Everything you need to know about the North Carolina Tar Heels

Welcome back, North Carolina.

One year after falling short in one of the best national championship games in history, the No. 1 seeded Tar Heels are continuing their redemption tour. Next stop: Phoenix. UNC started off the tournament this year with the biggest blowout of the tournament (39 points) over 16-seed Texas Southern. Arkansas gave UNC a run for its money in the second round, and walk-on Luke Maye gave the nation a shot to remember as he and North Carolina downed 2-seed Kentucky 75-73 on a last-second shot in the Elite Eight.

Now, UNC is back in the Final Four for a record 20^th time.

MORE: Gonzaga | Oregon | South Carolina

Before they tip off against 3-seed Oregon Saturday night, here’s everything you need to know about the program.

The school

Main campus: Chapel Hill, N.C. (pop. 59,653)

Undergraduate Enrollment: 18,415

Year founded: 1789

School colors: Carolina blue and white

U.S. News & World Report national rank: No. 30

Tuition and fees: $8,834 (in-state); $33,916 (out-of-state)

Notable alumni: James K. Polk (11^th president of the United States), Roy Cooper (current governor of North Carolina), Thomas Wolfe (author), Andy Griffith (actor), Stuart Scott (broadcaster), Charles Kuralt (journalist), Roy Williams (UNC head coach), Mia Hamm (soccer player)

The campus: As the nation’s first public university, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has plenty of history. It is the flagship program of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system. From the symbol of the school — the Old Well — to the picturesque Bell Tower to the white-domed Dean E. Smith Center, UNC covers more than 700 acres of what is considered one of the best college towns in the country. The campus is located in ­— as the name would suggest — Chapel Hill, one third of the Research Triangle, which is filled out with Raleigh (home of N.C. State) and Durham (home of Duke). The town itself is centered on the university, with well more than half of the population being students, staff, or faculty. Downtown is highlighted by the famous Franklin Street, home of dozens of age-old and brand-new restaurants, bars, and shops, though few are as famous as Top of the Hill, which looks out over the main intersection of downtown, or He’s Not Here, a bar that — contrary to the popular folktalke — did not get its name when people would call and ask for Michael Jordan.

Traditions: If there’s one thing that UNC basketball is known for — besides its five national titles, Dean Smith, Michael Jordan, etc. — it’s the Tar Heels storied rivalry with the school just down the road: Duke. The two teams first met in 1920, when UNC won 36-25. The Tar Heels have won the matchup more than 100 times in the years since, and as of late, after every one of those wins, students rush Franklin — sprinting to the heart of Chapel Hill’s downtown and celebrating in the streets, often times with bonfires. After every game, win or lose, the UNC faithful sing the school’s Alma Mater, “Hark the Sound,” which ends with the adored fight song “Tar Heel Born.” As for the school's symbol, the Old Well, tradition dictates that a sip from its fountain on the first day of class will guarantee straight A's for the semester. Jury's still out on that one.

Basketball at North Carolina

Team nickname: Tar Heels

Mascot: Rameses

Conference affiliation: ACC

Home arena: Dean E. Smith Center

Coach: Roy Williams

Coaching record: 814-216; 29 seasons (396-115; 14^th season at North Carolina)

Basketball history

NCAA tournament 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

Best NCAA tournament finish: NCAA tournament champions (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009).

Notable basketball alumni: Michael Jordan (1981-84), Phil Ford (1974-78), James Worthy (1979-82), Lennie Rosenbluth (1954-57), Larry Brown (1960-63), Charlie Scott (1967-70), Kenny Smith (1983-87), Jerry Stackhouse (1993-95), Rasheed Wallace (1993-95), Vince Carter (1995-98), Antawn Jamison (1995-98), Raymond Felton (2002-05), Sean May (2002-05), Tyler Hansbrough (2005-09), Ty Lawson (2006-09), Wayne Ellington (2006-09), Harrison Barnes (2010-12), Marcus Paige (2012-16), Brice Johnson (2012-16)

This season

Notable pre-NCAA tournament wins: No. 16 Wisconsin (Nov. 23), No. 9 Florida State (Jan. 14), No. 20 Notre Dame (Feb. 5), No. 14 Virginia (Feb. 18), No. 7 Louisville (Feb. 22), No. 17 Duke (Mar. 4).

