Every offseason, we have fun at Tar Heel Illustrated diving into the past history of North Carolina’s football and basketball programs. Ranking players and teams in a variety of groupings giving our readers topics to discuss.

We change it up each year, and this offseason is no different as we unveil the top three UNC basketball players from basically each decade. This is a 9-part series that begins with the top three players 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 fourth entry in our 9-part series ranking the top three UNC basketball players from each decade:

Name: Billy Cunningham

Position: Forward

Years: 1962-65

Honors: Two-time All-America 1964 & 1965; ACC player of the Year 1965; Three-time first-team All-ACC 1963, 1964 & 1965; Named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary team; Inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame as a player 1986; NABC Hall of Fame as a player 1986; Jersey is honored in the Smith Center.

Notable Stats: Second highest career scoring average (24.8) at UNC; Highest career rebounding average (15.4) at Carolina; The fifth, seventh, and ninth highest single-season scoring averages in school history; Had single-game highs of 48 points in Dec. 1964 and 27 rebounds versus Clemson in Feb. 1963; Fifth all-time at UNC with 1,062 career rebounds; 21st all-time at UNC with 1,709 career points; Shot 47.6 percent from the field for his career.

The Kangaroo Kid, Cunningham is one of the most entertaining Tar Heels of all time. An acrobat, rangy, and super aggressive, he was always the alpha dog on the court. The Heels didn’t play in any postseasons or win the ACC regular season or tournament during Cunningham’s career, but he was an important player, nonetheless. New York City player who was one of Dean Smith’s first stars. His UNC career ended the year before the Tar Heels went to the first of 10 Final Fours under Smith.

He is the only UNC player to average double-doubles in three different seasons, and he only played three seasons because freshmen could not play at the time. Lowest scoring average was 22.7 points in the 1962-63 season, lowest rebound average was 14.3 per game during the 1964-65 season.

Cunningham is remembered for ripping down from a tree Smith hanging in effigy after a loss at Wake Forest in 1965. He has the second, third, and fourth highest single-game rebounding marks in UNC history. Recorded a double-double in an NCAA-record 40 consecutive games, had a UNC-record 60 double-doubles for his career. An academic All-America. There's no denying Cunningham's greatness as a Tar Heel.

Name: Larry Miller

Position: Forward

Years: 1965-68

Honors: Two-time, first-team All-America 1967 & 1968; Two-time, first-team All-ACC 1967 & 1968; Two-time ACC Player of the Year 1967 & 1968; Two-time ACC Tournament MVP 1967 & 1968; ACC Male Athlete of the Year 1968; Patterson Medal 1968; Named to ACC’s 50th Anniversary team; Jersey is honored in the Smith Center.

Notable Stats: Ninth all-time in scoring at UNC with 1,982 career points; Fifth highest career scoring average with 21.8 points per game; Owns UNC mark for scoring in double figures in 64 consecutive games; Averaged a double-double (20.9 points, 10.3 rebounds) as a sophomore; 19th all-time with 834 career rebounds.

Miller should go down historically as one of the most important players ever at UNC, not just because he was a great player, but the importance of him choosing Carolina at the time he did and the eventual impact he had on the program and what Dean Smith built. Smith had recruited a couple of really good players in his early years, but landing Miller, who was sought after by everyone, is what really got the ball rolling leading to UNC basketball developing into one of the six fabled programs in the nation. He is the only UNC player to win two ACC Player of the Year and two ACC Tournament MVP awards.

Miller’s achievements, of course, are worthy enough of this ranking on their own. Prolific? Absolutely. How about 27 points and 16 rebounds in a 1968 Sweet 16 win over then-undefeated St. Bonaventure (starring Bob Lanier) or his 32-point (13-for-14 shooting) outing to bet Duke in the 1967 ACC championship game? Two straight ACC championships and Final Fours – MVP of each – and a foundation for the future are

Miller’s legacies.

Name: Charlie Scott

Position: Guard/Forward

Years: 1967-70

Honors: Two-time, first-team All-America 1969 & 1970; Three-time All-ACC 1968, 1969 & 1970; NCAA Tournament East Region MVP 1969; ACC Tournament MVP 1969; ACC Male Athlete of the Year 1970; Patterson Medal 1970; Named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary team; Inducted into Naismith Hall of Fame in 2018; UNC jersey number is honored in Smith Center rafters.

Notable Stats: Led the ACC in scoring in 1970 with 27.1 points per game; third all-time at UNC averaging 22.1 points per game over his career; Eighth all-time in scoring with 2,007 points; shot 48 percent from the floor for his career; Averaged 7.1 rebounds per game for his career, totaling 649; Only Tyler Hansbrough attempted more shots than Scott (1,678) in his UNC career; Sixth all-time with 805 made field goals at UNC.

One of the most important players in UNC history, Scott was the first African-American to earn an athletic scholarship at Carolina. He has long been a tremendous ambassador for the school and for decades the Dean Smith way of running a program and the kind of man Smith was and remains one of the most treasured athletes to play any sport at UNC. Scott was a great player, too, helping lead the Heels to consecutive ACC Tournament championships and Final Fours in 1968 and 1969.

Scott had a terrific pull-up jumper, a quick release so he was nearly impossible to defend, and he had outstanding hangtime, again making him so difficult to keep from getting off the shots he wanted.

Scott scored 40 points in the 1969 ACC Tournament title game win over Duke. He sank a buzzer-beating jumper to give UNC the NCAA East Region championship advancing the Tar Heels to the Final Four in 1969. Scott scored in double figures in 52 consecutive games as a Tar Heel, the third longest streak in school history. Scott is worthy of this lofty ranking based on his performance, but adding the other factors makes him a no brainer.