3/26/2024 other sports Edit

Carolina's History Playing in the NCAA West Region

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

Publisher

Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

{{ link.display_text }} |

Slotted in the West Region for the eighth time in its history, North Carolina is headed to the Sweet 16 and will play in Los Angeles for the first time in nine years.

The top-seed Tar Heels take on 4-seed Alabama on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena at approximately 9:45 PM with a spot in the Elite Eight on the line. UNC’s last trip to L.A. was in 2015, when it fell to Wisconsin in the Sweet 6.

Navigating their way over time to the Final Four through the West Region hasn’t been easy for the Tar Heels. Only once in seven previous occasions in which UNC was in the West did it advance to the Final Four.

Now, the seeding process began in the late 1970s, and a system allowing teams seeding in a region such as the West, for example, to play the first weekend in their region was adopted in 2002.

UNC’s overall record playing in the West Region is 14-7.

So here is UNC’s NCAA Tournament history in the West Region:

1978 – 0-1: The Tar Heels received a bye in the first round but fell to San Francisco in the second round, 68-64, in Phil Ford’s last game as a Tar Heels. That UNC team finished the season 23-8 and won the ACC regular season title.

1981 – 4-1: As the No. 2 seed in the West, Carolina received a bye in the first round, defeated Pittsburgh in the second round in El Paso, TX, beat Utah on its home floor in the Sweet 16 before taking out Kansas State to reach the Final Four. There, the Heels defeated Virginia in Philadelphia in a game in which Al Wood scored 39 points, including 17 straight UNC points at one stretch. Carolina fell to Indiana 61-50 in the national championship game several hours after President Reagan was shot.

1986 – 2-1: As the No. 3 seed in the West, UNC opened NCAA Tournament play with a win over Utah in Ogden, UT, before clobbering UAB to advance to the Sweet 16. There, Carolina lost by 15 points to Louisville in Houston, TX.

1988 – 3-1: The No. 2 seed in the West, the Heels defeated North Texas before routing Loyola Marymount, 123-97, in games played in Salt Lake City, UT. On to Seattle for the regionals, UNC beat Michigan before falling by 18 points to Arizona in the Elite 8.

1999 – 0-1: The only time Carolina has ever lost in the first round since the seeding process began happened when the No. 3 seeded Heels fell 76-74 to Weber State in Seattle.

2015 – 2-1: Three years ago, and the first time UNC was in the West Region with the pod system in effect, No. 4 seed Carolina opened NCAA play in Jacksonville, FL, where the Tar Heels edged Harvard and beat Arkansas by 9 points before heading out to Los Angeles where they fell to Wisconsin 79-72. UNC’s NCAA Tournament record since that game is 11-1.

2018 – 1-1: As the No. 2 seed, the Heels opened NCAA Tournament play in Charlotte by beating Lipscomb in the first game and then falling to Texas A&M in the second round by 21 points. The Aggies outrebounded Carolina, 50-34, that afternoon.

2024 – 2-0 so far.