THF Countdown #9: 1997 at Tar Heel Fan

Season: 1996-97
Record: 28-7 overall, 11-5 ACC(2nd place tie)
ACC Tournament: Won Championship
NCAA Tournament: Lost to Arizona in the Final Four

Roster: Vince Carter, Ed Cota, Vasco Evtimov, Brad Frederick, Antawn Jamison, Charlie McNairy, Makhtar Ndiaye, Terrence Newby, Ademola Okulaja, Ryan Sullivan, Webb Tyndall, Shammond Williams, Serge Zwikker.

Source: UNC Media Guide

Dean Smith’s last season except we did not know it would be his last season. As it turns out it may have been one of his greater triumphs as a coach despite the bookend losses to Arizona. Following the season opening loss to the Wildcats, the Heels were so obviously not as good as we thought they were going to be. In fact I recall the third game of the season versus Pitt in which the Heels trailed early and eventually got it together to end up winning by 21. However there was evidence that UNC had not quite shaken itself out of the funk it got itself into starting with the 2nd half of the ACC schedule in 1996.

Still, UNC was 9-1 by the time ACC play opened on January 4th at Wake Forest and seemingly things went straight to hell in a handbasket from. A week later UNC had a players only meeting in the locker room at Charlottesville after falling to 0-3 in the ACC to start the conference season, something that had never happened in school history. The Heels avoided 0-4 with a win versus NC State by three at home, went 2-2 to finish the first half of the ACC season at 3-5. Then the beast awoke and what we witnessed was one of the greatest stretch runs UNC has ever put together.

Starting with a 50 point pummeling of Middle Tennessee State the Heels captured lightning in a bottle and ripped through the ACC’s 2nd half at 8-0. The final four games of the regular season saw UNC beat #4 Wake Forest at home, #14 Maryland and #12 Clemson on the road followed by a six point win over #7 Duke in Chapel Hill in a game that included Dean and Mike Krzyzewski exchanging words. And there were not kind words.

At this point the Heels were smoking hot and basically rolled right through the ACC Tournament winning the championship for the fourth time in the 1990s. The win also put Dean Smith one short of tying Adolph Rupp for most wins all time and two from breaking the record which came the following Saturday as the Heels dispatched Colorado to secure a berth in the Sweet Sixteen. From there the Heels took care of business in the regional rounds earning them a trip to the Final Four in Indianopolis which along with San Antonio is considered by Tar Heel fans to be the most accursed of Final Four sites.

The Heels ended the season the way they began it: Losing to Arizona. Now let me state for the record that I carry some serious distaste for Lute Olsen and Arizona that predates the sweep in 1997. Lute Olsen built a successful program at Arizona but it always seemed like they were a paper tiger. In fact when UNC faced Arizona in the Final Four, the Wildcats were a #4 seed that made it that far by knocking off Roy Williams’ best Kansas team ever and saving us a 3rd UNC-KU Final Four matchup. Still, it seemed like UNC should have handled Arizona but once again the we saw UNC national title hopes go up in a flames amid some horrid long range shooting like 1991, 1995, 1998 and 2008 for that matter. Shammond Williams in this Final Four and the one in 1998 could not have hit a basket if it were five feet tall and six feet in front of him. Serge Zwikker and Ed Cota were not much better leaving Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter carrying most of the load which turned out to be a little short versus Miles Simon and Arizona.

Man, word and proper decorum cannot possibly convey how much I disliked that guy.

Countdown So Far

10. 1991
11. 2007
12. 1986
13. 1994
14. 1983
15. 1989
16. 1988
17. 1985
18. 2006
19. 2001
20. 1992
21. 1996
22. 1999
23. 2000
24. 2004
25. 1990
26. 2003
27. 2002

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12 Responses to “THF Countdown #9: 1997”

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1 Wilf
Jul 29th, 2008 at 7:11 am

The second half of the season and the ACC Tourney left me thinking we had the title wrapped up. I was glad we were getting Arizona because we were (I thought) such a much better team. What a disappointment. But alas, another season of basketball excellence and a lot of fun.
2 JoeCool
Jul 29th, 2008 at 8:14 am

The loss to Arizona almost killed me…with VC playing so well early, I thought it was a done deal but the cats just kept coming. I remember the glee in packer’s voice as the Heels went down. This was a painful loss and I’m glad the Heels whipped them at ‘zona in 2007.
3 Heels Perspective
Jul 29th, 2008 at 10:02 am

I was at the semifinal session of the ACCT that year and we played Timmy Duncan and the rest of the Deacons. Antawn took him to the hoop that day and as I remember Ed Cota was big.

I also remember that 18000 ABC’ers went nuts booing our beloved Dean Smith when he walked out on the floor prior to our game. Maryland and State played that day in what was Herbies first year.
4 DeanForever
Jul 29th, 2008 at 11:59 am

This team will always be remembered for the ACC run, not the loss to Arizone. That Wildact team caught the magical wave and rode it straight to the golden shore. The Heels put up a fight, but it wasn’t meant to be. Not to sound like a broken record there, but it wasn’t there. To be honest with you, I had more of the “we’re gonna win this” feeling in 2008 than I did in 2005. I had the same “we’re gonna win this” feeling in 1998 and 1995 as well. I thought that the Heels were the best team in 1987, depite UNLV’s record and despite Bob Knight being at the height of his game.
5 Tar Heel Mania
Jul 29th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Webb Tyndall’s name. What’s he up to nowadays?
6 JBowling
Jul 29th, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Flipping burgers?
7 Wilf
Jul 29th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

I’ll find out, I see his Dad every two or three weeks.
8 Tar Heel Fan
Jul 29th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

“Flipping burgers?”

Hardly. According to this(assuming it is current) he is likely making more money than most of the rest of us.

http://www.carolinapros.org/about/webb.html
9 DeanForever
Jul 29th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

Was he one of those white boys who jumped up and down and shoved his teammates whenever Vince or Antawn would go nuts (oops, sorry Greg Paulus) and own the rim?

Nevermind, I can just check my copy of “A Coach’s Life” which has team photos of all of Dean’s squads.
10 JBowling
Jul 29th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

THF, I was just kidding. Any UNC grad that I know of is living far better than that. I knew the question might lie dormant, so I figured my comment would urge someone to find out what was going on with him.
11 Wilson
Jul 29th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

Your last sentence sums up my feelings completely when I think about that season. It didn’t help that my sister kept saying she thought he was cute the entire game. I could’ve strangled her.
12 Trashfish73
Jul 29th, 2008 at 11:07 pm

The only thing I’ve done on my list of 100 things I’ve gotta do is go to a Final Four - and that was 1997. Even though I was reduced to rooting for zona in the final (I turned down a small fortune for my ticket to be among the 10% of non-Kentucky fans on Monday nite -hell, why not), it was huge - my outlandishly ovepriced souvenier knit shirt is still my Sunday shirt. THF, I’m loving your countdown series, but hopefully we’re going to see more on what’s infinitely more relevant - our 13 UNC Olympians?