North Carolina Basketball: 10 Things You Probably Did Not Know About the Team

From length to speed, percentages to ratios, there are a host of little known facts about both this season's North Carolina Tar Heel team, and the program from a historical perspective. The big ones are out there in the limelight. Everyone knows about how UNC has made more Final Four appearances than anyone else, and how they've won five national championships and over 2,000 games. 

Did you know, however, that they have produced only 11 second-round draft picks in the NBA, which is the fewest of any of the top 10 NBA producing schools?

This current Tar Heels team has a unique combination of size and speed, rebounding and sharing and offensive dynamics. Historically speaking, they have also have a unique combination of NBA success, international layovers, coaching experience and an oddly high winning percentage in odd years.

Almost Exclusively First Round Draft Picks

While not an outwardly glorious stat, it screams that UNC's ability to produce first-round picks is truly more spectacular than anyone else, because statistically, that's almost exclusively what they do.

In the past 62 years, out of the 50 first- and second-round draft picks, 78 percent have been in the first round. That's about 10 percent better than Duke, 12 percent better than Kentucky, 14 percent better than Kansas and 18 percent better than UCLA, the top four schools behind the Heels.

The percentage may come down a fraction with the current class, because while Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Tyler Zeller are lottery to late first-round picks, there's also a host of second-round talent in Dexter Strickland, Kendall Marshall, Reggie Bullock and P.J. Hairston (providing Strickland and Marshall left after this season and Bullock and Hairston after next season).

Never fear, however. Kentucky's first-round picks will keep going up, but their second-round picks will stay on par, along with Duke, Kansas and whatever's going on at UCLA. This will keep UNC firmly entrenched as the highest relevant* percentage of first-round picks in college basketball.

*Seton Hall scores very high at 100 percent, but most of those picks came prior to the 1990s, making their success an irrelevant argument for the modern game.

NBA Championship Rings

UNC's success with former players winning rings in the NBA is well known: Michael Jordan won six of them with the Bulls, sharing three with Scott Williams, while James Worthy and Rick Fox both won three for the Lakers. But did you know that Mitch Kupchak has won the most, with eight? Three were as a player, and the other five came from being a front office man with the Lakers. 

The 2004 Detroit Pistons team, spearheaded by Rasheed Wallace, won five rings for former Tar Heels. Wallace and Larry Brown are the two obvious ones, but there was also assistant coaches Dave Hanners and John Kuester, as well as video coordinator Pat Sullivan, who was a legendary walk-on for Dean Smith during the mid 90s. 

Aside from that Pistons team, every other former Tar Heel to win a ring, did it on the court at some point. Billy Cunningham and Robert McAdoo both won rings as coaching staff, but they also both won rings as players. All in all, 18 Tar Heels have won at least one ring, with 14 of them as players.

Rebounding

UNC leads the nation in rebounding with 45 per game at this stage of the 2011-12 season, while having only two players average more than five rebounds per game. John Henson leads the Heels at 10.1 per game, with Zeller in at second with 8.4. Next on the list are Harrison Barnes at 4.8 and Reggie Bullock at 4.1. There are seven other players who average at least one rebound per game. 

This kind of rebounding ability is something to take note of, because not many other major schools have it. Plenty of schools have big number rebounders averaging more than eight per game, and plenty have a roster full of players who pull down at least one per game, but not many have both categories combined. 

Oklahoma is the next major school in the rebounds per game top 10, with 42. Their big man, Romero Osby, averages 8.8 per game but then there's a drastic drop off, with only three other players who average more than 3.5, with the next highest being 5.4

Michigan State is also on the list in a near tie with Oklahoma. Their big man, Draymond Green, averages 9.8 per game, but no one else on the roster averages more than 4.8

Kentucky is also in the Top 10, and they are very impressive on the boards, with eight players averaging at least 2.4 per game. Anthony Davis averages 10 per game, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Terrence Jones are also strong on the boards, averaging 6.9 and 6.2 respectively.

These numbers suggest that Kentucky should be one of the strongest rebounding teams, but their lack of spread through the entire roster shows in their total average per game. Their 41.3 rebounds per game are four less than UNC, who have three more players averaging statistically relevant rebounds per game.

Of course, Kentucky beat UNC this season, so that was irrelevant. But in a second match-up that may come in March or April, UNC looks to have to have the edge going in, as the Heels continues to mature.

As for UNC's top rival, Duke, their 35 rebounds per game are good enough for 202nd in the country, despite Mason Plumlee averaging 10 per game. Besides Mason, there are only two players averaging more than 2.5 per game on the Blue Devils' roster.

Assists

Kendall Marshall is a prolific passer of the ball, an assist man unlike anyone college basketball has seen since perhaps Jason Kidd. He averages more than half of UNC's 19 assists per game, which ranks third in the country. His own tally of 10.1 per game is good for second in the nation, a mere 0.3 behind Iona's Scott Machado. 

Marshall is one of the many keys to UNC's success this season, but he falls under the umbrella of assists in general. It's difficult in college basketball for players to continuously create their own shots, making them rely upon teammates to help set them up. The Heels are one of the best teams in the country at setting up their teammates for baskets, and they do it better than 60 percent of the time. 

With almost two thirds of baskets coming from assists, UNC's basket-to-assist ratio is among the best in the country at 1.63-to-1. The next major program in the Top 10 is Ohio State, ranking in at seventh. Their ratio is slightly better than UNC, at 1.61-to-1, but with 52 fewer offensive rebounds and second chance opportunities on the season, that is likely the only reason why. 

