4/20/2017 basketball Edit

The Seasons After NCAA Titles

David Noel and the 2006 Tar Heels had a solid season but continued a trend following UNC national titles. (GoHeels,com)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

Publisher

Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

The similarities between North Carolina’s three national championships under Roy Williams have been well documented, but are there any in the seasons that followed? To take a broader look, how about the seasons that followed each of UNC’s five previous NCAA championships prior to this past season?

First, the championship seasons:

1957 – 32-0 overall, 14-0 ACC

1982 – 32-2 overall, 12-2 ACC

1993 – 34-4 overall, 14-2 ACC

2005 – 33-4 overall, 14-2 ACC

2009 – 34-4 overall, 13-3 ACC

2017 – 33-7 overall, 14-4 ACC

Average record: 33-3.5 overall, 13.5-1.5 ACC

The Seasons After NCAA Championships

1958 – 19-7 overall, 10-4 ACC, tied 2nd place

1983 – 28-8 overall, 12-2 ACC, tied 1st place – Elite 8

1994 – 28-7 overall, 11-5 ACC, 2nd place – NCAA Round of 32

2006 – 23-8 overall, 12-4 ACC, 2nd place – NCAA Round of 32

2010 – 20-17 overall, 5-11 ACC, 10th place – NIT finals

2018 - ???

Average record: 23.8 – 9.4 overall, 10-5.2 ACC

*3 NCAA appearances, 4 NCAA Tournament wins (UNC received a bye in 1983)

*Average difference from title season to the following season:

9.2 overall wins, 5.9 overall losses, 3 ACC wins, 3.7 ACC losses.

The easy conclusion is that in most cases the Tar Heels lost prominent players from the championship teams and usually replaced them with less experienced players, or ones that just weren’t as successful that next season. In other words, it’s very difficult to follow up a championship season with another run at the national title.

The 1983 team came closest, and then the 1994 team had the personnel, but it didn’t have the chemistry.