The No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels claimed the East Region title during the 2022 NCAA Tournament and have booked their tickets to New Orleans for the Final Four this weekend. This will mark a record 21st Final Four appearance for the esteemed program.
The Tar Heels toppled No. 9 Marquette, No. 1 Baylor, No. 4 UCLA, and No. 15 Saint Peter’s to earn the honor and head coach Hubert Davis will get a crack at leading the legendary program to greatness in just his first year at the helm in Chapel Hill, NC. We’ll take a look at the last time North Carolina made the Final Four.
North Carolina’s last Final Four appearance: 2017
Led by the likes of Justin Jackson, Joel Berry, and Kennedy Meeks, the 2017 North Carolina team ended up cutting down the nets at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ, as national champions.
Finishing the year with an impressive 33-7 record, the No. 1 seed Tar Heels edged No. 3 Oregon 77-76 in the national semifinal game before toppling No. 1 Gonzaga 71-65 in the title game. The victory marked the sixth national championship for North Carolina, coming after titles in 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005. and 2009. It was also a bit of redemption for UNC from the year prior, where they lost to Villanova in the title game by way of a buzzer-beating three by Kris Jenkins.
This year’s squad currently has +550 odds to win it all courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook, improving significantly on their pre-tournament odds of +6500.