Our series counting down the Top 30 North Carolina basketball teams of all time continues.

Our mission isn't to make any declarative statements, but rather have some fun, give our readers something to discuss, walk down memory lane some and provide a needed escape.

Your thoughts and picks are welcome in our message board thread for this series.

Record: 28-7 (11-5)

NCAA Tournament: NCAA Final Four

ACC Tournament: ACC Champions

Ranking: 4

Coach: Dean Smith

All-Americans: Antawn Jamison.

All-ACC: Antawn Jamison (1st); Vince Carter (3rd); Shammond Williams (3rd); Serge Zwikker (3rd).

Honors: Ed Cota, ACC Rookie of the Year; Shammond Williams, ACC Tournament MVP, NCAA East Regional MOP

What's To Know: Sitting at 0-3 in the ACC and trailing N.C. State at home with just a few minutes left to play, the 1996-97 Tar Heels were essentially at a crossroads in what would turn out to be Dean Smith's final season at the helm.

A loss and an 0-4 start to the ACC slate and the Tar Heels may have never recovered. Their first three league defeats were by 24 points at Wake Forest, 10 at home to Maryland on a night they blew a 21-point second-half lead, and at Virginia by 12. But UNC managed to eke out a 59-56 win over the Wolfpack, and even though the Heels were handled at FSU 11 days later to drop to 2-4 and at Duke Jan. 29 falling to 3-5, something was brewing.

A 50-point win in a nonconference game over Middle Tenn. State got things going, followed by a 28-point win over FSU, 24-point rout of Virginia, and wild 45-44 win at N.C. State brought the Heels above .500 in conference play and they never looked back, nor did they lose again for a very long time.

Carolina won out in the regular season and then captured the ACC Tournament, defeating each opponent by double figures. Smith set the mark for all-time wins by a coach in an NCAA Tournament second-round game against Colorado, and a week later the Heels routed Louisville 97-74 to advance to the Final Four.

Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter and Ademola Okulaja were sophomores, Ed Cota a freshman, Shammond Williams was a junior and Serge Zwikker a senior. This group went from being on the edge of falling over the ACC cliff to rolling into a Final Four many pundits were picking them to win. They looked pretty smart early in the Heels' semifinal game versus Arizona, as they opened up a 15-4 lead thanks in part to a pair of alley-oop dunks.

But the struggles started soon after, and the season ended with a 66-58 loss. Arizona became the first team to beat UNC in the season opener and finale in the same season, and it was the last game Smith ever coached.

Jamison was outstanding, Carter started taking his game to another level midway through the seson, Williams found a terrific groove and Cota gained comfort playing with his taented mates leading to Carolina's eruption over the second half of the season. The 16-game winning streak and overall development of that team set the stage for a run at the national title the following season.

1996-97 Schedule & Results

Serge Zwikker, 2nd Round, No. 29 overall selection