In 1971, Richard Nixon was president, the United States was involved in a massively unpopular war in Vietnam and on March 27, North Carolina beat Georgia Tech 84-66 to win the National Invitational Tournament.
Dean Smith coached a Tar Heel team led by current NBA coach George Karl, Bill Chamberlain and Steve Previs to a regular season ACC championship and an 11-3 conference record.
But the NCAA tournament field didn’t expand to 64 teams until 1985 and didn’t give out at-large bids until 1975. Only the conference tournament champions went to the NCAA tournament.
In the NIT, the Tar Heels massacred Massachusetts in their opener by 41 points. Providence didn’t fair much better two days later, and UNC topped the Friars 86-79.
UNC faced Duke for the fourth time that season in its next game in Madison Square Garden, besting the Blue Devils 73-67 for the third time that year and sending the Tar Heels to the championship game on basketball’s biggest stage.
The next year, UNC finished the season with a 26-5 record and appeared in the NCAA Final Four with the same team, plus one high-profile addition in Robert McAdoo.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
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Thursday, April 18, 2024
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