#1 1993 vs # 1990
Starters and Bench
| 1993 | Pos | 1990 |
| Derrick Phelps |
PG | King Rice |
| Donald Williams |
SG | Rick Fox |
| Brian Reese |
SF | Kevin Madden |
| George Lynch |
PF | Scott Williams |
| Eric Montross |
C | Pete Chilcutt |
| Bench | ||
| Henrik Rodl |
G | Henrik Rodl |
| Pat Sullivan |
G | Hubert Davis |
| Kevin Salvadori |
F | George Lynch |
This is actually a pretty interesting match-up. Similar to the NCAA Tournament, the #4 overall seed is usually sitting in a bracket fraught with danger. That is the case for 1993 which is one of the best loved Tar Heel teams in this tournament but just flawed enough to consider the possibility they could struggle a bit out of the gate. I'm not saying 1990 is going to pull the upset, but it stands to reason it could be close.
This game likely comes down defense. 1993 was a very good defensive team, enough to make life very difficult for the 1990 team. King Rice's ability to operate versus Derrick Phelps is a serious question mark for 1993. The duo of Eric Montross and George Lynch would be more than enough to control the paint. The bulk of 1990's offense came from Rick Fox(16.2 ppg) and Scott Williams(14.5 ppg). Effectively shutting those two down would hamstring 1993's offense in crippling fashion.
As a team, 1990 shot under 50% and averaged five fewer and taking two fewer shots per game. That speaks somewhate to tempo but also 1990 getting few bites at the apple due to their own miscues. 1990 struggled taking care of the ball having more turnovers than 1993 while playing four fewer games. With Phelps and Lynch each with more than 80 steals in 1993, chances are 1990 is going to have a difficult time holding onto the basketball and preventing transition looks.