North Carolina Guide All-Time Tobacco Road Performances
(in no particular order, woefully incomplete and entirely unscientific):

Randolph Childress: Broke the ACC Tournament record for points in 1995 with 107 in three games - including 37 in the title game to beat UNC in overtime.

Larry Miller: 32 points on 13 of 14 field goals vs. Duke in the 1967 ACC Tournament championship game.

Phil Ford: 34 points in his final game at Carmichael Auditorium, leading the Tar Heels to an 87-83 win over Duke, clinching the ACC regular-season title.

'74 Wolfpack: A 103-100 defeat of Maryland in the ACC Tournament championship game (Tommy Burleson had 38 points and 13 rebounds), then an 80-77 double-overtime win over UCLA in the NCAA semi-finals (after being down seven in the second overtime), stopping the Bruins from potentially winning their eighth consecutive national title.

Art Heyman: 40 points and 24 rebounds in a 106-93 win over Carolina on senior day, 1961.

Christian Laettner: "The Shot" - culminating a 31-point, 10-for-10 from the field and 10-for-10 from the line performance, beating Kentucky 104-103 in the 1992 Eastern Regionals.

Charlie Scott: 40 points (29 in the second half) to beat Duke in the 1969 ACC Tournament championship game - then a 20-foot buzzer-beater against Davidson to send the Heels to the Final Four.

Walter Davis: March 2, 1974, hits a 28-foot bank shot as time expires to send the UNC-Duke game into overtime. The Heels had trailed the Blue Devils 86-78 with 17 seconds to play, and went on to win 96-92. That, as they say, is gettin' it done.

James Worthy scored 28 points and Michael Jordan hit a late jump shot for the winning field goal as North Carolina edged Georgetown, 63-62, in the NCAA championship game at The Superdome in New Orleans. Worthy, the Final Four MVP,  hit 13 of 17 shots from the floor and had three steals.

Rodney Monroe: 40 points in a double-overtime, 102-96 win over Iowa in the 1989 NCAA tournament.

Freshman Mike O'Koren scored a season-high 31 points as injury-riddled North Carolina edged Nevada-Las Vegas, 84-83, in the NCAA semi-finals at The Omni.

Al Wood: set an NCAA semifinal scoring record with 39 points against Virginia in 1981, avenging two regular-season losses to the Cavaliers

Justin Gainey set a record in the 1997 ACC Tournament for the most minutes played which may never be broken. Gainey played every second of the Wolfpack’s four games which helped propel NC State all the way to the ACC Championship game as an unlikely eighth seed.

Len Bias may have been the greatest forward to come out of the ACC and his tragic death the summer of his graduation nipped at the bud a pro career that might have equaled Michael Jordan's. Was he the greatest? Few would have doubted it had they seen his final performance at the Dean Dome in 1986 when he led Maryland to an upset of the #1 ranked Tarheels in overtime. Bias scored 35 points and it was the Tarheels first loss at the Dean Dome.

David Noel: In 2005 almost the entire UNC team went pro after winning the National Championship. Those who did not go to the NBA played overseas or simply graduated leaving UNC fans wondering if the team would even be able to compete. No team had ever lost its top 7 scorers. But David Noel, the eighth player off the bench who averaged about 2 points a game for that championship team took the role of team leader like he was born for it and, with super freshman Tyler Hansbrough, led UNC to a second place regular-season finish in 2006. I can't think of a player in UNC history who has been more valuable to his team than David Noel.

83 Wolfpack Miracle run to the NCAA Championship: I don't know how this could have been left off. It was the greatest basketball experience of my life and I am a Tarheel fan. I really don't need to go in to detail about how Derreck Wittenburg came back from an injury that had sidelined him for much of the season to become the missing piece of the puzzle that saw the Wolfpack pull several last second victories out of their hats before easily defeating Georgia to set up te meeting with Houston, perhaps the strongest team ever, known for their athletic slam dunks and featuring NBA Hall of Famers Akeem Olajuwan and Clyde Drexler. It was the classic David vs Goliath and anyone who saw the semi-finals with Houston beating Louisville in a college jamfest, did not give State much of a chance. Coach Guy Lewis of Houston said the team with the most dunks would win. He was right. State kept it close and won it on an airball (or a pass) that fell into the hands of Lorenzo Charles for the only dunk of the game. The scene of the celebration with Coach Jim Valvano running around looking for someone to hug may be the most viewed piece of basketball history.

Any I forgot? E-mail me.

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