Every offseason, we run historical ranking series focusing on North Carolina basketball and football.

The purpose each spring isn’t to make declarative statements, but to have fun offering a subjective look at the best teams and players ever at Carolina. This effort is to generate discourse, debate, and take UNC fans down memory lane.

This season, we are doing something a little different, combining football and basketball, as we offer our take on the Top 40 UNC football and basketball players of all time. The criteria is quite simple: The process includes playing careers with the Tar Heels and professionally, other relevant impacts they’ve had on their sports, coaching, and championships. We also gave a lean toward all UNC accomplishments.

So, this isn’t a UNC-only list, a pro-only list, or a straight up purely best ever list. Some Tar Heels on this list didn’t have great pro careers but were so good and historic at UNC, they simply had to make the cut. Some on this list weren’t stars at UNC, but had outstanding and/or highly distinguished pro careers, that it warranted their place among these 40 athletes.

We hope you enjoy the list and feel free to disagree, as we know many will.

We continue our countdown with:

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One of the greatest defensive players in Carolina history, Jones was an All-America and first-team All-ACC in 1974, second-team All-ACC in 1973, made the All-NIT team in 1974 when it was a highly respected tournament, and his jersey number 34 is honored in the Smith Center rafters.

Jones is one of two players to lead the ACC in field goal percentage three times, including 66.8 percent from the floor in 1972, which is the second highest total in ACC history. He shot 60.8 percent for his career while also grabbing 817 rebounds. He averaged a double-double (15 points & 10.5 rebounds) in 1973. Was a key member of the 1972 UNC squad that reached the Final Four.

Overall, for his career, Jones averaged 13.7 point and 8.9 rebounds per game. Named one of the ACC’s 50 greatest players ever during the league’s 50th anniversary year.

Jones had a distinguished professional career, playing two years in the ABA and then 10 seasons in the NBA. He was an ABA All-Star in 1976, a four-time NBA All-Star, and eight-time NBA All-Defensive team member (plus three times in the ABA), thus he made the All-Defensive team 1 times in his career. He averaged 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds over his professional career and shot 56 percent from the floor.

Jones was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 1983, was an NBA champion in 1983, and his jersey No. 24 is retired by the Philadelphia 76ers. Jones was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2019.

The 6-foot-9 forward was a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team that suffered perhaps the most controversial loss in the sport’s history.