One of the things we really enjoy at Tar Heel Illustrated is diving into the past history of North Carolina’s football and basketball programs. And ranking players and teams has been an annual endeavor that generates plenty of discourse among our readers.

We change it up each year, and this offseason is no different as we unveil the top two UNC basketball teams from basically each decade. This is a 9-part series that begins with the top two teams before the 1940s and then we do each remaining decade.

The current decade is not included as it’s only half over.

So, here is the ninth and final installment of our 9-part series ranking the top two UNC basketball teams from each decade:

2017

Record: 33-7 (14-4)

NCAA Tournament: NCAA champions

ACC Tournament: Lost in semifinals

Ranking: No. 5

Coach: Roy Williams

All-Americans: Justin Jackson.

All-ACC: Justin Jackson (1st); Joel Berry (2nd).

Honors: Justin Jackson, ACC Player of the Year; Luke Maye, NCAA South Region MOP; Joel Berry, Final Four MOP

The players embarked on their redemption tour just days after losing at the buzzer in the national title game a year earlier, so completing their mission of winning the national championship made their journey and story one of the most compelling in the program’s fabled history.

The Tar Heels suffered two strangle losses that season, at Georgia Tech by 12 points on New Year’s Eve Day and at Miami nearly a month later when they missed 18 of 19 shots in one stretch of the first half. But otherwise, this was a really solid team on its bad days and excellent on the others.

It was mature, poised, explosive, gritty when necessary, defended when necessary, and rebounded the you-know-what out of the ball. It carried the look of a champion from day one and built on that as the season went on.

Carolina was by far the best rebounding team in the nation, owning a rebound margin advantage of 3.3 per game more than any other team in the nation. The Heels scored 100 or more points six times and 90 or more 17 times, and they spent the entire season ranked in the top 10.

Carolina’s magical run included a come-from-behind win late to beat Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a huge 25-point, 14-rebound performance in a one-point win over Oregon in the Final Four and a 22-point effort by Joel Berry in the national title game victory over Gonzaga earning him the MOP. Berry scored 20 points in the national title game loss to Villanova the year before, making him the first player to score 20-plus points in consecutive national championship games since Bill Walton did it more than 40 years earlier.

They weren’t loaded with the star power some of UNC’s other great teams possessed, though Justin Jackson (ACC POY) had one of the more efficient seasons of any Tar Heel in recent history. But this was an outstanding team, similar to the 1993 national title club of Dean Smith’s, and they had an edge to them that carried them through two rugged games in the Final Four.

2012

Record: 32-6 (14-2)

NCAA Tournament: NCAA Elite 8

ACC Tournament: Lost in finals

Ranking: 4

Coach: Roy Williams

All-Americans: Tyler Zeller; Harrison Barnes; Kendall Marshall.

All-ACC: Tyler Zeller (1st); John Henson (1st); Harrison Barnes (1st); Kendall Marshall (2nd).

Honors: Tyler Zeller: ACC Player of the Year.

The 1984 season beckons the question, what would have been had Kenny Smith not broken his wrist on a hard, perhaps even dirty play? What about 1977 had the Tar Heels not been so riddled with injuries, yet still made it to the national title game? The 2012 question asks a similar question: What would have been had Kendall Marshall not broken his wrist on a hard, perhaps dirty play in the second round of the NCAA Tournament?

Nobody knows the answer, but it was apparent that Carolina and eventual NCAA champion Kentucky were on a collision course to meet for the national title. UK had beaten the Tar Heels in December at Rupp Arena when John Henson had a shot blocked as time expired. UNC was every bit as good as UK and was more experienced. It was a good bet if you took the Heels entering the tournament.

But that team never got a chance to materialize at the sport's most important time, plus two nagging injuries to Henson hurt the Heels even more. They reached the Elite 8 where new nemesis Kansas waited, but it wasn't meant to be, and the 2012 Heels reside here instead of 10-12 slots higher.

They were worthy of top-10 status most of the time. Tyler Zeller was the ACC Player of the Year for a reason. Marshall won the Cousy Award, Harrison Barnes was playing much like the player people expected when he arrived, and Henson had developed into an obvious pro and remains in the league today. Rounding out the starting lineup was eventual NBA'er Reggie Bullock in place of injured senior Dexter Strickland.

Usually high octane, there were a couple of head scratchers that also help settle these Heels in this slot. A disturbing 33-point loss at Florida State, for starters, with a 10-point loss while allowing 90 points to UNLV being another. But mostly, this was an excellent, veteran team that deserved a better fate, one that could have concluded with them cutting down the nets.