Two Years After Roy's Titles

The coming season will be the second campaign following North Carolina’s national championship in 2017. The third title under Roy Williams, we thought we'd go back and look at how his previous teams did two years following national titles.

A season after winning it all three times, the Heels have gone a collective 69-36 and won just two NCAA Tournament games. One season, in 2010, they didn’t even make the NCAAs.

So here is a look at Williams’ two teams two years after national championships. If the trend continues, the coming season should be a successful one for the Tar Heels:

The Year Before: 23-8 overall, 12-4 ACC, NCAA second round

31-7 overall

11-5 ACC

Average score: 85.7 – 68.8

Starters: Reyshawn Terry (senior), Tyler Hansbrough (soph), Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Brandan Wright (freshmen).

*Started the season ranked No. 2 in the nation and never dropped lower than No. 8, where it was two consecutive weeks prior to the NCAA Tournament. UNC was ranked among the top 5 in 16 of the 19 polls that season, reaching No. 1 for one week. The Tar Heels were No. 2 in six different polls.

*Lost Pre-Season NIT semifinals to Gonzaga

*Notable Non-ACC Wins: Ohio State, Kentucky, vs. Tennessee, at St Louis, at Arizona.

*They scored 100 or more points seven times

*Went 2-0 versus Duke winning by 6 and 14 points

*Won ACC Tournament

*Advanced to the Elite 8 before falling to Georgetown in overtime.

Note: UNC led that game by 10 points with 6:31 left when an ill-advised perimeter shot, that was missed, triggered a 16-6 Hoyas run that sent the game into overtime. Georgetown outscored the Heels by 12 in overtime, and going back to the 6:31 mark, 31-9 to finish out the game.

Team notes: Forward Brandan Wright (14.7 points, 6.2 rebounds) became UNC’s second one and done player in three years, and it’s last for 10 years before Tony Bradley left following his freshman season in 2017. Wright was named the ACC Rookie of the Year.

All-ACC: First-team, Tyler Hansbrough; Second-team, Brandon Wright.

Closing: This was a good team that made significant progress as the season went on. It was young, as it started three freshmen and most of the key players off the bench were sophomores. The manner it lost in the Elite 8 fueled the Heels for an amazing season in 2008.

The Year Before: 20-17 overall, 5-11 ACC, lost in the finals of the NIT

29-8 overall

14-2 ACC

Average score: 77.5-68.8

Starters: Tyler Zeller, John Henson (juniors), Dexter Strickland (soph), Harrison Barnes, Kendall Marshall (freshmen).

*The Tar Heels lost original starting point guard Larry Drew 17 games into the season because Marshall was passing him by. From that moment on, the Heels were a much better team. They were 12-5 and unranked with Drew at the point, and 17-3 afterward, finishing No. 7 in the polls.

*The Heels lost twice early in Puerto Rico to Vanderbilt and Minnesota and nine days later at Illinois in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. They also fell to Texas at the Greensboro Coliseum.

*Notable Non-ACC Wins: Kentucky.

*They scored 100 or more points four times

*Went 1-2 versus Duke

*Lost to Duke in ACC Tournament championship game

*Advanced to the Elite 8 before falling to Kentucky

Note: UNC struggled throughout the regional final, which was played in Newark, NJ, not shooting well and having more trouble than expected with UK’s inside game. But the Heels tied the game at 67-67 with 3:18 left to play, but then went into the tank, being outscored 9-2 the rest of the way.

*Team notes: Freshman Harrison Barnes arrived at UNC with expectations of being the next legendary Tar Heel. He was pretty darn good, averaging 15.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest. His best game was a 40-point effort on just 17 field goal attempts in the ACC Tournament versus Clemson. The length of 7-foot Tyler Zeller and 6-11 John Henson made the Heels lethal on both ends of the floor down low.

*All-ACC: Zeller, Barnes and Henson were all named second-team All-ACC, Marshall was named third-team All-ACC. Barnes was the ACC Rookie of the Year and Henson was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

*Closing: Much like the 2007 team was a year from greatness, so was the 2011 squad. The Heels got much better and found tremendous chemistry once Drew left and Marshall fully took over. From that moment on, the Heels skyrocketed into the 2012 season.