North Carolina is in rare territory as it dives into preparation for Friday’s game versus Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

In the 42 years since the NCAA started seeding teams in 1979, 41 of which when the tournament has actually taken place, the Tar Heels have made the field 39 times and been a one, two, three, or four seed in 32 seasons.

Incredibly, UNC has been a one seed 17 times, a two seed nine times, a three seed four times, and a four seed twice. The other six seasons, the Heels have been a six seed three times (1996, 2004, 2014) and an eight seed now four times.

As the No. 8 seed in the South Region, Carolina is in fairly rare territory for the fabled program, but it’s not an unfamiliar spot to those with pretty good memories or a handle on UNC’s past. Two of its more memorable NCAA moments came as eight seeds.

In 1990, Dean Smith’s first double-digit loss team in 23 years included a core group that went to the Final Four the following season and a freshman named George Lynch, who captained a national champion as a senior in 1993. But the 1990 Heels had four losses by December 9, fell to 7-5 after losing to Colorado State in Denver on Dec. 29, and suffered a three-game losing streak in ACC play in mid-February.

That team never really got entirely off the floor, but they did have their shining moment.

After falling to Virginia in overtime in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, the Heels got the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region where they faced No. 9 seed SW Missouri State in the first round.

SW Missouri State, now known as Missouri State, was a good program at the time. The Missouri Valley Conference regularly got three teams in the NCAA Tournament, and SMS was making its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAAs that season.

Carolina took care of business and advanced past the Bears 83-70. Next up, the top seed in the entire NCAA Tournament, high-octane Oklahoma.

The Sooners ended the season ranked No. 1 in the major polls, boasted six players averaging scoring in double figures, and head coach Billy Tubbs had them in the national title game just two years earlier. How good was Oklahoma back in the day? The Sooners had averaged 27.6 wins over a nine-year span up to that 1989-90 season.

With Oklahoma leading 77-76, King Rice converted the first of two free throws before missing the second. The rebound attempt went out of bounds off Oklahoma, so UNC retained possession with eight seconds remaining and the score now tied.

Dean Smith called timeout and diagrammed a play for the ball to inbound to Hubert Davis, and as he was to dribble toward the lane on the left side, Rice was to set a hard screen off the ball for Rick Fox, who caught Davis’ pass on the right wing.

Oklahoma charged out at Fox, who was UNC’s best perimeter shooter. He faked, jabbed, and darted toward the basket using the baseline, left his feet, squared to the basket and banked in a shot just as the horn sounded setting off a wild celebration.

The victory sent the Tar Heels to the Sweet 16 for the tenth consecutive season and was also the program’s 1,479th victory, passing Kentucky at the time for the all-time lead.

“I pump-faked, and the guy fell for it,” Fox told the media afterward. “I drove around him and found an opening. I was surprised they didn’t foul me.”

The Tar Heels were eliminated by Arkansas in the Sweet 16, but that win and shot, a highlight still regularly played on the video board in the Smith Center, remains one of the more cherished ones in the program’s amazing history.

The second time UNC was a No. 8 seed came in 2000, which was Bill Guthridge’s third and final season at the helm. It was also the second losingest regular season in Carolina history.

The 1951 and 1952 Tar Heels finished with 15 losses, and the next most defeats in a season came in 1990, when UNC finished 21-13 but advanced to the Sweet 16. The 1999-2000 Tar Heels were 18-13 in the regular season, including 9-7 in a down year for the ACC.

UNC tied Virginia in the standings and lost to the Cavaliers twice that season, but the Heels got into the NCAAs while UVA ended up in the NIT, sparking a wave of criticism from the media. So, what did the Heels do in the big dance?

They opened by defeating No. 9 seed Missouri, 84-70, before upsetting No. 1 seed Stanford in the second round, 60-53. Fourth-seed Tennessee was next, but the Heels advanced 74-69 to reach the program’s fifth Elite Eight in eight seasons.

Carolina finally got a bit of a break, as No. 7 seed Tulsa, which was coached by Bill Self at the time, stood in the way of another UNC trip to the Final Four. The Golden Hurricanes was 32-4 and spent the last three months of the season nationally ranked.

Freshman Joe Forte led the Heels with 28 points in helping lead them to their first four-game winning streak of the season. But they picked a pretty good time to get into a groove.

"We just became a team," senior point guard Ed Cota told the media afterward. "We finally just got it together and there can't be a better time for this."

UNC fell to Florida a week later in the Final Four to conclude the season at 22-14. Yet, the second losingest season in school history to date was by a club that advanced to the Final Four.

The 2013 Tar Heels were the fourth UNC team to receive a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and their task was considerable from the outset.

Carolina opened with a 78-71 victory over No. 9 seed Villanova, which included starting point guard Ryan Arcidiacono, who three years later would make the pass that led to Kris Jenkins’ game-winning, buzzer-beating jumper to beat the Tar Heels in the 2016 national championship game.

Four Tar Heels scored in double figures, led by P.J. Hairston’s 23 points and followed by James Michael McAdoo’s 17. Reggie Bullock added 15 and freshman Marcus Paige finished with 14 points and four assists.

The reward was a date with top-seed Kansas in Kansas City. The Jayhawks were too much for the Tar Heels, ending Carolina’s season 70-58. Carolina concluded the season at 25-11.

So, UNC has been an eight seed three times previously, and it’s combined record is 7-3 with a Final Four appearance and two wins over No. 1 seeds. That doesn’t mean something similar will happen with this year’s club, but the Tar Heels’ track record as an eight seed is impressive.