Heavy 2017 feel on UNC men’s basketball all-decade team
There’s absolutely no question about North Carolina’s team of the decade: the redemption-seeking 2017 national champions. Curiously, only two of the Tar Heels’ best players of the decade lifted that trophy. But two laid the groundwork for that title — and came within a shot of winning one of their own a year earlier — while the fifth comes from the powerful 2012 team that was derailed in March by a pair of untimely injuries.
JOEL BERRY, 2015-18, PG
A three-year starter with a knack for clutch shots, Berry led the Tar Heels to their only ACC title in the decade, winning MVP honors in Washington in 2016. Not merely a prolific scorer who could get to the rim against bigger players or shoot from distance, the gritty guard was named most outstanding player at the 2017 Final Four despite playing on a pair of injured ankles.
BRICE JOHNSON, 2013-16, PF
Roy Williams liked to joke early in Johnson’s career that if he could get the offense-minded Johnson and defense-minded Desmond Hubert in the same body, he’d have a heck of a player. He ended up getting one anyway in Johnson, who not only developed into a ferocious inside force as a junior and senior but one of the best players in the country.
LUKE MAYE, 2016-19, PF
Maye’s journey from recruited walk-on afterthought as a freshmen to all-ACC as a junior and senior was the stuff of Disney movies before you even get to his buzzer-beater against Kentucky in 2017 to send the Tar Heels to the Final Four, one of the most famous shots in the history of the program. The son of a UNC quarterback, Maye left his own legacy on the basketball court.
MARCUS PAIGE, 2013-16, PG
The 6-foot guard didn’t look like a superstar, but Paige was a stone-cold killer, especially in the second half. He battled through epic shooting slumps at times, but his leadership helped carry the program through a difficult period and his double-clutch, off-balance heave in the national title game would be remembered as one of the great shots in NCAA history if not for the one that followed it.
TYLER ZELLER, 2010-12, C
One of the Tar Heels’ two ACC players of the year of the decade, Zeller was the focal point of the 2011 and 2012 teams that lost twice in the Elite Eight (and his broken arm as a freshman helped consign that team to the NIT). With a wide array of post moves, Zeller was a prototypical Williams big man, the offensive counterpart to shot-blocking teammate John Henson in the paint.
IN THE TEAM PICTURE
Sharpshooting swingman Justin Jackson, the 2017 ACC player of the year, is clearly the odd man out. There’s certainly an argument to be made for Jackson over Maye or (for basketball reasons alone) even Paige. The two-year freshman-sophomore class of 2011 and 2012 team boasted several contenders for this list — Henson, Harrison Barnes, Kendall Marshall — but like their UNC careers, their candidacies were hurt by a lack of postseason success. Theo Pinson’s versatility and personality were invaluable over the course of his career, while Coby White had one sensational season.
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 7:00 AM.
