The team played its home games in the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

[1] The Tar Heels were a trendy pick to win the National Championship that year, primarily because Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and Ty Lawson decided to withdraw from the 2008 NBA draft, and consensus national Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough never declared for that draft.

[4] Sources: Roy Williams Joe HolladaySteve RobinsonJerod Haase Roster Last update: October 31, 2012 The Tar Heels rolled through the nonconference schedule, along the way winning the Maui Invitational for the third time.

They sputtered out of the gate to start ACC play, dropping their first two conference games to Boston College and Wake Forest.

A win over Virginia Tech gave the Tar Heels at least a share of their 27th regular season title (which are not recognized by the ACC as official championships; the tournament winner is declared champion), and third in a row.

Despite not making it to the ACC title game, the Tar Heels received the top seed in the NCAA South Region.

The Tar Heels played their first- and second-round games at the Greensboro Coliseum, just an hour west of Chapel Hill.

The Tar Heels won every game by at least 12 points—a feat all the more remarkable since they upended four teams ranked in the top 15 of the final AP Poll in the process (#10 Gonzaga, #7 Oklahoma, #11 Villanova and #8 Michigan State).