How the Tar Heels got here: Seeded No. 1 in the South. Win over No. 16 Texas Southern in first round, 103-64; Win over No. 8 Arkansas in second round, 72-65; Win over No. 4 Butler in Sweet 16, 92-80; Win over No. 2 Kentucky in Elite Eight, 75-73.

Next up: No. 3 Oregon (Final Four)

Head-to-head vs. Oregon: UNC is 4-0 against Oregon all time, winning by an average of 24.8 points per game.

How the Tar Heels rank

NCAA tournament overall seed (1-68): No. 3

RPI: No. 5

SOS: No. 11

Points per 100 possessions: 121.4 (6^th in the nation)

Points allowed per 100 possessions: 93.6 (18^th in the nation)

Possessions per 40 minutes: 70.9 (50^th in the nation)

The 2016-17 Tar Heels

STARTING FIVE

G Joel Berry II (6-0, junior, Apopka, Fla.): 14.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.6 apg
The junior guard has emerged this season as the leader of the Tar Heels after senior guard Marcus Paige graduated in 2016. Berry is shooting 44 percent from the field and 39 percent from three this year, but is playing with two injured ankles, and his status for Saturday’s Final Four matchup is up in the air, though it would be hard to imagine the “tough little nut” — as Roy Williams calls him — missing the biggest game UNC’s season so far.

G Theo Pinson (6-6, junior, Greensboro, N.C.): 6.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.7 apg
Pinson missed the first half of the season with a broken foot, then sat out three more games after rolling his ankle, but the junior has made the most of his time on the court since. Pinson is the sparkplug for the Tar Heels, providing more energy and enthusiasm than should be possible, though that eagerness sometimes leads to careless mistakes. In the Elite Eight matchup against Kentucky, for example, Pinson made several costly turnovers, but also provided clutch defensive plays, steals and, most noteworthy, the assist on the game-winning shot.

G Justin Jackson (6-8, junior, Tomball, Texas): 18.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.8 apg
In the storied history of North Carolina basketball, there are few things that some player, at some point, hasn’t done. But before this year, no UNC player had ever hit 100 three pointers in a season. Enter: Justin Jackson. In his freshman and sophomore campagins, Jackson totaled just 63 threes. This year, he has 101, shooting a career-high 38 percent from beyond the arc. The ACC Player of the Year (and AP All-American) improved nearly every stat, and when he gets hot, he can single-handedly turn a game into a blowout.

F Kennedy Meeks (6-10, senior, Charlotte, N.C.): 12.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.2 bpg
Averaging nearly a double-double is no easy feat, but that’s what the Tar Heels’ veteran big man has done this year. Meeks is an absolute vacuum on the glass, recording 140 offensive rebounds this year alone (five DI schools have collected fewer than 200 offensive boards as a team this year).

F Isaiah Hicks (6-9, senior, Oxford, N.C.): 12.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.4 apg
Hicks is averaging double-digit points for the first time in his career and hitting a team-high 59.6 percent of his shots, but he also averages 3.1 personal fouls per game. If he can stay out of foul trouble, he can be a huge asset on the offensive and defensive end.

First off the bench

F Luke Maye (6-8, sophomore, Huntersville, N.C.): 5.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.2 apg
Maye may be a former walk-on, but he sure as heck doesn’t play like one. In the NCAA tournament, Maye — who averages 5.8 points per game — put up 12.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in just 18.5 minutes per game. But it was two of those points that will be remembered for a very long time — the shot that downed Kentucky.

Watch: Luke Maye drains last-second shot to send North Carolina to Final Four

F Tony Bradley (6-11, freshman, Bartow, Fla.): 7.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 0.6 bpg
Bradley is the only UNC freshman averaging more than 10 minutes per game, and he’s made the most of his time so far. The rookie is second only to Hicks in field goal percentage (58.9 percent), and averages an impressive 20 points and 13.9 rebounds per 40 minutes.