It’s happening! Two of college basketball’s most prestigious programs have agreed to a home-and-home series beginning in 2024 when the North Carolina Tar Heels will travel to Lawrence, Kansas to play the Kansas Jayhawks. The two will meet again in 2025, in Chapel Hill at the Dean Smith Center. Why is this such a massive deal for Men’s College Basketball? Let’s dive in.
Two All-Time Great Programs
When you discuss blue blood College Basketball programs, you have to start with history. The universities of Kansas and North Carolina have two of the longest and most decorated histories in the country.
North Carolina, of course, has the most Final Fours in the history of Men’s College Basketball with 21, but Kansas is not too far behind with 16. North Carolina also has 6 National Championships to the Jayhawks’ 4.
These two programs are a staple of March Madness. Every spring when the brackets are released you expect to see Kansas and North Carolina as a top seed in one of the quadrants. They are also among the betting favorites.
An Even Better Rivalry
While these two have dominated Men’s College Basketball for almost a century, the fact that Kansas plays in the Big 12 conference while the Tar Heels play in the ACC has made their showdowns few and far between. Yes, the two teams with 105 regular-season Conference Championships between them have only played seven times since 1957.
But make no mistake about it, when these two play the stakes are high.
In 1957 the Tar Heels capped off a perfect season with an epic Championship win over the Jawhawks, barely edging them 54-53. The Tar Heels were led by Head Coach Frank Maguire. On the other side? A guy by the name of Wilt Chamberlain.
Fast forward to 1991 and a former North Carolina assistant coach was trying to make a name for himself. Roy Williams led the upstart Kansas Jayhawks against Dean Smith and the Tar Heels in the Final Four. Kansas shocked the world and defeated the Tar Heels to go onto the Finals. Two years later, the Tar Heels would get their revenge as Donald Williams would lead the Tar Heels to victory in another semifinal showdown. The Tar Heels would ultimately win their third National Championship.
North Carolina and Kansas would meet twice more in the Final Four. In 2008, the number-one-ranked Tar Heels just missed out on pulling off an incredible comeback. Trailing by as many as 28 points, they cut the deficit to four midway through the second half. Kansas would go on to win the National Championship on the back of a Mario Chalmers game-tying shot that would go down as one of the biggest shots in the history of the sport.
Finally, the two programs met in the 2022 National Championship game. North Carolina, just a lowly eight-seed, was looking to become the lowest-seeded team to ever win a championship, While Kansas was looking for its second title under Head Coach Bill Self. The Tar Heels, coming off an emotional win against Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game as Head Coach, were huge underdogs against the top-seeded Jayhawks.
But much like the rest of that tournament, the Tar Heels had little interest in what prognosticators expected to happen. The Tar Heels came out blazing hot, leading by 15 points at the half. Unfortunately, riding five guys for an entire tournament has its limitations, and the team ran out of gas, ultimately falling to Kansas once again 72-69.
A Lot More to Come
All in all, Kansas has dominated this rivalry as of late. They are 4-0 under Bill Self against the Tar Heels, one of the few programs to consistently get the better of North Carolina. But the Tar Heels, on the rise with the top recruiting class in 2024, will have their chance to improve that mark. Will their early season showdowns be an appetizer for more drama in March? Only time will tell.
