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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No. 9: Bob McAdoo (1971-72)
One of the few transfers Dean Smith accepted into his program, McAdoo played just one season at UNC, but he was sensational that year.
He led the Tar Heels to the 1972 Final Four after averaging 19.5 points and 10.1 rebounds in earning first-team All-America honors. He was named the MVP of the ACC Tournament, leading the Tar Heels to the championship.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 1972 NBA draft, McAdoo played 14 seasons in the league. He also played seven more seasons overseas where he experienced tremendous success.
McAdoo was named the NBA Most Valuable Player in 1975, was a five-time NBA All-Star, two-time NBA champion, NBA Rookie of the Year, three-time NBA scoring champion and later went on to win awards in the Euroleague, including its Final Four MVP in 1988.
He led teams to the FIBA International Cup in 1987, two EuroLeague championships, two Italian League championships and the Italian Cup in 1987. McAdoo finished second in the MVP voting twice and was named one of its 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors.
McAdoo scored 18,787 career points in the NBA averaging 22.1 points per contest. He grabbed 8,048 rebounds (9.4 average), and blocked 1,147 shots (1.6 average). He averaged between 30.6 points and 34.5 points between 1974-76.
In addition, McAdoo won three NBA championships serving as an assistant with the Miami Heat for 18 years, ending when he retired in 2014.
McAdoo is in the College Basketball Hall of Fame as well as the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
