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 our 9-part series ranking the top two UNC basketball teams from each decade beginning with the Pre-1940s:

1924

Record: 26-0 (7-0 Southern Conference)

Postseason: SoCon champions, No other

Ranking: Helms Foundation National Champions

Coach: Monk McDonald

All-Americans: Jack Cobb; Cart Carmichael.

Fourteen years before the first NIT and 15 years before the first NCAA Tournaments were held, the 1924 Carolina basketball team was making its own mark.

Without a national postseason tournament at the time, Carolina was eventually voted the Helms Athletic Foundation national champion, even though the foundation wasn’t even formed until 1936, which was two years before the NIT and three years before the NCAA Tournaments launched.

The Helms Foundation, located in Los Angeles, retroactively named national champions in college basketball going back to the 1900-01 season. They used a variety of information for their declarations, and aiding UNC’s cause was an unbeaten season with four impressive victories over Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Alabama in capturing the Southern Conference tournament in Atlanta.

Carolina won those four SoCon tourney games by an average score of 32-20, and its average score per game for the entire 26-game season was 37-20. Its highest scoring game was in a 60-13 rout of Elon, and nine times the Heels held opponents to fewer than 20 points and in seven times right at 20 points.

Stars? Yeah, UNC had some stars on that club.

Cart Carmichael’s jersey is in the rafters at the Dean Dome, and future head coach Monk McDonald was also on that club. Jack Cobb, however, was the team’s biggest star and one of the most decorated players in Tar Heels’ history. He was a three-time All-America, the 1926 National Player of the Year and his jersey is retired at UNC.

No video, barely any stats and few accounts of this team exist, but from what we do know, it's pretty clearly one of the top 30 teams in the program's history, as it was one of the most dominant ever at UNC.

1935

Record: 23-2 (12-1 Southern Conference)

Postseason: SoCon champions, No other

Ranking: Helms Foundation National Champions

Coach: Bo Shepard

All-SoCon: Jack Glace, Snooks Aitken, Jim McCachren

For the first time in nine years, Carolina won the Southern Conference regular season championship. The White Phantoms, as the UNC basketball team was also known for many years, also won the SoCon tournament as well.

As writing in the 1935 “Yackety Yack,” the school yearbook produced at the end of the academic year:

During the season Carolina scored 618 points to 472 for its opponents. Of the Tar Heel points 309 were field goals and 210 free throws. Seeded number one in the Southern Conference tournament at Raleigh, the Tar Heels defeated South Carolina, North Carolina State, and Washington and Lee on successive nights to take the title. It was the first basketball championship for Carolina since the formation of the smaller conference. South Carolina and Washington and Lee were defeated with comparative ease, but State almost upset the Tar

The record of the 1934-35 basketball team is an indication of the fine work done by G. E. "Bo" Shepard, who has turned out successful Carolina teams in this sport since he took the reins three years ago. "Bo" is recognized as one of the leading coaches in southern basketball, and has turned out some of the finest players seen in this section of the country. Followers of Carolina basketball wonder at the fine records Tar Heel teams turn in year after year when the squads appear so weak before the season opens. The answer lies in the ability of Coach Shepard to develop players and to bring them up to collegiate standards. The winning of the Southern Conference championship this year was a fine reward to the Tar Heel coach for his great work.

Shepard, who graduated from New Hanover High School in Wilmington, had a 69-16 record in four seasons at the helm.