UNC Basketball History

From 2022...

"Imagine graduating from [UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School](https://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/) after having played junior varsity basketball for one of the best college programs in the world....Carolina alumnus Jake Mendys ’16 uses basketball and business to change lives from Rwanda to the NBA."

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Taking hoops journey to Rwanda to make lives better | UNC-Chapel Hill

Carolina alumnus Jake Mendys ’16 uses basketball and business to change lives from Rwanda to the NBA.
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Bobby Lewis, a 6-3 junior forward scored 49 points in a 115-80 Carmichael Auditorium win over Florida State. The date was December 16, 1965. Carolina’s record was 4-2 and Lewis, averaging 36.2 points per game, was the nation’s leading scorer. Coach Smith subbed Lewis out with two minutes remaining in the game. Lewis also had 5 assists and 7 rebounds. At the time UNC employed a ‘stifling back-court press’ and was the #1 shooting team in the country. The Tar Heels finished the season with a record of 16-11, exiting the ACC Tournament with a controversial second round loss, 20-21, to #3 ranked and ACC regular season champion Duke (sic dook). 1965-66 was Coach Smith’s fifth season at Carolina - he was 66-47 at the time. The following year Carolina racked up a 26-6 record and lost in the Final Four to Dayton. In 1965-66 Lewis finished the year averaging 27.4 points per game. He was All-ACC and All-American in 1966 and ‘67. His #22 is in the rafters in The Dean E. Smith Center.
 
donbosco said:
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“On this day in 1924, @UNC_Basketball won the Southern Conference tournament by beating Alabama 26-18, earning their first national championship and capping off an undefeated 26-0 season. Not content to merely rush Franklin Street, students marched all the way to Durham to celebrate.” Why March to Durham? The reason was that both Cartwright Carmichael and Jack Cobb, the stars of this team of champions, were from the Bull City. Students had waited outside ‘Gooch’s Cafe’ on Franklin Street (approximately the location of ‘Johnny T-Shirt’ today) for notification of the final score in their game with Alabama. 3600 attended the championship game in Atlanta’s Municipal Auditorium. Carolina defeated Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi A&M to reach the finals.

This game preceded the creation of the NCAA and was the culmination of all the madness that March provided in those days. The Tar Heels were named National Champions for 1924 in 1943 by the Helms Foundation. Retroactive championships were awarded for the 1919-1920 through 1942-1943 seasons at that time as well. (A second source asserts that the championship was awarded to UNC in 1936) Obviously without a nation-wide tournament the title could be disputed in much the way that college football crowns could be for decades. Carolina certainly can lay claim to being the legitimate Number One of 1924 and it is a strong one.

Angus ‘Monk’ McDonald joined Carmichael and Cobb in leading the 1924 team. McDonald was a shortstop for The Diamond Heels and the football quarterback as well. Coachless the previous two seasons, Norm Shepard, a Carolina grad returning to attend law school became the head coach for the ‘23-24 season, led the squad to the 26-0 tally, won the Southern Conference Tournament, then promptly moved to China. He returned several years later and coached at various schools until 1968, finishing with an overall career record of 323 wins and 277 losses. (In NC, Shepard also coached at Guilford and Davidson). His brother, Bo Shepard, also coached basketball at Carolina and his brothers Carlyle and Alex also played at UNC.

Hat Tip to @UNCArchives — https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/.../1924-03-07/ed-1/seq-1/ XXXXX https://twitter.com/uncarch.../status/1499739220415594506...
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UNC's first National Championship*

They didn't just take Franklin Street!!! They took durham too!!!
 
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