1985 North Carolina Basketball: The Post-Jordan Era Begins

Dean Smith had some rebuilding to do. A guy named Michael Jordan had departed from Chapel Hill. After winning a national title in 1982, UNC had continued to produce great teams with Jordan in 1983 and 1984, but there was disappointment in March. The Tar Heels had failed to win the conference tournament—a big deal in ACC country—and they came up short of the Final Four. Expectations were low, as the 1985 North Carolina team was unranked to start the season. But Smith effectively reloaded, and UNC got back into the mix.

Brad Daugherty was the biggest reason. The 7’0” junior, a future #1 overall pick in the NBA draft came into his own and averaged 17 points/10 rebounds per game. Kenny Smith, a dynamic sophomore point guard with a good future in both the NBA and the broadcast studio, averaged 12 points/7 assists. Steve Hale was a double-digit scorer at the two-guard spot. And the Tar Heels had plenty of height—Daugherty was joined down low by a pair of 6’11” forwards, Warren Martin and Joe Wolf.

North Carolina played a soft December schedule and went 9-1. The most notable win came over Wichita State, who snuck into the NCAA Tournament. The one loss came to mediocre Missouri. As conference play heated up after the New Year, it was still tough to get a read on this edition of Tar Heel basketball.

A big home date with Maryland, led by eventual conference MVP Len Bias, was up on January 12. North Carolina pulled out a 75-74 win. They turned around and played fourth-ranked SMU the following day. Even though it was a loss, the close 84-82 decision coming on a such a short turnaround, suggested UNC was making progress.

Things got even brighter with an 86-76 win over Jim Valvano’s N.C. State. But second-ranked Duke, just starting to become a national power under a young head coach named Mike Krzyzewski handed the Heels a 93-77 loss. That set up a skid that included a 66-62 home loss to contending Georgia Tech, and 52-50 road defeat against a bad Clemson squad.

When January came to a close, North Carolina was 13-5, and at #11 in the polls. But they were only 4-3 in ACC play, with question marks still lingering.

After getting well with a non-conference wins over The Citadel and Furman, the Tar Heels went on the road to play LSU, an eventual 4-seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. North Carolina came up with a 75-70 win. They went on to beat Virginia, who collapsed to last place in the ACC after making the Final Four a year earlier. Another win over Bias’ Maryland team followed.

Even though the winning streak was blunted by N.C. State in an 85-76 road loss, the Tar Heels bounced back by taking care of business with wins over Wake Forest and Clemson. With two games to go in the regular season, UNC stood at 20-6. And in a year where there was no dominant ACC team, they were tied for first in the league at 8-4.

It was set up to be a wild race to the finish in the conference. N.C. State was also 8-4 in league play. The Wolfpack were led by Lorenzo Charles, best known for slamming home the dunk that won the 1983 NCAA title, and delivering 18ppg this year. Georgia Tech, with Mark Price in the backcourt and John Salley up front, was just a half-game back at 8-5. Duke, led by prolific shooting guard Johnny Dawkins, was lingering at 7-5. And while Maryland, at 6-6 in the league, wasn’t in the hunt for the conference title, the Terps still had high hopes for March. From the regular season race to the conference tournament, to March Madness itself, the ACC was a very fluid situation.

North Carolina missed a chance to get control of the race on Tuesday of the final week. They lost to Georgia Tech 57-54. N.C. State lost to Maryland, while Duke won. The Yellow Jackets, who would finish the season playing non-conference games, were in the clubhouse at 9-5 and assured of at least a tie for first. The Wolfpack could play their way into a tie. And the Tar Heels and Blue Devils, both at 8-5 in the league, knew their final showdown would settle a piece of conference hardware.

On the road in Durham, North Carolina met the moment. They won 78-68, to get their share of first place. N.C. State also won. The three-way tie marked the fourth straight year the Tar Heels had won or shared the ACC regular season crown.

But in ACC Country, the prize is the league tournament, so North Carolina went down to the Atlanta Omni with some business to finish. They took care of Wake Forest 72-61 on Friday night. On Saturday, the Tar Heels won the rubber match with the Wolfpack, 57-51. But Sunday’s final didn’t go as well—they lost for the third time this season to Georgia Tech, 67-62.

The NCAA Selection Committee still smiled on North Carolina and gave them a 2-seed. Even more important than the seed line was the regional position. The 1985 college basketball season had been defined nationally by Georgetown and St. John’s. The Hoyas, with Patrick Ewing, were looking to repeat as national champs. The Redmen, led by Chris Mullin, had been atop the polls themselves.

On Selection Sunday, Georgia Tech got a 2-seed, but was placed in Georgetown’s bracket. N.C. State settled for a 3-seed, and was stuck with St. John’s. Meanwhile, North Carolina’s Southeast Regional was headed up by Michigan, a team on the national stage for the first time in several years. The door was open.

NCAA play began in South Bend against Middle Tennessee. UNC was sluggish at the outset and the game was tied 31-31 at the half, with Smith having a rough night. Tar Heel muscle took over. Daugherty went off for 25 points/11 rebounds, Wolf delivered 18/11 and Martin added a 14/7 line. It overwhelmed Middle Tennessee and the final was 76-57.

One thing about the bracket pairings that decidedly did not work out for North Carolina was being placed in South Bend opposite 7-seed Notre Dame. It’s a sign of how much the NCAA Tournament has changed that home cooking was not only allowed, but it was even permitted to work against the higher seed.

The Tar Heels had their hands full with an Irish team in the NCAA field for the first time in four years. Daugherty had another big game, posting an 18/12 line. But the Irish were consistently getting to the free throw line. The game was tied 58-58, and Notre Dame had the ball for what looked like the final possession.

Irish point guard David Rivers brought the ball up the court. Some aggressive defense caused the ball to bounce off his knee. Smith, with a bounceback performance where he shot for 6-for-11, got his easiest basket of this afternoon, breaking away for an uncontested layup off the turnover. North Carolina had survived, 60-58.

That was on Saturday. On Sunday, Michigan was upset by Villanova. Kansas, the 3-seed, failed to survive the weekend. So did 4-seed LSU. A gutted bracket was ahead in Birmingham and North Carolina was the favorite to win it.

UNC played terrific defense in Friday’s Sweet 16 game against 11-seed Auburn. The Tigers’ good forward combo of Chuck Person and Chris Morris combined to shoot 11-for-35. Smith had a big night in the backcourt, scoring 22 points. North Carolina was up ten at the half and closed out a 62-56 win.

Another upset went down in the other regional semifinal. Maryland, the 5-seed, had lost to Villanova. Everything was tailor-made for a Tar Heel return to the Final Four.

No one was surprised to see UNC’s ACC rivals lose to the Big East, as Georgia Tech lost to Georgetown and N.C. State fell to St. John’ s in the Elite Eight. But no one expected North Carolina to come unglued in the second half against Villanova, committing 19 turnovers on the afternoon and losing 56-44. There would be a little more perspective eight days later, when it became apparent that the Wildcats were on a March run for the ages. But in the immediate moment, it was a third straight tough loss on regional weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

The 1985 North Carolina basketball team was part of a trend—mostly good, where the program played at an exceptionally high level and reached the Sweet 16 every year from 1981-93. Keeping it going as they rebuilt from the loss of basketball’s all-time greatest player only added to the achievement. But there was the problem of March losses, both on the conference and national level. It took until 1989 for the Tar Heels to finally win the ACC Tournament again. It was 1991 before they got back to the Final Four. And in 1993, Dean Smith finally got his second national championship ring.