North Carolina Tar Heels: Top Five Dean Smith Teams (w/ video)
By Daniel Tran
3. 1971-1972
In the current era of college basketball, if any team rejected an NCAA Tournament bid to enter the National Invitation Tournament, you would have to get a lot of mops to clean up the minds that were blown. However, that happened in 1971 without much reaction when No. 13 ranked North Carolina rejected the NCAA Tournament bid to be the No. 1 seed in the NIT.
The move worked out when Smith won his first (and only) NIT title. The following year, Smith made sure that there was no doubt in the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee’s mind that North Carolina deserved a higher seed.
Smith came back for the 1971-72 season with a loaded roster and extra motivation to dominate the NCAA. With a roster with future ABA and NBA stars Bob McAdoo and Bobby Jones, 1971 NIT Tournament MVP Bill Chamberlain, a very young George Karl, and the sweet shooting Dennis Wuycik, Smith and the Tar Heels torched the NCAA to the tune of 89 points per game, while holding opponents to 71.4 points per game.
North Carolina accepted the NCAA Tournament bid with a first-round bye, and ACC titles in both regular season and tournament play. They made it all the way to the Final Four before being ousted by Florida State.
Next: 1992-93