Starting with 1976, no 1 program was ever that dominant again (except for a 2-year span, ala duke or florida). By including a few more years over your cut off in 1979, the undefeated Hoosiers get included (and this also means UNC runner-up 1977 is included).

Starting with 1985 is kinda lame…but that fits ESPN aptly in my humblest opinion.

I am honestly hung up on the head coaching post. Dean appears to be a no-brainer, but it Dean were offered the slot, I could picture him saying something like, “I’m very flattered, but give the job to Roy. He’s earned it and he IS the head coach for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.”

Roy would counter with his whole, “I’m not in the same sentence as Dean Smith” bit, but there is one facet to Roy’s coaching that I like; which is, he is not predictable. Dean had a system that eas so well-known that many coaches knew the basic game plan and potential adjustments in advance. It’s not Dean’s fault; rather, it’s the highest compliment that he basically set the template for so many innovative coaching maneuvers over that thirty year stretch.

Josh-

I agree that the current players draw the most buzz, but I also believe that (and again it’s all simulation) that it comes down to each players roles. I would see Haywood as a third option at the 5, where he could provide excellent shot-blocking down low and perhaps alter many more shots. I would say that Wolf had more range, but Haywood was such a physical specimen by his senior year and could really run the court.

Heel to the End-

You have some interesting picks, to say the least. It would appear that you truly value those players who put in the most time at Chapel Hill versus those whose stay was all-too-brief. I love the Lynch choice, and he (in my opinion) feels the void of the “do a little of everything” prototype on the team. Danny Green could easily be someone’s choice for this role as well, although in my lineup, I like just one of those two for a very specific reason.

MJ might be the unanimous pick for most, but there is another player who simply cannot be left off the roster.

I’ll post my lineup in a few days, and then I want to move on to the other teams. Once everyone has chipped in, then we can perhaps start the tournament, complete with seedings and a bracket! Should be fun!

dean, i wouldnt think getting the 14 would be that tough, but we’ll see. the starting 5 is another matter.
you can’t leave Tyler out, he’s earned it. Perkins has to be on for me, BARELY over Worthy. so i’m afraid i wont have a true center, tho Brad would be top choice.
small forward…hm. Wood. Guards are Michael and Cota. i was going to say Felton, but who needs more scoring with the other 4 on the court. i’ll take the 1000-assist man.

Cota
Jordan
Wood
Perkins
Hansbrough

Felton
Ellington
Cxxxxx/Lynch
Worthy
Daugherty

Lawson
Jxxxxxx/Green
O’Koren
May

not easy!
couldnt pick Williams or Wright for single years.
if i made myself a 3-year rule, then Green and Lynch in place of Jamison and Carter.
how do you leave one of the Cota-Felton-Lawson-Smith off? yikes. no Sheed because i dont like him, and he’s a 2-yr guy. like Stackhouse, who is tough to leave off. ok, so i’m taking Carter and Jamison off and putting Green and Lynch in.

now, i just hate leaving Smith off.

The Heels 11 Final Fours, four national championships, 29 NCAAT appearances, and .774 winning percentage are the best of any program.

Gnaw on that, rat.

So, the #1 seeds are, in order:

1. North Carolina
2. Duke
3. Kansas
4. Kentucky

On a similar note, I’m putting together a fun little hypothetical/simulated tournament of my own. What I have done is selected (by way of ESPN’s top-300 based criteria, as well as a few selected criteria of my own) the top 64 teams in the NCAA of the last 30 years (1979-2009), and I am working to compile the complete 14-player roster for each team.

