it wasn’t just student-athletes that benefitted from the so-called “bogus classes” in the African-American Studies department — the Tar Heels saw a noticeable dip in their efforts on the recruiting trail.

Despite it all, the Tar Heels were able to build a team that boasted both experience and star-power over the next few seasons en route to winning the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

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