north carolina tar heels history
north carolina tar heels history
What is it that makes getting North Carolina Tar Heels tickets so difficult to find? Is it the storied rivalry between North Carolina and Duke? Is it the die-hard Tar Heels fans that pack the Dean E. Smith Center for every home game, 21,000 people strong? Is it the tradition of winning and the Tar Heels’ large crop of legendary players like Michael Jordon, Vince Carter, Jerry Stackhouse, and James Worthy? There is no one clear-cut answer to any of these questions, but what can be said for sure is that tradition runs deep for the team that wears Carolina Blue.
Dean Smith coached the North Carolina basketball program for thirty-five seasons, and that only served to set the stage for Roy Williams to win an NCAA national title in only his first year at North Carolina in 2005. Winning another ACC Championship is not easy, but the coaches and players in North Carolina leave it all on the court and come to play every game. That always puts the Tar Heels in a great position to win, as well as giving their fans all the excitement and competitive action they crave.
Widely considered among the top conferences in the nation, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) expanded to a robust 12 teams in 2005, making it even more powerful. Coaches like Mike Kryzewski, Roy Williams, Dean Smith, Garry Williams, Lefty Driesell, Bobby Cremins, and Jim Valvano have all been part of the great tradition of coaching elite teams in this hotly contested conference. While the dozen teams that make up the ACC have some of the biggest rivalries in all of college basketball, the Duke-North Carolina rivalry is among the biggest in all of sports. But the Blue Devils and Tar Heels are not the only teams making headlines in the ACC. Big-time programs like Maryland, Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgia Tech, N.C. State and Virginia are almost always headed to March Madness. But before they can compete in the NCAA Tournament, these teams will have to go through North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, where they have won sixteen times.
In 2005, Sean May, Raymond Felton, and Marvin Williams were underdogs to win the NCAA Tournament after losing to Duke in the ACC Tournament, but when the National Title was on the line, the North Carolina Tar Heels stepped up and showed the nation that this program was one that would battle until the end. Roy Williams is eager to prove that this was no fluke, so he has his team again playing championship quality basketball and they are sure to be looking to take on all contenders for years to come. So, pick up some North Carolina Tar Heels Tickets, head over to the Dean E. Smith Center and hold on to your seat and watch one of the most exciting teams to ever step onto the hard wood.