Record: 32-4, 14-0 (1st place)
ACC Tournament: Lost in final
NCAA Tournament: Lost in Elite 8
Final AP Ranking: 2
All-ACC Players: Joe Wolf (1st), Kenny Smith (1st), JR Reid (2nd)
All-Americans: Kenny Smith (1st)
North Carolina in the 1980s is probably the greatest decade that any ACC team ever had. If we’re allowed to cheat a little bit and look at just the nine-year period from 1981 to 1989, the Tar Heels:
- were ranked in the Top 10 in the final AP poll every year
- made the Sweet 16 every year, nine-for-nine
- went 101-25 in the ACC (this is mind-boggling considering how good the ACC was)
And yet… after 1982, the Tar Heels had very little to show for all that regular season excellence. They lost in the regionals every single year, and until the 1989 team finally broke through, they couldn’t win an ACC Tournament either.
I’ve written about this era before. I don’t think there was anything particularly wrong with these teams. It was just one of those things. They got upset a few times, they ran into other really good teams a few times… suddenly in 1991 they started getting to Final Fours again, without really doing anything differently.
Two of the teams from this decade of underachievement are particularly notable: the 1984 team, which we will come to later, and this 1987 team.
They were preseason #1. Kenny Smith was the senior point guard par excellence. Joe Wolf and Dave Popson, both seniors, provided size, skill, and experience on the interior. Sophomore Jeff Lebo was a deadeye shooter. JR Reid was one of the best freshmen in the country. There was quality depth with Ranzino Smith, Scott Williams (trick shoulder and all), Curtis Hunter, and Steve Bucknall coming off the bench.
They are one of the best offensive teams in the history of the league. They are one of only seven teams, and the only UNC team, to average 90 points per game. They have the ACC record for highest Effective FG% at 58.4%. (Effective FG% accounts for the fact that threes are worth more than twos.) They averaged 21.7 assists per game, a mark that has not been equaled in the 37 years since. The starting guards, Smith and Lebo, both shot over 60% from two and 40% from three. Wolf, Reid, and Popson were all over 54%. I could go on.
The only blemishes on a 26-2 regular season were an early December loss at UCLA and Reggie Miller and a midseason loss at Notre Dame. They were barely challenged as they romped to a 14-0 ACC regular season record. Their only close game was a one-point victory over a tough, experienced Virginia team.
But the ACC championship was snatched from their grasp by their old rivals from Raleigh. NC State had somehow emerged from a turbulent regular season to make the ACC Tournament final after overtime wins over Duke and Wake. Conjuring up some classic Jimmy V magic, the Wolfpack played a nearly perfect game in the final, with the Vinny Del Negro free throws providing the final one-point margin.
The Tar Heels rebounded quickly in the NCAAs, scoring 113 in an opening round blowout of Penn and 109 in a similar dispatching of Glen Rice and Michigan. The Sweet 16 brought an opportunity to avenge their regular season loss to Notre Dame, and the Tar Heels seized it, shooting 65% from the field (15-for-18 from JR Reid) to put away the Irish.
The regional final brought a matchup against Syracuse, and it was here that North Carolina met its match. In Sherman Douglas, the Orange had someone who could kinda-sorta keep up with Kenny Smith. And going up against Derrick Coleman and Rony Seikaly, the Tar Heels were in the rare position of not being dominant inside.
It was a tremendous battle. Kenny Smith was terrific, and the front line of Reid, Wolf, and Popson didn’t play badly on offense. But this team, for all its virtues, was not particularly tough defensively on the interior, and the Orange took advantage. Coleman and Seikaly dominated the offensive glass, and that was ultimately the difference as Syracuse outlasted the Tar Heels 79-75. It was a disappointing ending, but Syracuse was outstanding. They came within a Keith Smart jumpshot of being national champions.
Effective FG% > 57%, 3-point era (since 1987):
- UNC 1987, 58.4%
- Notre Dame 2015, 58.3%
- Clemson 1987, 58.3%
- UNC 1988, 58.0%
- Duke 1992, 57.7%
- Virginia Tech 2018, 57.7%
- Duke 1999, 57.4%
- UNC 1995, 57.3%
- Virginia Tech 2017, 57.0%
ACC Teams Averaging 90 Points per Game:
- NC State 1973, 92.9
- NC State 1975, 92.7
- Duke 1965, 92.4
- Duke 1999, 91.8
- NC State 1974, 91.4
- UNC 1987, 91.3
- Duke 2001, 90.7