North Carolina will be making its 12th national championship appearance against the Kansas Jayhawks on Monday, but this one will be a little different.
The Tar Heels entered this tournament as the No. 8 seed in the East bracket in coach Hubert Davis' inaugural season, but ripped off five straight wins, including an 81-77 thriller over blood rival Duke. With their NCAA championship appearance, North Carolina will be tied for the lowest seed to make a finals appearance, joining 1985 Villanova (who defeated No. 1 Georgetown), 2011 Butler (who lost to No. 3 Connecticut), and 2014 Kentucky (who lost to No. 7 Connecticut).
Interestingly, three of the four teams to achieve the feat are considered blueblood programs, and two of the four made appearances in this year's Final Four.
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Why was UNC an 8 seed?
Results-oriented thinking is going to pose the question: How is this North Carolina and 8 seed? Just looking at the standings doesn't give us a clear answer. Duke was 16-4 in the ACC, whereas North Carolina was 15-5. The answer is in the quadrants, specifically, Quadrant 1. Duke was 9-2 against Quad 1 teams, with wins over Kentucky and Gonzaga. North Carolina was 6-8, with its biggest win coming over Duke.
UNC was 31st in NET entering the tournament and Duke was 12th, hence the disparity in their seedings. Bracket setting is a subjective process, and some teams are either better than the committee thinks or they get hot at the right time. It appears that North Carolina is a combination of both.
How have 8 seeds done in the national championship?
No. 8 seeds are 1-2 in the national championship game, with No. 8 Villanova defeating powerhouse Georgetown in 1985, No. 8 Butler losing to No. 3 Connecticut in 2011, and No. 8 Kentucky losing to No. 7 Connecticut (the highest seed sum in national championship history) in 2014. North Carolina will try to even the record, although its task is much closer to the one Villanova faced: A program going up against a No. 1-seeded Goliath in Kansas.
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Villanova's win in 1985 was a 66-64 victory, powered by a 17-point performance by Dwayne McClain and a 16-point showing Ed Pinckney. Three Wildcats played 40 minutes that night, as Patrick Ewing was held to 14 points. Villanova famously shot 9-for-10 from the field in the second half in the pre-shot clock era.
Butler had easily the roughest appearance of these teams, shooting 12 of 64 against 3-seeded Connecticut. Shelvin Mack led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Alex Oriakhi, Jeremy Lamb, and Kemba Walker led the Huskies to a 53-41 win.
Kentucky's showing was a 60-54 loss to Connecticut, with Shabazz Napier leading the way with 22 points. James Young put up 20 for Kentucky, but he and Julius Randle were the only players to finish the game in double figures (Randle had just 10 points).
North Carolina will look to put 8 seeds at 2-2. In a sense, for trend chasers, history is weirdly on the Tar Heels' side. They're playing a No. 1 seed and it isn't Connecticut, so that counts for something. The Jayhawks have looked like a complete team all tournament, with Ochai Agbaji and David McCormack taking over games. The onus will be on Hubert Davis and his team to slow them down in order to break the No. 8 seed losing streak in national championships.
