100 years of basketball

North Carolina isn't in its usual Carolina Blue and white tonight in the Smith Center.

In celebration of Michael Jordan's 25 year anniversary with Nike, the Tar Heels are sporting silver jerseys and Jordan shoes tonight against Florida State.

I owe Dean Smith an apology.

When covering a sporting event, a journalist must vow to check his or her bias at the door. Regardless of circumstance or affiliation, taking sides is not permitted.

The job is simple.

Just tell it like it is.

CORRECTION: This story originally incorrectly said the White team won the scrimmage Friday night. The Blue team won, 71-70. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

Dean Smith reluctantly made his way onto the court Friday night to the sound of an emotional standing ovation inside the building that bears his name.

True to the form he showed during his coaching days, he tried to quiet the crowd with a few hand gestures in order to deflect attention from him to his former players.

His efforts were futile. The noise simply grew louder in appreciation of his 36 years on UNC’s sidelines, and four spotlights illuminated the man who avoided them all of his life.

The recent controversy surrounding the ejection of a Presbyterian fan from the Smith Center wasn't nearly enough to mar a decade of excellence for UNC basketball, at least according to Sports Illustrated.

As part of SI's campaign to name "The Best and Worst of the 2000s," the Tar Heels took home plenty of hardware for college basketball.

Update on the UNC throwback uniforms the men's basketball team wore in its first game against Florida International.

I asked the UNC athletic department if there were any more throwback games in store this season, and here was its response.

"The throwbacks we wore the other night (based on the 1957 uniforms) are the only set of throwbacks we'll wear this season," Matt Bowers, the associate director of athletic communications, wrote in an email. "We will wear them for at least one more game this season, but which game(s) they might be worn again is undetermined at this point."

This week, The Daily Tar Heel is celebrating 100 years of North Carolina basketball. Visit our special 100 years page.

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