Carolina's Final Four Teams 10 Games In
As the season continues to unfold, we will eventually either start to look at the Tar Heels as a Final Four-caliber team or we won’t. Their performance will dictate that, of course.
But 10 games into the season, there have been more than a few glimpses suggesting this team is trending nicely in that direction. Even the ugly loss to Michigan State isn’t an indication this team is doomed come NCAA Tournament time.
The truth is, 15 of UNC’s 20 Final Four teams lost a game by this point in their seasons. The only ones that didn’t were in 1957, 1982, 1998, 2008 and 2009. Three of those clubs won national championships.
But only two of the Tar Heels’ clubs to make the Final Four lost more than one game – 2000 and 2016. So, the current Heels at 9-1 are in line with 13 of the program’s Final Four teams at this points in their seasons. Three of them – 1993, 2005 and 2017 – won national titles.
Now, in theory these are interesting stats that may mean something, but in reality they don’t mean that much. But they are fun to ponder, and history does have a way of repeating itself at blue blood programs.
Also for fun, we figured out the average scores of games for the 20 Final Four teams comparing those squads to this one. Note that we rounded out the numbers to avoid messy decimal points.
The Records After 10 Games
#Won National Title
*Lost In National Title Game
1946 – 9-1 start, 58-44*
1957 – 10-0 start, 85-68#
1967 – 9-1 start, 69-66
1968 – 9-1 start, 82-75*
1969 – 9-1 start, 90-72
1972 – 9-1 start, 92-72
1977 – 9-1 start, 89-72*
1981 – 9-1 start, 75-66*
1982 – 10-0 start, 70-54#
1991 – 9-1 start, 90-72
1993 – 9-1 start, 94-70#
1995 – 9-1 start, 92-76
1997 – 9-1 start, 86-68
1998 – 10-0 start, 84-58
2000 – 8-2 start, 83-71
2005 – 9-1 start, 90-68#
2008 – 10-0 start, 90-70
2009 – 10-0 start, 97-69
2016 – 8-2 start, 85-70*
2017 – 9-1 start, 90-66#
2018 – 9-1 start, 88-71