North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
2025–26 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team
University	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
First season	1910–11; 116 years ago
Athletic director	Bubba Cunningham
Head coach	Michael Malone
Location	Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Arena	Dean Smith Center (capacity: 21,750)
NCAA division	Division I
Conference	ACC
Nickname	Tar Heels
Colors	Carolina blue and white[1]
All-time record	2,419–881 (.733)
NCAA tournament record	134–51 (.724)
NCAA Division I tournament champions
1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017
Other NCAA Division I tournament results Runner-up 1946, 1968, 1977, 1981, 2016, 2022 Final Four 1946, 1957, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2022 Elite Eight 1941, 1946, 1957, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2022 Sweet Sixteen 1957, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024 Appearances 1941, 1946, 1957, 1959, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026
Pre-tournament Helms national champions
1923–24
NIT champions
1971
Conference tournament champions
SoCon: 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1945 ACC: 1957, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008, 2016
Conference regular-season champions
SoCon: 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1935, 1938, 1941, 1944, 1946 ACC: 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2024
Uniforms
Home Away

The North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball program is a college basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won six NCAA championships (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, and 2017) in addition to a 1924 Helms Athletic Foundation title (retroactive). North Carolina has won 134 NCAA tournament matchups while advancing to 31 Sweet Sixteen berths (since 1975), a record 21 Final Fours, and 12 title games. It is the only school to have an active streak of reaching the National Championship game for nine straight decades (no other school has done it in more than six straight) and at least two Final Fours for six straight decades, all while averaging more wins per season played (20.7) than any other program in college basketball. In 2025, The Wall Street Journal's valuation of college basketball programs ranked North Carolina first at $378 million.^[2] In 2012, ESPN ranked North Carolina No. 1 on its list of the 50 most successful programs of the past fifty years.^[3]

North Carolina's six national championships are tied with UConn for third-most all-time, behind UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8). UNC has also won eighteen Atlantic Coast Conference tournament (ACC) titles,^[4] and thirty-three ACC regular season titles.^[5] The program has produced many notable players who went on to play in the NBA, including four of ESPN's top 74 players of all-time: Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Vince Carter, and Bob McAdoo (tied for most with UCLA).^[6] Many Tar Heel assistant coaches and players have gone on to become head coaches elsewhere.^[7]

From the Tar Heels' first season in 1910–11 through the start of the 2021–22 season, the program has amassed a .735 all-time winning percentage (second highest all-time), winning 2,294 games and losing 829 games in 111-plus seasons.^[8][9][10] The Tar Heels also have the most consecutive 20-win seasons, with 31 from the 1970–71 season through the 2000–01 season.^[11] On March 2, 2010, North Carolina became the second college basketball program to reach 2,000 wins in its history. The Tar Heels are currently 3rd all-time in wins. The Tar Heels are one of only four Division I men's basketball programs to have achieved 2,000 victories. Kentucky, Kansas, and Duke are the other three.

Carolina has played 182 games in the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels have appeared in the NCAA Tournament championship game twelve times, and have been in a record 21 NCAA Tournament Final Fours.^[12] The Tar Heels have been selected to the NCAA Tournament 53 times (second-most all-time),^[13][14] and have amassed 133 victories (most all-time).^[13][14] North Carolina won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1971,^[4] and has appeared in two NIT Finals with six appearances in the NIT Tournament.^[4] Additionally, the team has been the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament eighteen times, the latest being in 2024 (most No. 1 seeds all-time).

North Carolina has been ranked in the top 25 of the AP Poll an all-time record 927 weeks,^{[citation needed]} has beaten AP No. 1 ranked teams 14 times,^[15] has the most 25-win seasons with 38,^[16] and has the most consecutive top-three ACC regular season finishes with 37.^[17] North Carolina has ended the season ranked in the top 25 of the AP Poll 51 times and in the top 25 of the Coaches' Poll 53 times.^[16] Furthermore, the Tar Heels have finished the season ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll six times and ranked No. 1 in Coaches' Poll seven times.^[16] In 2008, the Tar Heels received the first unanimous preseason No. 1 ranking in the history of either the Coaches' Poll or the AP Poll.^[18][19]