No. 37: Harrison Barnes
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 are 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:
No. 37: Harrison Barnes (2010-12)
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When Harrison Barnes gave North Carolina’s staff cause for jubilation, and Duke’s the complete opposite, by announcing via this new thing at the time called Skype, it was one of the bigger recruiting moments ever for UNC basketball. Certainly at the time.
Barnes was the top prospect in the nation for the class of 2010, and with the Tar Heels several months removed from dominating the NCAA Tournament field in capturing the 2009 national championship, it was a clear case of the rich getting richer. And pleasing UNC fans even more, it was a dagger into Duke’s recruiting soul. Of course, the Blue Devils would be just fine, cutting down the nets themselves eight months later.
That said, Barnes was a big deal with he arrived in Chapel Hill, and he didn’t exactly disappoint. His freshman season had some ups and downs, and expectations were a bit out of whack for him to become the second coming of Michael Jordan. But he was very good as a freshman and outstanding as a sophomore.
The 6-foot-8 wing averaged 15.6 points and 5.8 rebounds as a freshman, shooting 42.1 percent from the floor, including 34.4 percent from the perimeter. His highlight game of the season, and one of the best ever by a UNC freshman, came in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, when Barnes put 40 on Clemson in a 92-87 overtime win for the Tar Heels.
The Ames, IA, native did so attempting just 17 shots from the field, making 12. Included was a 6-for-8 performance from beyond the arc, and 10-for-11 from the free throw line. He also grabbed eight rebounds that afternoon.
As a sophomore, Barnes averaged 17.1 points on a loaded team, shooting 44 percent from the floor, including 35.8 percent from three-point range. Carolina was one of the top teams in the nation all season, and eventually reached the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season. He was first-team All-ACC and second-team All-American that season.
One could argue the Heels were the best team, or at least on a collision course with Kentucky to meet in the national title game, but an injury to point guard Kendall Marshall derailed the Heels’ hopes.
The No. 7 overall selection in the 2012 draft, Barnes has developed into a very good NBA player, averaging at least 14.3 points per contest over his last six seasons, five times being above 16 points per outing. His career average is 14.1 points in 747 NBA games, 686 of which he has started.
A member of the Golden State Warriors’ world championship team in 2015, a season in which Barnes averaged 10.1 points and 4.1 rebounds, he has a 5.1 career per-game rebounding average, plus 1.8 assists per contest. Barnes has shot 45.3 percent from the floor, including 37.9 percent (1,002-for-2,644) from three-point range.
In all, he has scored 10,556 points, and since he turns just 30 in late May, it’s conceivable Barnes passes 16,000 career points, at least.
Barnes also won a gold medal representing the United States in the Rio Olympics in 2016. In addition, Barnes has received numerous public service awards for his efforts in local communities in which he has played.
The combination of everything surrounding his UNC and NBA success make Barnes an easy selection to make this list.