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100 years of basketball

11/09/2009
Former UNC coach Frank McGuire stands with members of the 1957 UNC basketball team. UNC finished 32-0 and win a national title.

North Carolina will open its 2009-10 season with a blast from the past. The Tar Heels play Florida International tonight at 7, and UNC is donning throwback unis — from 1957.

So if you're going to the game tonight, check out the retro uniforms.

 The DTH will also be live blogging from the game. Check us out at dailytarheel.com!

10/13/2009
Freshman Michael Jordan made his mark on UNC basketball by hitting the game-winning shot in the 1982 championship game. DTH File

The following story originally ran in the March 30, 1982 edition of The Daily Tar Heel.

NEW ORLEANS — And on the seventh try, Dean created national champions.

UNC coach Dean Smith, after six previous trips to the final four, finally came away with the big one — the NCAA collegiate basketball title — as the North Carolina Tar Heels beat the Georgetown Hoyas 63-62.

10/12/2009
Lennie Rosenbluth helps cut down the nets. Courtesy of the North Carolina Collection.

Staring down the biggest game of their season, the 1957 North Carolina Tar Heels trotted out their smallest starter to tip the ball.

When faced with a Goliath such as Wilt Chamberlain — who was five inches taller than UNC’s starting big man Lennie Rosenbluth — head coach Frank McGuire wanted to have a little fun.

McGuire told 5-foot-11 guard Tommy Kearns to jump against the seven-footer Chamberlain, instead of fighting a losing battle trying to win the tap.

10/19/2009
10/16/2009
Tyler Hansbrough contributed 18 points as UNC defeated Michigan State, 89-72, for the 2009 national title. DTH File Photo

DETROIT — It all started when they decided to come back.

Four players declining the riches of the NBA, motivated to make one more run at history. One more run at a national title.

And everything that happened this season — the expectations, the No. 1 rankings, the blowout wins — pointed toward this one signature moment.

A scene that suddenly became reality in front of 72,922 spectators Monday night.

10/15/2009
The 2005 team celebrates its NCAA National Championship team. DTH/file

It had been more than a decade since North Carolina ended a season on a sweet note. The exit of Dean Smith and the subsequent struggles eventually led to that 8-20 rock bottom in 2002.

Roy Williams, too, had been stymied in his pursuits of the promised land, as four close calls in the Final Four produced no championships for his Kansas program.

But two short years after Williams returned to UNC, his spark would combine forces with the Tar Heels’ reinvorgated spirit to turn the program around.

10/15/2009
Fans celebrate Roy Williams' first championship win on Franklin Street. DTH/file

ST. LOUIS — They started their careers by getting cut down.

Three cocky college freshmen with dreams of stardom and championship banners were humbled, humiliated. 

That’s what a 20-loss season will do, especially at a program where 20-win seasons are viewed as a birthright.

10/14/2009
Center Eric Montross had 16 points in North Carolina’s 77-71 defeat of Michigan in the 1993 national championship game. DTH file

Lynch. Montross. Williams.

Not exactly the awe-inspiring 1982 trio of Jordan, Worthy and Perkins.

But whatever the 1993 version of the North Carolina men’s basketball team lacked in star power, it made up for with style.

Besides bearing witness to perhaps the most famous timeout in college basketball history (see Webber, Chris), the Tar Heels also displayed unwavering resilience with their backs against the wall.

In the NCAA tournament alone, UNC rebounded from a 10-point deficit three times, including a 23-13 mark against Michigan in the championship game.

10/15/2009

Nine hundred and thirty-one images were taken to create this timelapse of the scene that gathered to celebrate North Carolina's fifth NCAA National Championship. This camera was set above the intersection of Franklin and Columbia on the rooftop of Spanky's restaurant.

10/15/2009

Fans swarm Franklin Street to celebrate North Carolina's fifth NCAA National Championship victory.

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