Here are the Heels candidates:

G-Raymond Felton
G-Kenny Smith
G-Ty Lawson
G-Ed Cota
G-Hubert Davis
G-Jeff McInnis
G-Joseph Forte
G-Jeff Lebo
G-Michael Jordan
G-Rashad McCants
G-Dante Calabria
G-Wayne Ellington
G/Wing-Vince Carter
SF/Wing-Jerry Stackhouse
SF/Wing-Al Wood
SF/Wing-Danny Green
F-Antawn Jamison
F-George Lynch
F-Marvin Williams
F-Rick Fox
F-Sam Perkins
F-Brandan Wright
F-Pete Chilcutt
F-J.R. Reid
F-Mike O’Koren
F-Tyler Hansbrough
F-Rasheed Wallace
F-Joe Wolf
F-James Worthy
C/F-Sean May
C/F-Scott Williams
C-Brad Daugherty
C-Brendan Haywood
C-Eric Montross

Again, this roster would be comprised of the 14 players you all think would fare best against the 14 best players from other programs. So, as much as we all love Joe Wolf, do you think he would enhance the Heels chances against teams with several future NBA standouts, or would Brendan Haywood, who developed into a great athlete (as well as shot blocker) by the time he was a senior, be the better pick?

Finally, Dean would coach the team, but would Roy be coaching the Kansas squad? Or, should Roy work WITH Dean on the bench, opting out of the head slot at KU in order to concentrate his efforts on helping the Heels to the title? Would Bill Self or Larry Brown coach Kansas? Would Bill Self or Tubby Smith coach Tulsa (who ARE in the tournament by the way)?

For the record, I used the ’79-’09 time frame because I truly believe that college basketball as we know it, with all the hype, hoopla, and spectacle, began in 1979. This was also the first year that McDonalds’ All-America teams were selected.

When ESPN put together their best-300 programs last year (2008), they chose the 1985-2008 time period. Their reasoning was simply that 1985 was the first year of a 64-team tournament. That is not enough for me, being the college basketball fanatic that I am. Plus, when you stretch it back to ’79, you can pull in some truly great players. Magic, Jordan, Big Game James, Ralph Sampson, Isaiah Thomas, Cylde Drexler, and Mark Aguirre to name some off the top of my head.

I recall the summer of 2005, after the title run, a friend of mine (who is neither a UNC or Dook fan) pointed out that Dook was still the premiere program…blah, blah. His reasoning was simply that, with the recruiting class and returning players, Dook was going to have a sensational year in 2006 and beyond. He also felt that the 2005 UNC squad was a “once-in-a-decade (his exact words)” gathering of talent and that UNC would be marginally competitive for the rest of this decade.

I guess my point is that there is not that deflated feeling of “yeah we won, but we lost so much talent and Dook will be so good.” I remember dreading the game in Durham the whole summer. I had all these visions of Vitale screaming while Redick went off for 45 or so points.

Anyways, you’re right…the pressure is slight. I think that, whenever a reputable, or elite, program wins a title, there is a natural feeling that the talent is there to contend for a title the following season. To win back-to-back, there absolutely HAS to be continuity. Whether it be Dook ’91-’92 or Florida ’06-’07, the core of those repeat championship teams had been through everything together, and both squads excelled in the respective coaches’ systems. Yet, even when you have a return in personnel, such as ’91 UNLV, or ’99 and ’02 Dook, there is still no gaurantee of victory.

I would be very happy to see a season in which the team played with the fire of the 2006 squad. I don’t know what possessed that particular team, but they got it right. The 2006 team is perhaps the most beloved of the last 15 years because they cemented the UNC program as being a consistent player in the national championship race, despite a shift in personnel.

I would really like to see the Heels beat Kentucky. There will be a ton of hype around that game. Perhaps not since 1982, when the Heels were ranked #1 and UK #2, has there been such potential for a monumental showdown. The Heels, behind 20-plus from both James Worthy and Sam Perkins (not to mention 19 from Michael Jordan), shredded the Wildcat zone and won going away, 82-69. Perhaps 2005 is the last year in which there was a feeling of the “clash of the titans” when UK came to the Dean Dome and were handed a double-digit loss.

The Texas matchup will be a tough one, no doubt. Yet, I’m so glad to see that the Heels will play four potential #1 seeds in Texas, Michigan State, Kentucky, and Dook. If next year’s team could take three of those games, coupled with either a regualr season ACC crown and/or tourny title, then everything else would be gravy.

Of course, it would be nice to see the UNC perimeter defense shut down that erratic baffoon General Greives.