2015 THB Countdown Update

And you thought I forgot about this.

The annual tradition of judging the team from the past season against every team since 1982 is again upon us. For a refresher here are the previous entries go here.

Here are the vitals for the 2013-14 team.

Record: 26-12, 11-7 ACC(5th)
ACC Tournament: Lost in Finals
NCAA Tournament: Lost in Sweet Sixteen

Roster: Joel Berry, Nate Britt, Justin Coleman, Luke Davis, Isaiah Hicks, Desmond Hubert, Justin Jackson, Joel James, Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks, Marcus Paige, Theo Pinson, Sasha Seymore, Jackson Simmons, J.P. Tokoto

The manner in which the season unfolded for this team also makes it tough to peg for the rankings. Based on the very easy comparison to 1992 and the fact this team is probably ahead of 2014, here is the debated range.

21. 2006
22. 2001
23. 1992
24. 1996
25. 2014

What makes placing this team difficult is I am not sure the team we saw over the final 2-3 weeks of the season was the same one prior to that. Much of that stems from Marcus Paige not being fully healthy until the beginning of March. That, in concert with Justin Jackson's emergence as a legitimate perimeter scoring threat, made UNC a much better team. The Tar Heels beat both Louisville and Virginia in the ACC Tournament and played competitively with the national runner-up Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen. Of course this is still a team that had trouble closing the deal in games as evidenced by letting a huge lead versus Harvard slip away and almost losing the game as a result.

Ultimately the question here is should this team be ranked ahead of 1992 or behind it. Probably behind it mainly because I am not sure this team is nearly as talented as that one. 1992 went 24-10 in a smaller and much tougher ACC and even handed eventual champion Duke one of its only two losses that season. The edge, as small as it may be, goes to 1992.

1. 1982
2. 2009
3. 2005
4. 1993
5. 2008
6. 1998
7. 1995
8. 1984
9. 1987
10. 1997
11. 1991
12. 2007
13. 2012
14. 2011
15. 1986
16. 1994
17. 1983
18. 1989
19. 1988
20. 1985
21. 2006
22. 2001
23. 1992
24. 2015
25. 1996
26. 2014
27. 1999
28. 2000
29. 2004
30. 1990
31. 2013
32. 2010
33. 2003
34. 2002

And again we are reminded of both the blessing and curse of being a UNC fan. We have been witnesses to some really good teams, far outweighing the bad. However three straight seasons in the bottom third of this list makes a fan base antsy. Hopefully 2016 can make the big leap to the top ten much like 1993 did.