Duke has a ratio of 2.16-to-1, while the top ranked team in the country, Syracuse, has a ratio of 1.87-to-1. The closest ACC team to the Heels' assist average is NC State, who are quietly having a respectable season just down the road. The Wolfpack's 1.64-to-1 ratio is barely behind UNC, but they will not be a threat to UNC this season. 

The combination of second chance points from offensive rebounds, and assists during the run of play make the Tar Heels one of the most well-rounded offensive teams in the country.

Height

The Heels have an average height of 6'6", with half a dozen players topping that average, coming in at one of the tallest rosters at a major program. Duke finally bests their rivals in one of these categories, as they have eight players standing 6'7" or taller, but they don't utilize it well as they are among the worst in the nation on the boards. 

Syracuse, Ohio State and Kentucky have an average height of 6'5", while Louisville and Wisconsin come in at 6'4". Whether or not UNC's height advantage comes into play remains to be seen, but as the season wears on and key big men begin tiring towards the end of the game, UNC being able to throw a taller team into the mix for a play or two at a time to let Henson and Zeller rest will surely be an advantage.

Future Coaches

Wes Miller was recently appointed the interim-head coach for UNC Greensboro, making him the latest addition to the massive family tree of coaching that the Tar Heels have grown. 

Currently, there is one head coach in the NBA (George Karl), five assistant coaches (John Kuester, Pat Sullivan, Dave Hanners, Joe Wolf and Bob McAdoo) and two general managers (Mitch Kupchak, Donnie Walsh) that hold connections to Dean Smith. 

There are also six former UNC players acting as the head coaches at the 18 Division I programs in North Carolina (Roy Williams, Wes Miller, Jason Capel, Buzz Peterson, Jeff Lebo and Scott Cherry), while King Rice coaches at Monmouth, Tony Shaver coaches at William and Mary and Matt Doherty coaches at Southern Methodist.

Eight others have previously held coaching jobs at the college or NBA level, while Bobby Frasor and Jackie Manuel now hold jobs in video coordination and strength training at the program.

UNC takes care of its own. That has always been the case, but it's not simply a show of favoritism. Players are identified after spending long periods of time in the program, and many of them are groomed to be coaches if their professional careers don't pan out.

As Williams' current and former players at UNC get further removed from playing professionally, expect to see several of them take up coaching positions. Miller is the first of Roy's Heels, but won't be the last.

It's exceedingly difficult to decipher the coaching trees around the country's college programs, as not all of them have the family atmosphere that UNC has been breeding since Smith. But there have been more coaches from UNC than from Duke, that much is known.

Young Veterans

In the era of the one-and-done, the past couple of seasons for Roy Williams have seen very few early-exit players, and a roster quickly filling with young veterans.

In the past three seasons, six scholarship players have left the team, three due to graduation and three inexplicably and without warning (and also apparently leaving their parents to inform the coaching staff after the kids already left Chapel Hill) transferring out.

This has meant for a long, intense progression for several underclassmen, but it's also been indicative of Williams being very stingy with recruiting efforts in the past few seasons, getting only who he needs.

The recruiting for this season saw an influx of freshman for the first time in several years, as Roy gears up to lose Zeller, and possibly Henson and Barnes after this season. In the meantime, the players have been gaining tons of experience as youngsters, due to the small selection of upperclassmen recently.

Players like Barnes, Strickland, Henson, Marshall and, to some extent, Leslie McDonald and Reggie Bullock, have gained invaluable experience by being necessary cogs in the Carolina machine. These young veterans have been racking up important games, learning to play long stretches deep into the game.

Their hardships with being thrust into starting or sixth man roles as freshmen or sophomores have also allowed the current crop of freshmen a slower, measured transition into college basketball, with playing time in key parts of the game subtly but consistently going up.

This will allow for fresher young legs at the end of the season, which UNC fans will be very thankful for when P.J. Hairston is called upon to hit a clutch three-pointer in March.

International Connection

Danny Green and Deon Thompson are currently plying their trade in Slovenia, Marcus Ginyard plays in Israel, Joe Forte plays in Italy, Reyshawn Terry plays in Germany, David Noel plays in France and a multitude of other Tar Heels have spread across the globe over the years, either unable to play in the NBA, or choosing to play in the countries of their ancestry.

So, for current and future UNC second stringers, get those Passports ready, just in case. There's a track history of making a career of playing basketball overseas, and it shouldn't be easily dismissed. Think about it: Live and play in Detroit as a reserve, or live and play in a coastal Mediterranean town as the star of the team.

They're Fast. How Fast? Real Fast

Averaging 76.7 possessions per game, this UNC team is one of the fastest in the modern UNC era, coming in at just behind the 2009 championship team's PPG of 77.4, which was equal to the 2005 championship team.

UNC's breakneck speed is two possessions behind the nation's fastest team, VMI, and is only good for sixth in the nation. However, the closest major program is Memphis, at 16th. Duke ranks in at 75th. These numbers are slightly deceiving, however, as there are only eight possessions per game separating No. 1 VMI from No. 141 West Kentucky. 

While the numbers are deceiving, it cannot be denied that speed has been a factor in UNC's National Championships under Roy Williams, and this team is so far clicking into a gear reminiscent of Roy's other champions.

There's Something Odd About That History

Of the five national championships that the Heels have won over the years, four of them have come in odd years. Only Michael Jordan's 81-82 team has won in an even year. Since 1991, six of UNC's nine Final Four appearances, and eight of 11 Elite Eights have occurred in odd years.

In ACC play, seven of eight regular season conference championships since 1993 have occurred in odd years, but it evens out in the ACC tournament, with only three of six championships since 1991 occurring in odd years.

The Heels have the weight of history on their shoulders, but they probably don't even know it. Maybe it's best that they don't.