Record: 28-5, 9-3 (1st place)
ACC Tournament: Won
NCAA Tournament: Lost in national final
Final AP Ranking: 5
All-ACC Players: Phil Ford (1st), Walter Davis (1st), Tom LaGarde (2nd)
All-Americans: Phil Ford (1st)
This team is often remembered for what might have been, but what they did accomplish was impressive enough. In case you’re unfamiliar with the details, All-ACC center Tom LaGarde injured a knee in mid-February and missed the rest of the season. Sweet-shooting Walter Davis broke his finger in the ACC Tournament against NC State. He was able to come back and play, but the injury may have hampered his effectiveness. And All-American guard Phil Ford hyperextended his elbow in the round of 16 win over Notre Dame and did not seem to be himself after that. In spite of all that adversity, the Tar Heels advanced to the national championship game before losing to Marquette.
It’s an interesting narrative, but the funny part is, Carolina won all those games, except the last one. From the time that LaGarde got hurt, they won twelve in a row. So if you’re lamenting what might’ve been, the only thing there is to lament is the national championship game. Would the Tar Heels have won it with a healthy group? I have no idea. I do think they were a better team at full strength than Marquette, but the better team doesn’t always win.
If you look at the game as it was actually played, Walter Davis played well. It’s not obvious from his stat line that he was hampered in any way. Ford, though, did not play well after the injury, and it seems likely that he was affected. The other thing this game is remembered for is Dean’s decision to go to the Four Corners midway through the second half with only a slim lead. They had used the same tactic to good effect in prior games, but this time it didn’t work. Marquette regained the lead and salted it away from the line in the last few minutes, going 23-for-25 for the game.
The attention on what might’ve been shouldn’t detract from the tremendous run this team made. In succession, they beat a really good Purdue team, #10 Notre Dame, #3 Kentucky, and #4 UNLV. The Tar Heels trailed at half in three of those four games. Davis, freshman Mike O’Koren, and senior guard John Kuester played extremely well. Ford gutted it out in spite of his elbow, and Rich Yonakor filled in admirably for LaGarde.
From the Weird Scheduling Department: Carolina’s last regular season game was a non-conference game on Sunday against #10 Louisville. Not only is it odd to have a non-conference opponent for your last regular season game and Senior Day, but they played at Duke just the day before. Why in the world would you schedule games on back-to-back days like that to finish the season? There must be a story behind that. In any case, it didn’t bother the Tar Heels, who ran away from Louisville in a game that wasn’t as close as the 96-89 score indicated.